RIP @BringATrailor Nov 10,2022-Nov 16, 2022
Earlier last week, in response to Elon Musk’s renewed enforcement of impersonation accounts spurred on by abuse of Twitter’s new $8 self-verification feature, @BringATrailor was born.
Started by Twitter user Darwin Brandis, who goes by @dtbbtythesea on the bird site, the Bring A Trailer parody account was meant to poke fun at the absurdity of some of the car auctions that make their way through the billion dollar auto marketplace.
Using the same logo as the original Bring A Trailer and posting tweets in the same style as BAT, car enthusiasts quickly noticed the parody account, followed @BringATrailor, and regularly retweeted whatever Brandis posted.
Here’s a couple examples of Tweets.
And here are some quotes of embedded tweets via Auto Spies that no longer exist (obviously.)
“SOLD: 9-owner, 2500 mile 2018 Maserati Ghibli, for $12,995.“
“SOLD: 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera in Fargo brown, for $80,000.”
For the not-so-obvious Bring A Trailor tweets and for people who followed both accounts (real and parody) it was hard to distinguish which tweet was from which account.
Thankfully, some tweets, like these quoted below, were easier to distinguish.
“Now Live at BaT Auctions: A truck from when we were a country. An actual country.”
“Now Live at BaT Auctions: Just a whole bunch of Ferrari shit that no one really needs but someone’s rich pepaw died and living off crypto really isn’t an option anymore.”
Bring A Trailor even caught Jalopnik’s and The Drive’s attention, both car blogs recognizing Bring A Trailor’s rapid growth and contribution to the car Twitter community in light of unwanted Musk-related turmoil.
Brandis must’ve known the writing was on the wall as he made the most @BringATrailor’s six days on the site, tweeting multiple times a day and amassing thousands of followers in the process.
Earlier yesterday Brandis confirmed what we all saw coming, someone caught wind of Bring A Trailer’s twin, reported the account, and got @BringATrailor permanently suspended.
Well guys, we had some fun.
— Darwin Brandis (@dtbbythesea) November 16, 2022
Thanks for playing along.#BringATrailor pic.twitter.com/6rE0kmeooJ
Guys if you wouldn’t mind sharing with the rest of our new BAT friends, I’d appreciate it.
— Darwin Brandis (@dtbbythesea) November 16, 2022
The real fun was the friends we met along the way.
And talking shit about the cars.
That was pretty fun. #BringATrailor pic.twitter.com/MmGhTNQbl7
Car Twitter paid their respects.
You did good. That was some hilarious stuff.
— Zack Klapman (@ZackKlapman) November 17, 2022
This was genuinely fun, thank you
— Dan Ristine (@DanRistine) November 16, 2022
Bravo! It was so well done and fun while it lasted! pic.twitter.com/auL77NueKN
— Mark Webb (@WWebbMark) November 16, 2022
Brandis seems to be taking the death of his pet project in stride.
Now I can spend more time on personal bad takes.
— Darwin Brandis (@dtbbythesea) November 16, 2022
While unfortunate, if anyone wants to take up where Brandis left off (or even Brandis himself if he’s feeling nostalgic) there’s literally nothing stopping someone from making a Bring A Trailerz, Brung A Trailer, Brought A Trailer, Bring An Trailer etc.
Also, in the spirit of pointing out how absurd this $8 self-verification system is, why not start some other car-related parody accounts?
How about a @Japolink, @TheDerive, @MoterTrend, or a @CarAndRidor?
Musk shenanigans are here for far longer than we like so a bit of car twitter levity is in order.
