California man's professional commercial to sell fiancee's 1996 Honda goes viral, rakes in eBay bids

It's not easy to sell a used car — especially one that's over 20 years old.

So Max Lanman, a writer and director, put his professional skills to use to help his fiancee Carrie sell her 1996 Honda Accord coupe.

Lanman, who is from Los Altos but now lives in the Los Angeles area, created a minute-long ad with an actress driving the car, dubbed "Greenie," over a picturesque cliff-side road overlooking the Pacific.

"You. You're different," the narrator says at the start of the video. "You do things your way. That's what makes you one of a kind."

The parody ad culminates with a signature tagline: "Luxury is a state of mind."

Greenie, which is being sold on eBay, was initially priced as a steal — $499 — relative to the approximate Kelley Blue Book value of $1,432. However, thanks to Lanman's ad, which apparently instigated a bidding war, the car may earn the couple more than $20,000.

Max Lanman made a professionally-produced ad to sell his fiancee's 1996 Honda Accord. Max Lanman made a professionally-produced ad to sell his fiancee's 1996 Honda Accord. Photo: Max Lanman Photo: Max Lanman Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close California man's professional commercial to sell fiancee's 1996 Honda goes viral, rakes in eBay bids 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

"It has been shocking," Lanman tells SFGATE of the swift public response to the ad. "We had high hopes for it; we could dream it would go viral or serve as a calling card for commercial or comedy work, but this has completely shattered expectations."

As it was a goofy "extracurricular," Lanman spent roughly a year making the video, but notes he had the idea a few years ago while driving to Big Sur.

"It just dawned on me that it would be funny to make a high end commercial for a crappy car," he says. "Incidentally (Carrie) drove the same car that she drove in high school. She's a super sentimental person so it took two years for her to be ready to sell it."

Finally, on Thursday, Lanman posted the YouTube link for the video on Reddit. At the time, he "didn't think it had a fighting chance" for attention, adding, "These days, things going organically viral is so rare."

But apparently, he was mistaken. There have been 90 bids so far for the car, and the current bid on the site sits at $21,100.

"(Carrie's) blown away," Lanman says. "But she's really excited for me to get it out of here."

Watch the full ad above.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.

