Have you ever heard of this saying? Of course, you have, everybody has. At the end of the seventies, this statement came to the surface. It was the time when I resold my second Porsche 356 Cabriolet for DM 17,500 in the summer of 1980. I had bought it second-hand in 1975 for DM 7,500.
“You should have bought it back then,” the buyer of my 365 told me when he gave me the double of my purchase price. OK, I had it newly painted “for small money” including personal contribution because I was convinced that the viper-green would not fit at all to the brick-red leather interior. I changed the colour to dark blue and immediately won a price at a 365-meeting.
“You should have bought it back then”: since back then, this saying – having a sad message effect – has been pulling through the classic car scene. It turned into a prominent idea. And this idea has proven to be correct over all these past decades. The idea especially refers to missed opportunities. It does not matter if you have a different connotation of “back then”. That is, if you are talking about 10, 20 or 30 years ago.
The issue of “automotive classic” is increasingly associated with the aspect of safe investment. Therefore, we participated with four historical vehicles at the Stuttgart Fair “Invest”. The audience was looking especially for competent and reputable advice in a time that was marked by failures, misfortune and breakdowns. And none of the institutions there created the slightest doubt of not being able to provide advice up to 100 percent.
The hall was extremely crowded. The serious-faced visitors carrying bags full of info material seemed to be exhausted after stressful lectures and diverse expert discussions. Suddenly, they examined four beautiful classic cars from the late thirties and fifties. And then, something very peculiar happened in this extremely loud, overheated, and stressful atmosphere: our four automotive beauties put a spell on the expressions of these visitors! Their eyes began to light up, their views became clearer and no one paid attention to the noisy surrounding any longer.
People started conversations. Contrary to dry investment topics, these conversations were surrounded by emotions of enthusiasm and melancholy. We listened to family stories associated with classic cars from youth and student time. They spoke of missed opportunities and who owned which car back then. The time had come again. Looking at the current price of the 190 SL (1955), the visitors’ eyes widened. And all comes back to that one famous saying: “You should have bought it back then.”
No one can disagree on this awareness. One should carve it in stone since this saying will not lose its truth, not in 5, 10, or 20 years. In a few years, today will be nothing less than “back then”.
Turning to serious investment counselling: indeed, there is a whole range of automotive precious items, which show a tremendous increase in value in recent years. One can only dream that the same scenario would happen on the stock market. Please contact us, we would be happy to give you more information and advice!