RUMCars Forum
General Category => Sales & Auctions => Topic started by: Rusty Chrome (Malcolm Parker) on February 10, 2011, 06:31:41 pm
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Several incomplete or development vehicles on offer along with quite a few unused Daihatsu engines and gearboxes.
http://www.daanauctions.com/Project.aspx?Page=0 (http://www.daanauctions.com/Project.aspx?Page=0)
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Am I right in thinking that Carver, formerly of leaning 3-wheeler fame has gone bankrupt! Or is Carver Engineering BV nothing to do with them.
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Carver did some nice engineering and I was impressed when I had a test drive. But this 'prototype' based on a VeloSolex wasn't their finest hour!
(http://www.daanauctions.com//images/DataBaseImages/L903776.jpg)
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Am I right in thinking that Carver, formerly of leaning 3-wheeler fame has gone bankrupt! Or is Carver Engineering BV nothing to do with them.
I don't know which Carver is which, but here's a news story about the bit that went bankrupt
http://www.themotorreport.com.au/35854/carver-declares-bankruptcy-tilting-three-wheeler-orphaned (http://www.themotorreport.com.au/35854/carver-declares-bankruptcy-tilting-three-wheeler-orphaned)
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At least they stuck to the time honored tradition many micro manufacturers stuck to, i.e. going bankrupt! ::)
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but only in a small way :D
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It is OVER.
The auction that is.
You guys sure get me into a lot of trouble with your ears to the ground on these type events- but I am not complaining even though I spent the greater part of the last couple of days for naught, doing my due diligence learning about the vehicles and lots that were just sold.
I bid 4125 euros on their only complete and production style vehicle about 5 hours before it jumped up to a 7800 euro auto bid. With VAT and commission that is 8864 pounds sterling, plus another 975 euros for shipping to the Nottingham area, or more than twice what I thought I should pay. Then again, compared to the 50,000 euros that they went bankrupt trying to sell them for - I suppose it could be considered cheap, if you simply had to have one.
This one looked good but was still actually stuck up in the air on a repair lift because the power had been turned off! So it clearly needed some kind of work.
It looked to be a decent example despite the auction companies disclaimers of liability. For it had been up on the lift long enough for it's batteries to go dead.
I didn't have to have one, but heard universally that they were a blast to drive. Hence my measured bid (not to mention my measured finances).
Just couldn't warm up to one like I could to a Frisky Family Three as I did not find their overall appearance endearing.
There might have been a bargain amongst the other few prototypes. They were a few very different, inferior looking products and a couple of possibly good opportunities. I could only have determined this if I had the chance to scope a couple of them out and find out if they could be fitted with one of their dozen 2001 year model NOS 660cc Dihatsu turbo charged intercooled 4 cylinder engine/ transaxle packages that probably sold for only about 300 euros each.
I even tried emailing blokes that had worked for the company, but both my information and the time was too short to succeed with this.
After winning 2 out of 2 auctions (AZ-1 and Badsey Bullet) I've now lost 3 out of 3. Seems I do much better at the auctions that are primarily non cyber events. Well thanks for keeping my life too interesting. I will now catch up on my missed night's sleep and see if my blood pressure comes back down into a more normal range.
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Sid James - 'What a Carve up!'