Eventually

I'm now the proud owner of a 2004 Turbo, the very car I missed out on a year ago and that I almost bought 5 weeks ago. With one difference: it cost me $94,000 (CHF 61,600), a steep $71,000 less than the price last Christmas. In a way I'm glad I didn't buy it then.
I found out about the sale by chance. A guy left me a message on the local Audi forum, saying an interesting car would go through auction at 12 noon today. I had never bought anything at a live auction before, and thought, what the hell, it might be fun.
I arrived at the auction site with 2 minutes to spare. Got my little sign with the number 57, sat down and watched. Two cars went through the auction before the Porsche. That was enough to understand that the auctioneer starts with a high price, comes down in big steps until someone bids, then resumes with upward bidding. Price for the Porsche started at $120,000 and went down to $80,000 in 10k increments. At that stage someone started to bid. The auctioner then started going up by $1,000 each time. Initially up to 6 people were bidding, and I wasn't one of them. Then, at $88k, when it seemed like no-one else was bidding, I raised the little sign. From then on it was me and another person on the phone, relayed by an employee of the auction house. I would bid relatively quickly, although the guy on the phone had about 40 seconds of delay for each bid, an excruciating wait every time. By $92,000 it was going up in $250 steps. The hammer came down at $94,000. People applauded, I was a bit dazzled and a lot happy.
Gosh this was a thrill. As per email below, I had set myself a hard stop at $107k. My pulse rate was around 180bpm all that time, with a dry mouth and everything. I understand how one can get carried away in the heat of the moment.
I've driven away with the car. It goes as well as, in fact a bit better than, I remember. Interestingly, I almost got stranded 10 minutes after leaving the auction site. The car was indicating low fuel when I picked it up. To make things worse, I got hopelessly lost in the local suburb immediately after leaving the auction. Asked someone for directions to a petrol station, put 20 litres of '95 in, off again. The car was still indicating low fuel. I thought it must have been an electrical fault and was starting to get annoyed. When I stopped 15 minutes later to fill it up with '98, it took another 45 litres. Considering the tank has a capacity of 64 litres, that car must have been running on fuel vapours when I picked it up!
Anyway, I'm a happy camper right now. Thanks chaps for the patience you've displayed since I almost bought that car a year ago, to the day!
David