"People like to own, touch, get on board, try the gearbox, study the dashboard: vintage cars, compared to art, offer this kind of emotions".
From an article in the daily newspaper La Repubblica - Business and Finance - 21/09/2020
Carlo Calarco is the founder of Hetica Capital, a Swiss asset management company specializing in the search for original asset classes with a risk-return profile designed for a small circle of investors in a Club Deal perspective.
After a career in the financial sector with major banks, Calarco set out on his own to explore the world of alternative investments.
He started with gold bars, and today the prices are skyrocketing; then in high-end hotel tourism which, apart from the stormy lockdown, has rising prices. Now Calarco is in fourth place with classic cars: "There are some funds investing in this sector, but ours will be the only fund authorized and regulated with a European Passport, in the process of being approved," says Calarco, and explains: "This is a market that has experienced exponential growth in the last decade, in Italy alone, vintage cars generate a turnover of 2.3 billion euros a yearincluding exchanges, maintenance, races and rallies that revolve around this sector".
An investment of passion, as it is called in technical terms.
"But also a reserve of value," adds Calarco.
The fund, in fact, promises returns on the capital gains generated by the acquisition, maintenance and enhancement of individual cars that will then be relocated. A scarce asset, not infinitely replicable, identifiable and socially desirable: the vintage car has the three key characteristics of a reserve of value, like gold. These days, with interest rates at a minimum, the hunt for alternative assets has begun. The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index marks +194% increase in value over the last ten years in the collector car industry, considered one of the most desirable items.
A PINK FLOYD EXAMPLE
The success of the auctions testifies to the vintage four-wheeler business. While the excitement and fascination of seeing a classic car dismantled and restored, the search for the original spare part and all the steps of the restyling explains the success of Wheeler Dealers, the British series on Discovery Channel now in its fifteenth season and which has already given rise to two spin-offs, Wheeler Dealers Trading Up and Wheeler Dealers Dream Cars.
Hetica Capital's fund will be presented in Rome on 6 and 7 October, during The Reb Concours which will be held at the Circolo del Golf Acquasanta in Rome: the test to understand the minimum investment cut for access to the fund, still to be decided. The blue chips of this market are Ferrrari. Nick Mason, founder and drummer of Pink Floyd, is one of the 36 owners of the Ferrari 250 Gto, the car model with the highest price ever reached in an auction, $48.4 million, August 2018.
Passionate about cars, with his own personal stable, Mason launched a dedicated investment fund in 2011.
Other blue chips are the Bugattis, Jaguars, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins.
In addition to the most famous models, there are numerous sites and events that register a great participation for all income brackets. They go from the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Alfa Romeo of 1947, sold for 639 thousand euros, to the Fiat Abarth 750 Spider Zagato, paid 81,529 euros, up to the BMW 21 of 1990 exchanged for 43 thousand euros, to get even cheaper models that can be purchased for a few thousand euros, such as the Fiat 500, the Beetle and Jeep.
The register of historic cars of the Aci, cars over 20 years old, is a transparency tool that allows you to view models and versions: there are now over 375 thousand cars. One of the countries where there is the greatest interest, besides Italy, is Great Britain, where the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs has estimated the turnover in the country at 5 billion pounds.