Classic cars offer investors handsome returns
Collecting classic cars has long been a passion for the rich, but the hobby has become serious business
There is a slight May chill in the air as car enthusiasts descend on the magnificent grounds of Villa d’Este, the luxurious Lake Como venue for the annual Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, where some of the best classic cars and new concept cars are on show.
The foremost Italian classic car event is by invitation only and, hence, is a more modest show than the more public Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey Beach, California, every August, and Goodwood Festival of Speed in west Sussex, England, in November.
This year’s event is by no means any less riveting with a selection of cars that includes classic Ferraris, Aston Martins and a US$40 million Bugatti 57 SC Atlantic Coupé with a coachwork from Jean Bugatti that was built in 1938.
Drawing slightly more attention than the Bugatti was its owner, American fashion designer Ralph Lauren, who decided to make his first appearance at the show. Lauren has one of the best collections of classic cars in the world. Although he refuses to disclose how many cars he owns, estimates have put the number at more than 70. In 2011, he put 17 of them – including a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder and a 1955 Jaguar XKD – on display at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
“I had another car here before but this is a fantastic car, and I’m really happy to be here.
Everyone is so excited. I’m a fashion designer, but to me cars are like moving art,” Lauren says. His effort to ship himself and his gleaming black Bugatti to Lake Como paid off: the car won Best of Show and also in its category, plus Lauren walked away with a unique model of the Lange 1 Time Zone crafted exclusively for the event by Saxon watchmaker A.
Lange & Söhne, which is sponsoring the event for the second year.
Lauren is in the highest echelon of the world of classic cars, a strata that includes serious collectors such as comedian Jay Leno, the Sultan of Brunei, and Hong Kong’s Michael Kadoorie, chairman of utility firm CLP Holdings and Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, the owner of The Peninsula hotels, whose own collection includes a 1912 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost believed to be one of only five ever built.
Collecting classic cars has always been a passion for the rich, but in the past decade or so, the hobby has also become serious business and brought savvy investors some very handsome returns. According to The Wealth Report 2013, released last month by Knight Frank, the value of classic cars has gone up by 28 per cent in the past year and a staggering 430 per cent in the past decade. This compares with 6 per cent and 183 per cent for art, 2 per cent and 146 per cent for jewellery, and 3 per cent and 182 per cent for wine over the same periods.
The marque topping the 2012 classics chart is Ferrari, with values of top-end models going up by 55 per cent, compared with 24 per cent for Mercedes- Benz and 13 per cent for Porsche. The most expensive car ever sold on auction has been the US$35m Ferrari 1962 GTO 250, made originally for British racing legend Stirling Moss. Coming in a close second is a 1960s Ferrari Spyder sold for US$27.5m last month at Pebble Beach.