I began building my car collection in the early spring of 1994. My passion for muscle cars of the past began in high school (more years ago than I would like to think about), when I lusted after many of the cars I could not possibly afford.
I consider these cars to be works of art, in a sense. They represent a time when automotive design focused on the form of a car, and its performance. By contrast, today’s vehicles are generally designed for function, driven by safety innovation and corporate fleet average fuel mileage. Thankfully, as today’s manufacturers have become more efficient at producing a broad automotive and SUV lineup, they have been able to introduce limited production performance variants again, such as the ZL1 Camaro, the ZR1 Corvette, the Shelby Mustangs, and the Dodge Hellcat and Demon. It’s about time.
I have been very fortunate in my life to have been invested in businesses that have generated enough personal wealth to allow me to indulge my passion for 1960’s and 1970’s muscle cars.
I call this collection “The Bond Portfolio.” Let me explain. My primary business interest for the past nearly 50 years has been in financial services. In that role, I have been continually exposed to investment opportunities of all types and styles. My opinion has always been that having ownership of assets is the best way to create wealth over time. Own a share of businesses that are profitable and well managed to increase your own personal wealth over the long term. For that reason, I prefer to own common stocks (which are ownership of a business asset) instead of bonds (in which an owner simply receives interest but does not share in the growth of that business).
I decided early in my career that since I felt it was not prudent to have 100% of my portfolio invested in common stocks and I really did not believe that interest bearing bonds were an asset that would generate a net after tax return, I needed another investment vehicle.
Voila! The light bulb went on. Muscle cars as an investment class… My decision was to dedicate that portion of my portfolio that would normally have been invested in bonds to ownership of various classic muscle cars, hence “The Bond Portfolio.” As I mentioned earlier, I began this pursuit in the spring of 1994. This classic car collection has changed somewhat over the years as certain vehicles have been sold and replaced with others. I have been fortunate to accumulate a number of very rare vehicles, in many cases “one of one” cars that have rare equipment, color, performance options, or low production numbers. These cars generally have the original drivetrains (engine, transmission) that they were “born with” at the factory. That factor has been a very important consideration as I have acquired the collection over the past three decades. I am not suggesting that an investment of this type is suitable for everyone, or that classic automobiles will continue to appreciate in value. It has worked for me, but keep in mind that I began to accumulate this collection nearly 30 years ago when market prices were vastly different than today.