I reckon that it was manual gearbox and interior colour that delayed the sale of the Hammond car. The advantage of the well documented collision was that it showed that the accident was little more than a bump
The perception was different to "little more than a bump"; therefore, the perception did assist in over taking the facts.
Over the course of it being up for sale I received 3 enquiries about that car and each person raised concerns about the accident damage. I relayed the same information that I had been told, by the source of the repair, and that was: the damage was repaired correctly and despite having to have some panels replaced, there was no chassis damage. I made it clear that the factory were willing to discuss the repair and what was done to correct the damage; furthermore, that there was no lasting mechanical damage that would effect the use of the car. Despite my reassurance and that of others, none of those individuals went forward with the purchase. Whilst I cannot solely attribute this to the 'accident pedigree', the perception - due in a large part (imho) to Hammond writing about it - was that this would negatively effect future value and thus people were wary.
