Domainer's Gazette-Home

My brother is a car guy, and his car of choice is a Porsche (a preference that has also rubbed off on me - although I don’t own one).

You wanna know his recent obsession? Buying wrecked Porsche’s at auction, then rebuilding them to spec. No, not mangled cars that have been ripped in half, or ones that have caught on fire or got soaked in Hurricane Katrina. He buys the lightly wrecked cars - cars that get hit on the non-engine side (engine is the toughest thing to repair)..

As I sit on the sideline, and watch him analyze, bid, purchase, and rebuild these cars, I can’t help but match the close associations this has to the domain auction business.

consider this car that he recently sent me:

1986 Porsche 930 Turbo

and his follow up note regarding the car:

Hey, Here is a fantasic 86 930 with low miles. The
car looks completely stock. It was definitely owned
by a collector. The muffler, steering wheel and
stereo are original. Those items are almost always
replaced. This car looks like it was pampered all
it’s life. It will sell for around $10-12K and it
need around $10K worth of work. It would make a great
weekend car for the porsche enthusiast.

If this car were a domain, I’d be all over it. Here’s why:

1. It’s been pampered all its life - not to sound lazy, but what’s better than acquiring a domain that’s been pampered for years? All the work’s already been done, and in a way, you almost get to reap its reward. It’s comparible to watching a marathon runner accomplish 26.19 miles, and having the runner hand you their number to cross the finish line.
2. You can Fix other People Mistakes - Mistakes and mis-management will wreck any website, and lead someone to abandon a domain name. Rather than try to stick with it and right the ship, most will bolt. That’s where you can come in to right the wrongs, and monetize a valuable asset.
3. It’s extremely rare - 1986 930 Turbos rarely ever come up for auction. Especially in this type of condition. The patient and persistent uncover these types of gems . The same goes for domains. Alot expire every day, and within those ranks, a few ‘86 930 Turbos can be found.
4. Seeing Value Where Others Might Not - some people view this car as a wrecked piece of garbage, while others see it as the finest production that Porsche’s made to date.

If anybody’s in the market for an unbelievable Porsche, though, let me know.. this thing is a doozy.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 11:34 am and is filed under Domaining. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.