By Luke Gilmore
Working at Madison Automotive has been a very unique experience for me. As a marketing intern, my main tasks are to manage our social media accounts and website. I was assigned a task to take photos for an auction on “Bring-a-Trailer”. A friend of ours came to us with a very rare car. It was a 1963 Porsche 356B Super 90 which used to be a factory-owned press car until it was sold in Germany and eventually imported to the United States. Before it was repainted in silver, the car used to have a one-off color combination. Its original color was “RAL5007 Brilliant Blue” with a black hardtop. The blue color was not from the factory. It was basically a “paint-to-sample” color before paint-to-sample existed. The car also had matching engine numbers all with “356”. What are the odds?! The car arrived in early December and I got straight to work.
I’ve had a few friends do Bring-a-Trailer photoshoots so I was aware of the amount of work I would have to put in. I went to their website and downloaded a huge list of types of photos that I would have to take so the car could be approved. I began with the exterior. I had to take photos of every angle, detail, and imperfection. I had to get photos of the car with the top on and off. I learned so much about 356’s in the process. I learned what every button and latch was for. I really hope I’ll be able to own one someday. Some of the more difficult photos to get were the undercarriage photos. We had to get the car up on a lift and I slid under to get the photos. I used a headlamp for additional lighting. Luckily our shop is extremely clean so I didn’t have to worry about getting filthy! I realized very quickly how detailed you have to be with auction photos. You really have to make sure you don’t hide anything from potential buyers. A single set of numbers on a car could instantly make it so much more valuable. Once the photos and the write-up were completed, the auction was on!