The issue at hand here is one of experience vs. perception, where reality is a lesson hard learned by multiple efforts to sell to various groups. For those of us with considerable experience in selling, the grim reality is that selling to folks in the U.S. is a real pain. Its that simple and usually very frustrating. Try it some time and you will understand. No one will make a living or even earn a net profit doing what I have been doing for the last decade trying to find good homes for these vehicles that I have saved over the last few decades. Folks in the U.S. are not able to buy the nicer vehicles, at least the ones that want the cars we cherish. They are mostly dreamers and in the end, have multiple excuses for why they won't or can't follow through with a sale and take a lot of time to deal with. Most just want to collect pictures and dream "if only this could be mine". Folks in Europe, Australia and elsewhere around the globe are just the opposite. Its that simple. Its a matter of how much time you want to waste.
I know I spend probably at least two months on each car I sell getting them in a condition that the buyer would accept when asking a sum for the car that only recovers my costs, with virtually no profit. I want my buyers to be satisfied because I want them to cherish their cars and take them to the next level and not let them just languish or the buyer feel screwed in any way.
It seems to me Tobias is much the same, and puts a lot of investment and time into many of his sales and the end sum he gets isn't really making him much money based on my experience - as he says, some cars he takes the risk of buying are worthy and some are not. You can't be doing this stuff to make money, as it won't work.
I have saved up my collection of cars over several decades. But I have to store them where they will not deteriorate too much and maintain them at least a minimal amount. I do it to save the vehicles for the future, and no sane person would do this to try and make a profit.
You, Dave, maybe sell a car or two a year, if even that, and your cars are all very nice and well maintained and have considerable exposure and waiting buyers who have the means to make them easy to find. That is not the reality I or Tobias have in front of us, at least from what I know about what Tobias is doing, and of which Bill gets to see first hand.
I have never been called a flipper by anyone yet, because simply put, I am not one of those. And given the investment, risk and labor that I see Tobias making - as he says more as a hobby and a relaxing way of spending his time, I would not call him one either. It seems those who don't do much work on cars themselves or otherwise don't sell many needing some time to make really nice have no real idea what they are talking about when throwing around that term.
This is one of those issues where listening to others and treating each other with respect goes a long way to achieving understanding where there is peace on both sides. Arguing and name calling back and forth does't work, and that is why the U.S. these days is becoming demeaned by other folks around the world and we are becoming anything but great again and other countries are profiting who aren't in our best interests. Not everything has simple answers and none of us is really as smart as we think we are, including me. Reasonable humility wins the day, and arrogance ruins us and we are all guilty of the latter if we are honest with ourselves. We can do better. We need to.
And I am very excited to see these special Furys being saved and restored. I will be watching with great interest. Excellent!