The Rise of the Collector-Car “Influencer”

Many of us enthusiasts who enjoy performing basic repairs on our collector cars have discovered that a play-by-play tutorial is usually only a click away on YouTube. Indeed, the Google-owned video website has become a go-to for open exchange of information and opinions among fans of nearly everything. Videos about music, comedy, fashion, religion, sports, cats, and anything in between all get shared by various content creators. Many are just passion-driven individuals looking to spread their knowledge to a broader audience in entertaining, self-produced videos.

Yet there is another level to YouTube content creation, which has proven to be quite profitable for the most successful. These professional “YouTubers” have gained a strong following and earn money by the use of advertising placement on their videos. Content creators gain subscribers when someone watching a video clicks on a button to subscribe to that “channel.” The subscriber is then notified by YouTube each time a new video is released. A YouTuber’s subscriber totals are tallied instantaneously on their channel, the ultimate measure of their popularity.

YouTube’s broad and diverse reach allows these creators to tap into various interests and communities, making it an invaluable tool for spreading information and generating revenue.

A perfect synergy

Unsurprisingly, people, cars and YouTube go together like air, fuel and spark. The collector-car world has a strong presence on YouTube, with some extraordinarily successful content producers. Channels such as “Hoovies Garage,” “Petrolicious” and “The Smoking Tire” count their viewers in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Scotty Kilmer’s “Learn How to Fix Your Own Car” channel has 3.8 million followers.

While YouTube is by no means a new phenomenon, some of the larger effects of the popularity of it and other forms of social media are only now playing out. There comes a time when some YouTubers graduate to the next level and become what is known as “influencers.” The best definition I’ve found to explain the transition comes from a May 31, 2019, article in The Atlantic, “The Real Difference Between Creators and Influencers.”

Influencer is a platform-agnostic term. It describes anyone who leverages social media to grow a following and exerts influence over that following in order to make money. An influencer might buy Instagram followers to instantly blow up on Instagram and then starts selling beauty products via sponsored posts. Or the stay-at-home mom turned fashion vlogger who uses her following on YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest to shill her custom-clothing line. Or the middle-aged chef whose homemade-cooking videos generate thousands of views on Instagram and Twitter and who uses that audience to promote his own cookbook.

Or the car guy who builds a following on YouTube and uses it to launch a new business venture.

Top-dog Doug

In the world of collector-car influencers, I can think of no better example of a “top dog” than Doug DeMuro. His YouTube channel, launched in December 2013, currently has about 3.9 million followers. Once you watch a few of his videos, you will immediately understand why.

A drive-along video accompanies each review, and saying that his comments are entertaining is an understatement. The authenticity in the way he speaks on camera is endearing. DeMuro delivers his dialogue in an engaging fashion, unrehearsed. He has that same geeky quality and passion that we as enthusiasts appreciate when we get together with our friends for our monthly Cars & Coffee events and car shows. DeMuro comes from the automotive-journalist world, where he worked for Autotrader and Jalopnik, and eventually as the editor of the “Oversteer” blog.

It’s interesting to see how his production quality has improved dramatically over time. In September of 2016, DeMuro made his YouTube channel his primary focus. The official and now famous “Doug Score” — 10 criteria with a final point tally at each review’s conclusion — did not appear in his videos until the summer of 2017, when he reviewed one of his own cars, a 2006 Range Rover. Most of the cars DeMuro reviews are modern-era collectible cars and exotics.

Cars and bids

As his following continued to grow, DeMuro realized he could potentially parlay his success on YouTube into another successful business venture. His vision was to create an online auction website that would focus solely on collector cars from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He felt that this segment of the market had been underserved and was viewed by established players as uninteresting. At that time, it was believed there was an unwillingness to participate in online auctioning of these cars.

DeMuro eventually launched Cars and Bids (www.carsandbids.com) in June 2020. He did YouTube marketing on his YouTube channel for promotion prior to the initial launch date. With his vast audience, it was easy to predict some immediate attention. The first car that was put up for auction was his own, a 2012 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG wagon. In a lead-by-example move, the car was offered with no reserve, selling for $35,000 after 37 bids.

At the time of this writing, 52 cars will hammer on Cars and Bids over the next seven days. The sell-through rate on the site — over 80% — is quite impressive. DeMuro has confirmed that the focus will remain solely on modern classics. I asked him if a request to list a show-quality 1956 Mercedes-Benz Gullwing with no reserve was received, would it be considered? DeMuro was quick to reply that it would not — and that vehicles produced before 1980 are not considered for auction.

Early success with Cars and Bids has proven that DeMuro’s belief in this segment of the collector-car market was accurate. It has also shown that the collector-car world — often as analog and traditional as the cars around which it has mostly revolved — is not immune to the long-term effects of technology and social media. ♦