Whether you’re doing a traditional sale or an auction, the number one priority between having the listing go live and having the title signed over is making sure nothing happens to the car. Partly because you still have a soft spot for the machine you’re selling but largely because you want the sale process to be as easy as possible. Fixing anything on a deadline already sucks, but fixing something on a deadline for someone else? Woof. As such, it’s not uncommon for cars up for sale to remain parked until they’re sold because the world is a wild place, as one Bring A Trailer seller recently experienced.
The subject of this tale is a Ford Econoline van. I know, you’re probably picturing the somewhat nondescript white fleet vehicle that launched thousands of bands’ touring careers and served as faithful fleet vehicles for hundreds of thousands. This isn’t that sort of Ford Econoline, nor is it one of those decked-out ’90s conversion vans with a VCR.
Instead, it’s a pristine 1972 Econoline E-200 Club Wagon Chateau, heavy emphasis on pristine. With just 1,800 miles on the clock when it went up for auction, this might’ve been the nicest van of its sort on Earth. From the blue paint to the gleaming chrome, this really was a case of find-another because genuinely, you won’t.
Understandably, with a vehicle of this caliber, the seller did everything right. An enormous image gallery of more than 370 photographs, paint meter readings, walkaround videos, basically the whole nine yards. The only thing that was missing was a driving video. Bidding quickly crept up past the $30,000 mark, but five days into the auction, disaster struck.
On May 9, the seller of this lovely Ford Econoline popped into the comments section and wrote the following:
Good morning, unfortunately yesterday when I had the van out to do a driving video, I was involved in an accident when elderly man pulled out in front of me. @BaT has been notified. Until we deal with the insurance company which should be fun, I have no idea at this time what the final outcome will be on what we do with the van. Thank you all for the bids and the kind comments it deservedly received! I’m sure after seeing this you all feel as sick as I do at the moment. To all the moms out there have a Happy Mother’s Day!
Oh. Oh no. Understandably, this update came with some photographic evidence and the pictures are as soul-crushing as you can imagine.
There’s some bad news and good news here. The good news is that if the van was on an agreed value policy, it’s unlikely to be totalled. The bad news is 1: Just look at it, and 2: It won’t ever quite be the same. Understandably, Bring A Trailer withdrew the auction on Monday, but that still leaves the seller with a dented van to fix.
Now, Bring A Trailer’s been around long enough and moved enough metal that this isn’t the first time a car’s been damaged before the hammer dropped. If you’ve been a reader for a while, you might remember that in 2025, a remarkably nice Corolla wagon got rear-ended while it was up for auction. That one really sucked, partly because it wasn’t a hugely valuable vehicle to begin with and partly because the crash rippled the quarter panel, making the necessary repair far more expensive than a light bumper cover tap.
In a similar vein, a DeTomaso Pantera that would go on to be owned by Ford CEO Jim Farley was damaged during a test drive in 2018 when it was up for auction on Bring A Trailer. As the seller wrote:
Full disclosure: a potential buyer was test driving it, and I was in the passenger seat. Going onto the highway, too much power was put down on tires that weren’t hot enough. We spun facing traffic and a van swiped the side at highway speed. No one hurt, and the damage is cosmetic only
Visually, it was a pretty unfortunate hit, denting the right door and quarter panel and trading some paint. Sure, sheet metal can be massaged back to its intended contouring and paint can be reapplied, but that doesn’t make this incident suck any less.
Anyway, let this be a periodic reminder of the risks that can surface when selling a car. Fingers crossed the owner of this Econoline can have it back in fighting form soon, with the sort of panel-beating and paintwork that suits such a well-kept example.
Top graphic image: Bring A Trailer
Good timing with this article and the Mecum crash that just happened with the Mustang Mach 1 and the stuck throttle.
Meh… that body, grill and light damage is relatively minor and is fixable.
It’ll get fixed. And it will cost the owner some money. It’s nothing to feel sick over.
Shit happens. You disclose it, cancel the auction, get it fixed and auction it off at some future date.
In the greater scheme of things, this is small potatoes/First World Problems compared to the other shit going on it the world today.
That old van and old man has waited for a long time for things to come together like this
Old people……..hmmmph……
I can’t help but wonder if the distraction of recording the video led to delayed braking response. Always a hazard.