Supercar in your lounge? How luxury homes in Bangkok, London and Florida are purpose built for petrolheads
A drive-in elevator that opens onto your front room? Check Bangkok’s Circle Sukhumvit 11 condos – or try penthouse parking in Melbourne or a James Bond-style underground vehicle stacker in London’s classy Mayfair district
Until rare Scotch whisky was added to Knight Frank’s annual Luxury Investment Index in 2019, classic cars held pole position as a consistent performer. Based on data provided by the Historic Automobile Group International (HAGI), classic car assets appreciated by 12 per cent annually between 2004 and 2009, and again in the years from 2011 and 2016. But according to Knight Frank’s Andrew Shirley, the author of the report, capital gain is not the main motivation for collectors.
Conceding that old cars are, after all, “just machines using inefficient and outdated technology”, Shirley believes the allure is in the intriguing stories behind them. “Every car has its own history, its own adventures, its own japes and probably plenty of scrapes – tales to be told and shared with fellow enthusiasts,” he says.
This adds “an entirely different element to ownership that exists far less frequently with, say, a picture, a bottle of wine or a piece of furniture”. But you also need somewhere to store them, and the garaging requirements of some passionate owners can be as high-spec as the place they will live in.
Says Shirley: “The lengths that some people go to customise their homes to accommodate their classic car collections just shows how special an asset class they belong to. If they were bought purely as an investment it would be easy to keep them in a warehouse somewhere, but their owners love to be close to them, and have even elevated them to works of art they can display in their homes.”
If you long to gaze all day and night at your prized wheels, a particular penthouse in Bangkok, boasting a sky-high garage accessed by a private car lift, might be just the ticket. Drivers can remain in their car as they’re transported to their floor of the 36-storey freehold luxury residential tower Circle Sukhumvit 11, alighting directly in their living room.
Tim Skevington, managing director of Richmont’s, affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, says this feature has “undoubtedly” been a selling point of the 219-unit condominium building. “Otherwise, in Bangkok, most owners of large car collections have tended to construct their own display facilities rather than look for a property with storage already provided,” he said.
“Buyers of Circle Sukhumvit 11 understand the appeal of being able to look at their supercar, or motorcycle, in their living rooms. It is also a talking point for visitors, and certainly has trophy property appeal for buyers who are looking for something different. Bachelors in the city are certainly most owners, but plenty of ladies like their cars, too, and have been interested in the concept of ‘living room parking’.”
As you’d expect for a £50 million (US$68 million) mansion in London’s super-prime Mayfair district, the new build Glass Mansion on Down Street Mews has hi-tech garaging described as “very James Bond” with its four-vehicle stacker. Owners drive in, exit the garage, and the system then automatically lowers the car and parks it in the basement.