John Connolly, columnist from The Australian, shared with his audience how to make a fortune buying cars. He demonstrates, with many similarities to BitCar’s vision, the appreciation of cars and the factors he holds to account, whilst searching for the perfect car. He calls them his ‘six golden rules’ and they are ones you shouldn’t ignore. He put them together with friend and publisher of the Hagerty Price Guide, Dave Kinney.
The Six Golden Rules
Rule 1: Buy the best example of what you can afford.
Kinney points out that “there is a huge difference in value between ‘kinda nice’ and a ‘standout’ car”. You can buy a kind of nice 1973 Porsche 911 Targa for USD $91,000 or a serious low-mileage investment grade one will cost you $292,000.
In 1973, Roy Eller brought his Kelly Green Targa and decided it would be a great investment, so he naturally put it into storage with 3400 miles on it. 30 years later it was sold by Dave Gooding for $426,000.
In 1980 Peter Briggs, our BitCar advisor, brought the 1963 Jaguar E-Type Lightweight for $76,000 and sold it in 1999 for $800,000. In January last year Bonhams sold it for $9.7M.
Rule 2: The more original the better, most of the time.
In 1967, driver Ugo Pillon found a 1925 Bugatti at the bottom of Lake Como. In 2009, he brought it to the surface for Bonhams to auction for charity. Pete Mullion, who made billions selling financial services and owns his own art deco car museum, paid $500,000 for it.
Rule 3: Documentation reigns supreme.
A golden rule we at BitCar follow very strictly is clear provenance and documentation. Roy Eller’s car, the Targa, had all the original documentation and parts ranging from original sales invoice, owner’s manual, maintenance record, warranty book, Porsche certificate of authenticity, even down to the tool kit, leather key fob, registration cards and sales documentation dating back to 1973. As Connolly states “no documents, no buy”.
Rule 4: Buy rare cars with a history.
The history of the car speaks a lot about its value. Cars that have that rarity factor, the more famous the owner or driver, the more important the serial number, the better the investment.
For example what would be the valuation of a car that was one of 10 ever built; a podium at Le Mans, Monte Carlo, the Tour de France; driven by Mossie, Fangio, Shelby or all three of them? Now that is one story worth telling.
Briggs’ 1963 Jaguar E-Type Lightweight was owned from new by Australian motor racing legend Bob Jane, before being auctioned by Bonhams for the $9.7M. A good story always makes for a good sale.
Rule 5: Look at the demographics.
Cars are an emotional buy for most, so why wouldn’t an investment piece be? If you look to Baby-boomer classic car buyers, they generally want the cars like E-types, that they couldn’t afford when they were teenagers. If you’re 60 go down a generation and buy a car from the 70s, which will see 20 year’s more of growth.
Rule 6: You have to love it and you have to love driving it.
As we mentioned, cars are an emotional buy for the thrill of the ride, for the memories, or the lust factor. Don’t just buy it as an investment. Buy it to become an advocate for it. Show it, have articles written about it, a museum to showcase it, like Briggs.
Here at BitCar we share the vision in pursuing the best cars for the benefit of our community. Originality creates more hype and documentation shows authenticity and cars with history have a sense of uniqueness to them, that has matured over time. We are going through extraordinary lengths to ensure that our cars are in impeccable condition.
Now remember, this is not about buying a classic car, but actually investing in the hope that it will be worth more than you paid for at some time in the future. Individual brands of cars like Ferraris from 1958 to 1973 have left every other asset for dead, but so have some more recent Porsches and other supercars. Old cars used to be 25 years old. Now they can be collectables at 25 months. — John Connolly
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