At the Gooding & Co. Scottsdale auction, this unrestored Mercedes Gullwing brought $1.9 million—a half million bucks more than a perfectly restored example. Get all the latest auto industry news in the executive briefing. – Gooding & Co. photo
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+ With 9.98 million vehicles sold in 2013, Toyota is the number-one automaker for a second consecutive year, edging General Motors by 270,000 units. More at ABC News.
+ Nissan and its ad agency have agreed to settle a Federal Trade Commission complaint involving an allegedly deceptive TV spot for the Frontier pickup. More at The Detroit News.
+ The Library of Congress has launched a national registry of historically significant vehicles, each one to be certified by The Department of the Interior and the Historical Vehicle Association. More at The Detroit Bureau. More at Yahoo! Finance.
+ NASCAR will adopt a new Formula One-style knockout qualifying procedure immediately after the season-opening Dyatona 500. More at USA Today.
+ Hyundai reported its first year-to-year quarterly earnings drop in three years, citing strong local currency and slipping sales in the Korean home market. More at Reuters.
+ An original, unrestored 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing coupe sold for nearly $1.9 million at the Gooding & Co, Scottsdale auction, drawing $500,000 more than a finely restored example at the same sale. More at Autoweek.
+ Of 11 new minicars impact-tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 10 failed a new small overlap front crash test. More at The Detroit Bureau.
+ The FIA plans to ban all tire warming devices in Formula One beginning in the 2015 season. More at Yahoo! Sport UK.
For the previous Executive Briefing from January 24, click here.
I’ve always been a fan of original cars and it’s great to see the market realizing their importance. Regardless, I’m sure the debate of “to restore or not to restore” will continue to rage on.
That Benz looks a little tired, but I’d still be proud to have it in my garage. The enemy is ‘over’restored cars. Art is for walls, cars are for driving.
Nissan should be made to run a 30 second commercial to publicize the fact that their commercial was a total lie, and to broadcast it for an entire year.
I can’t picture the Department of the Interior spending much time making pronouncements on historically significant vehicles. Seems to me that they should not be choosing specific cars but a production run instead. This sounds like a significant political contribution was made to boost the price of someone’s collector car. The choice was good, but it remains to be seen how many others this honor will be bestowed upon. When they declare the first imported Toyota Corona as significant, I’ll know the program is for real. There were Toyotas before that in the US, but 1966 is when Toyota began the process of taking over America.
Regarding Nissan, this is another reason I’m not a fan of the lawyer drivel at the bottom of the screen. Telling me not to do things is annoying enough when you’re not my mom. But trying to defend false advertising by pointing to the fine print is another level of asshattery.
And no, I’m not particularly amused by their other commercial with the disclaimer, “cars can’t jump on trains,” although at least it’s clearly a CG trick there. Now lawyers are cute, are they? They can’t have it both ways.