After closing its doors in January, the scrappy darling once known as Local Motors is now little more than a collection of 439 lots that go up for auction in March. Silicon Valley Disposition (SVD) is handling the asset sale, and it appears the assets are located at Local Motors’ former Knoxville, Tennessee, base instead of the former Chandler, Arizona, headquarters. We figure the bidding will be hottest for Lot 6, a black 2012 Rally Fighter, and Lot 7, a red, white and blue 2015 Rally Fighter. The first is powered by a 6.2-liter GM LS3 V8 with 430 horsepower, shifts through a four-speed transmission, has covered 41,926 miles, and fits accessories like a winch and a light bar. The second is claimed to be powered by a 6.6-liter GM V8 also making 430 hp, its upgraded transmission getting column-mounted paddle shifters, but we think that’s a misprint and it’s the 6.2, and it’s only covered 24,800 miles. There were about 100 made from 2010 to 2017, with such a tiny secondhand sales sample it’s hard to tell what these will go for. But anyone looking for a potential deal should start here.
The rest is everything you’d expect from a small outfit that, after the Rally Fighter, got into 3D-printing a range of vehicles. There are two examples of the 3D-printed Strati hiding a Renault Twizy drivetrain, and one of the 3D-printed Swim that hides a BMW i3 drivetrain. There are 13 Olli autonomous shuttles, 11 of the first-gen and two of the second-gen. There’s a 2004 Chevy Silverado 3500 chassis cab with a 6.6-liter Duramax V8 and 214,000 miles, as well as a dual-axle Vision cargo trailer with a ramp door.
And oh, are there tools, testing equipment, and car parts. Need a precision salt spraying tester or an Instron fatigue load frame? Be at this auction. Need a vertical saw, table saw, TIG welder, planer, downdraft table, or 28 Milwaukee power tools being sold as one lot? SVD would like your bid. Need Jeep suspension bushings, an ATE brake booster, or a Moog control arm? Smash that “Watch” button.
Because Local Motors spent the past five years working on autonomous EVs, anyone interested in lidar sensors, Wallbox chargers, or power inverters should peruse the aisles. The custom Local Motors chargers made to look like vintage gas bowsers would make cool tchotchkes in one of those man cave destination garages.
Bidding runs March 15-17, all items “sold as is, where is and with all faults” and with no warranties nor guarantees, but some small print says that “all offers are subjects to the client’s final approval.” So the deals might just be sweet, instead of SWEET.