Kidtson SA
I worked in Kidston SA for my third week of work experience. I flew over to Geneva on Sunday the 25th of February. Kidtson SA is a world classic and vintage car auction house. I started on Monday the 26th, I got in the office at 9am, I was introduced to the team, there are six people working in the office, Simon Kidston, Emanuele, Arthur, Kirsten, Micheal and Cristiana. I was told my working hours which were from 9am to to 6pm. There was also an intern who started that day as well called Michel, he was unbelievably helpful. We started by looking at some of the booklets that they have for the cars they are selling or have sold. These booklets are hugely important because it shows the history of the car and they also have the facts about the car like the chassis number which is very important for vintage cars. For instance some of the cars raced in Le Mans back in the 1900’s, its very important to have pictures of that car racing in these races as it’s proof if its history and adds value to the car because of it’s history. We looked at three of these booklets, a McLaren F1, a Ferrari 250 SWB and a Ferrari 250 SWB California. The booklets were an amazing introduction to the industry because it showed what’s important in each individual vintage car. I was helping Michel by comparing Ferrari F40 prices that are Swiss registered.
Tuesday was as fun as Monday. I wrote up the prices of Jaguars, Aston Martins, Ferraris and Lamborghinis on excel. These cars were going to be sold at auction, I had to write the excellent price that they could get for a car, the original price of the car, a good price and an average price. In the afternoon I had to find clips in videos of a Ford GT40 MK II racing in Le Mans in 1967. What was so special about this particular car was that for it’s first two seasons it raced as it came out of the factory, this meant that it had no racing specifications added to it, unlike the cars it was racing against. This GT40 did very well in all the races during it’s first two seasons. The final thing I did on Tuesday was compare six Ferrari 250 GTE Series II. This meant I had to go to there library and find the car in the auction books. I had to make sure everything was correct and add anything that I thought would be important that the other cars didn’t have.
Wednesday felt a lot longer than the days before as I had to rearrange there business card book in alphabetical order which took nearly the whole day as they had do many. I still learnt quite a bit as I read a few magazines and looked at a few auction books. I would go also out for lunch with Michel and we would talk about cars and the industry, which was also very helpful.
Thursday was another interesting day as I started to help Michel make a booklet for a 1973 Porshe 2.7 Carrera 911 RS. I had made chapters for the book. Each chapter of the book was a different race, we put the original picture of this car racing in the right chapter. I did a few small jobs for Arthur, Micheal and Emmanuele like scanning and rearranging the books in the library. I also talked about different cars with Arthur and Michel, I learnt so much as they have an unbelievable knowledge about vintage. I also did a bit of research on a Jaguar D Type because I had a bit of free time and everyone was busy doing there own work. Towards the end of the day I had to try and find all the black Mercedes 300sl that had a red interior and had rudge wheels that were imported to Paris. If a 300sl has rudge wheels it makes it more valuable as they made very few.
On Friday I brought in some pain au chocolat and some croissant as a little thank you, because they had a very busy week and they allowed me to work in the office. We finished the Porshe booklet on Friday morning. I did a lot of scanning that day as it was the last day of the week and they needed all the scanning to be done. In the afternoon I researched different cars like a Aston Martin DB3S, I also learnt the difference between the DB4 and the DB5, as I could never tell them apart. I was very annoyed when the week was over as I had so much fun and I learnt so much. Everyone was so kind and helpful and the atmosphere in the office was really nice.
I didn’t think I would learn as much as I did. This is 100% an industry I would like to work in when I grow up, as I love cars and it seems to be a very exciting job.
Tuesday was as fun as Monday. I wrote up the prices of Jaguars, Aston Martins, Ferraris and Lamborghinis on excel. These cars were going to be sold at auction, I had to write the excellent price that they could get for a car, the original price of the car, a good price and an average price. In the afternoon I had to find clips in videos of a Ford GT40 MK II racing in Le Mans in 1967. What was so special about this particular car was that for it’s first two seasons it raced as it came out of the factory, this meant that it had no racing specifications added to it, unlike the cars it was racing against. This GT40 did very well in all the races during it’s first two seasons. The final thing I did on Tuesday was compare six Ferrari 250 GTE Series II. This meant I had to go to there library and find the car in the auction books. I had to make sure everything was correct and add anything that I thought would be important that the other cars didn’t have.
Wednesday felt a lot longer than the days before as I had to rearrange there business card book in alphabetical order which took nearly the whole day as they had do many. I still learnt quite a bit as I read a few magazines and looked at a few auction books. I would go also out for lunch with Michel and we would talk about cars and the industry, which was also very helpful.
Thursday was another interesting day as I started to help Michel make a booklet for a 1973 Porshe 2.7 Carrera 911 RS. I had made chapters for the book. Each chapter of the book was a different race, we put the original picture of this car racing in the right chapter. I did a few small jobs for Arthur, Micheal and Emmanuele like scanning and rearranging the books in the library. I also talked about different cars with Arthur and Michel, I learnt so much as they have an unbelievable knowledge about vintage. I also did a bit of research on a Jaguar D Type because I had a bit of free time and everyone was busy doing there own work. Towards the end of the day I had to try and find all the black Mercedes 300sl that had a red interior and had rudge wheels that were imported to Paris. If a 300sl has rudge wheels it makes it more valuable as they made very few.
On Friday I brought in some pain au chocolat and some croissant as a little thank you, because they had a very busy week and they allowed me to work in the office. We finished the Porshe booklet on Friday morning. I did a lot of scanning that day as it was the last day of the week and they needed all the scanning to be done. In the afternoon I researched different cars like a Aston Martin DB3S, I also learnt the difference between the DB4 and the DB5, as I could never tell them apart. I was very annoyed when the week was over as I had so much fun and I learnt so much. Everyone was so kind and helpful and the atmosphere in the office was really nice.
I didn’t think I would learn as much as I did. This is 100% an industry I would like to work in when I grow up, as I love cars and it seems to be a very exciting job.