The Supra Shockwave
Japanese classics cement their status at Barrett-Jackson
A weekly newsletter by Ryan K. ZumMallen | @zoomy575m
HAPPY RACE DAY, especially to Doug DeMuro who recently sold a portion of his online auction site Cars & Bids for $37 million. Thirty-seven Ms! That still feels impossible to type.
The sale is another step in the incredible rise of DeMuro, a writer and YouTuber who deftly turned a huge audience into an IRL cash machine. The key to the story for me? The principal of the firm that invested in Cars & Bids believes the site “…has only just scratched the surface of this sector.” Sheesh!
Here’s this week’s top article.
Supra Serious
Barrett-Jackson isn’t known as the most progressive part of the automotive world. I wouldn’t bet that anyone in the crowd can safely ride a skateboard, let’s say. But this famously old-school auction has shown signs of getting with the times.
At its massive annual event in Scottsdale over the weekend, the old guard seemed downright hip. It hosted the Future Collector Car Show and awarded a Honda S2000 (!!) with Best in Show honors. It held a roundtable panel with experts debating the collectible cars of the future.
And it brought a load of Japanese cars across the auction block. In particular the number of Toyota Supras stood out. In total, five Mark IV Supras sold. Four of them topped $100,000. The highest-value Supra netted a whopping $187,000.
The idea of Supras being offered at Barrett-Jackson — period — still feels foreign. The company built its brand on the back of American muscle, barely sending more than a sneer toward anything from the age of The Fast and The Furious.
That seems to have changed (likely because online sites like Bring A Trailer and Cars And Bids gobbled up millions by marketing to buyers that B-J willfully ignored). The dinosaur made a big show of getting with the times.
That doesn’t mean it went perfectly. When a player arrives this late to a trend and attempts to play it cool, there’s a serious risk of missing the mark. And Barrett-Jackson may have fallen prey here, selling a big-money Supra after that very car left a trail of sketchy no-sales at various websites over the past year.
There are questions over whether the car is truly as advertised, made worse by a fishy auction on JDM Supply in 2021 where the car drew a winning bid of $206,000 but inexplicably missed its reserve. In September of 2022 the car popped up on BAT with its famously discerning commenters quickly noticing discrepancies in the seller’s past. That auction reached $145,000 before the seller abruptly removed it.
None of that is to say the car is a dud. Or that its new owner won’t enjoy it completely for years to come. But $187,000 is a lot of money for a Supra even for people who would give limbs to own a Supra. Did a collector new to the JDM scene get taken for a ride? Should Barrett-Jackson have done more to alert its clientele?
All we know for sure is the Millennial takeover is complete. Supras at Barrett-Jackson; Honda S2000s winning top honors; mid-90s cars getting their true day in the sun as classic cars. Chevelles everywhere must be rolling over in their graves.
Want to see more of my writing on cars? Click the link below to buy a signed copy of my book, Slow Car Fast, or our latest release from author and photograher Victoria Scott entitled Postcards From the End of the World. You can also visit our Bookshop.org store for a curated list of automotive nonfiction.
Culture
I really got a kick out of these AI-generated cars from the past. What if Porsche designed a ‘65 Cayenne? What if Mercedes made a woody SUV? Kinda weird!
The 24 Hours of Daytona was over the weekend and the star of the show was Turner Motorsport for its pre-race prayer dedicated to Mandy Moore (can I get an Amen) and running tour of the track with a stuffed taco plushy:
The other social media star was tire-changer and mechanic extraordinaire Bozi Tatarevic for his ‘Day in the Life’ series of videos that puts you right into the pits. This is amazing access that uses social media as a true service for motorsport fans.
Ask A Millennial! Alejandro Serrano, 29
I MET ALEX at the one-year anniversary celebration for Fujiwara Tofu Cafe in El Monte outside of Los Angeles. Inspired by the tofu shop in Initial D, the anime and manga based on Japanese street racing, it’s quickly become a hot spot for enthusiasts. (Check out my Instagram Reel about it here.) The parking lot featured an assortment of Evos, STIs and other JDM icons but I was particularly drawn to Alex’s Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 — which I thought was the coolest car ever as a kid. He’s modified it to pay tribute to the late Kobe Bryant, but at its heart this ‘90s beast is about performance through and through. Here is an edited version of our conversation:
I’m into metal, so I was considering buying a guitar setup or my cousin’s S13. They were about the same price ($1200). I bought the S13 and went to school. I fell in love working on it to the point where I changed my major to become a mechanic. Eventually I bought my uncle’s Supra, and because of the Supra crew I ended up with this car. If I would have chosen the guitar setup, who knows?
The twin-turbo just kicks in right away. For a 30-year old car that was making 300 horsepower back then, that’s all you need really. Slap some sticky tires on it, the all-wheel steering and all-wheel drive — it can keep up with almost any car out here if you build it right. It’s just a little heavy. All you gotta do is remove some stuff to get it a little lighter and it’s such a fun car.
I was here for the grand opening. Everybody in the car scene has seen Initial D so I was pretty sure it would be a good spot. I knew it was going to attract a lot of people. Right along with the Fast And Furious movies, if you’re in the car scene you’ve gotta watch Initial D. This shop has the arcade, the music and the AE86 outside. If it was a little closer to the canyons it’d be even crazier.
And Finally…
OUR FRIEND, the journalist Ed Niedermeyer (we co-hosted a livestream viewing party for the Tesla Cybertruck back in 2019), recently guested on the Carbon Copy podcast to continue his crusade against disinformation about self-driving cars. Check out the episode here and enjoy Ed’s sweet, sweet takedown of all the ‘Level 5’ rhetoric.
Drive hard and be safe. Black Lives Matter.
Want your event included? Shoot me a note with subject line “Race Day” at ryan@carrarabooks.com.
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