How does CR feel about million dollars garages housing million dollar cars..

[cruizin01]

that never get driven? Zero mile cars taking up space..

 

Maybe this is the wrong forum as it will be biased but I can't be in the minority here thinking its sorta silly.

 

To have them just as an art collection, while I sort of understand I just think its a waste to miss out on everything the car offers as a machine and not just a statue.

 

I was called out by someone who has a vested interest in an individual with these taste in cars. I just don't imagine most car enthusiast don't have a similar feeling.

 

Thoughts CR?

[greg1647545532]

Depends on the car. I think when you get up to the 7 figure range, a lot of cars are probably unique examples of automotive history and probably should be treated like museum pieces, only trotted out for Pebble Beach, Goodwood, or the occasional late night run to Taco Bell.

 

Buying a brand new Huayra and never driving it, that I don't understand. But it's so far from anything I can relate to that, meh, why would anyone care what I think?

[iwashmycar]

I'm cool with it. You have the cash, you do what you want. They will be good to potentially have in some low-mileage, clean state in 100 years.

[cruizin01]

I understand the history aspect of wanting clean vehicles down the road for generations to enjoy but I feel you can do that very well with low mileage cars. I'm not suggesting every hyper car gets daily driven. Just that it pains me to have a collection of cars that all have ZERO miles on them.

[BigOxley]

I like driving cars, not going to hate on anyone who likes a show piece. I wouldn't buy anything to watch it sit personally.

 

Go buy precious metals if you want a tangible investment

[l36tols1]

Jealous I don't have the disposable income that they have.

[o0n8]

I'm cool with it. You have the cash, you do what you want.

 

+1

 

I'd love to see the cars being driven out sometime and I would if I owned them. People do the same thing with Nikes so...

[zeitgeist57]

I have 5 cars and I struggle with not using them on a regular basis. If any of them reliably appreciated in value, I'd sell in an instant.

 

Agreed: if you have the money to buy and sit on nice cars, good for you. I do get a lot of satisfaction owning cars that I really love. I know the feeling of lusting after a car - it's a passion, so if you have the money to grab something just to own it, I can understand the feeling.

[cruizin01]

I know the feeling of lusting after a car - it's a passion, so if you have the money to grab something just to own it, I can understand the feeling.

 

But is that lust the same if you'll never get to fire it up and take it for a drive? It will most likely only ever get pushed around your garage and only ever seen if people come over to see it or maybe it'll get trailered somewhere.

 

To have friends/family/kids get excited over seeing it, "Hey, awesome car, lets take it for a ride" "nah, sorry it cant be driven"..

 

Like owning a boat that won't float, or a super awesome home audio setup that never gets to play music.

 

But yes, to each their own if that's what they want to do with it. I'm just puzzled by it. I feel life is too short to acquire things of that magnitude only to never full enjoy it.

[HotCarl]

I think it all boils down to utility. How do you view your car, what kind of utility does it represent to you. I love my truck but I don't freak out over every little dent and ding. However if I owned a "nice" car, or even a rare, collectible I'm sure i would feel different. Some car's are meant to be driven, some cars have survived long enough to be admired.

[Geeto67]

When I used to work for Team Obsolete, Rob used the business floor of his office to store a lot of his motorcycle collection. I remember walking in there and seeing Dick Mann's BSA Rocket three and being in complete awe of it....until I found out the engine cases were empty because the engine had grenaded in racing years ago and what was in there was mocked up to be more of a museum piece than a motorcycle. And there were other bikes like this. At the time in my mind motorcycles, even old racing ones with historic pedigree should be used in anger, but over time as I got to see the life cycle of a race bike I became appreciative of these museum pieces because it was preferable to them being scrapped never to exist again.

 

A couple years ago I went to the Air and Space Museum's Udvar Hazy center at Dulles. I grew up in general aviation and there were more than a few airplanes I had seen actually flying and one or two I had actually sat in or flown as a passenger in prior to it's retirement. The whole place felt like a taxidermy museum to me, and I found myself getting quite sad. The same thing happened to me when I went to Dayton and saw Cole Palin's spad - having met cole many times and seen his workshop and that airplane as a teenager. I feel like old airplanes are a visceral experience, it isn't enough to just see one static, you have to feel the heat off them, smell the oil and musty interiors, hear the noise, watch it flex in the wind from either inside or from the ground. Otherwise they just look like a bunch of dead birds in gilded cages.

 

oddly I don't feel closer to airplanes than racing motorcycles when it comes to restored muscle cars and classics. Pedestrian stuff that was meant to be used should be used. Do you have to DD it? no, but seriously, a hemi 'cuda convertible provides no real visceral appeal over a 318 powered basic barracuda convertible. No good historical event attached? drive the thing. 1 or 1? yeah so is a modified car.

 

but that's old stuff.....what about new?

 

I feel the same about new high tech stuff as I do about airplanes for a different reason. Something like a bugatti, or mclaren...it has no history, It's intrinsic value is in the technological solutions to conventional automotive performance problems. If it isn't out there being used and experienced, making history, creating a good story...it's worthless. Squandered potential.

 

One of the things that is great about this hobby is the human connection. The cars are just things, and while they are awesome things that can stir emotions a variety of ways, they are a bridge to human experience. If they are not being used you are not getting the full experience, and others won't see it, and you can't have a shared experience. I think about my father's friend Frank who was obsessed with Cords and owned 2 because when he was 10 he saw one drive through his small home town and thought it was a ufo because of how it looked, and sounded and smelled, and I understand that because I saw him pull it in our driveway and then let me drive it.

 

I don't hate people who buy this stuff and never use it. I am sympathetic. Something in their psyche caused them to have an emotional connection to this thing and they are trying to bottle that feeling by possessing the car. But maybe their life doesn't support using the thing as it was intended. They want control over their feelings, and cling to the physical embodiment of something that inspires it. And then something like time or financial responsibility causes them to think twice about risking that feeling by using it. they preserve the original feeling but don't create new ones. And then it just becomes a hoard. I feel sorry for them, they don't get to enrich their lives with the full experience that car has to offer.

 

TL; DR: Use everything, but if it has a historical significance it is not the worst thing in the world to preserve it.

[Supplicium]

my buddy has a million+ dollar garage, he has all super mint and rare chevys. I dont think he has one car out of the 50+ with over 1000 miles on them. I understand they are investments and he moves about a dozen at Mecum and picks up another dozen each year but I get anxiety chillin in his garage knowing they dont move. I would have to tear into them every once in awhile knowing im one of a few with the luxury of feeling whats its like.

[cruizin01]

Thanks Kerry, this was the feeling I was trying to convey.

[KentStateTsi]

I feel the exact same way about aircraft and cars. I don't understand it. It's like buying a trophy at goodwill I suppose.

[Versluis]

I understand it to a certain extent. I have a family friend in Michigan with a collection of cars in a unreal garage. These cars he has stored are for investment purposes. They are high dollar cars that he has bought at the right time and have gained a lot of value. Some of them he does get out and drive, but some are not going out because of value.

[BStowers023]

People spend millions on paintings and other dumb shit... its their money

[Geeto67]

People spend millions on paintings and other dumb shit... its their money

 

yes, and you find this conversation in those areas as well. Funny thing about art collectors though, a lot of them display their work, and tons more lend them out to museums for others to enjoy.

 

Nobody is disputing that it's their money to spend and do with the asset what they will. I think this is more about the lament of a lost opportunity to connect to others, to be bonded emotionally. Don't hate the person, they are victims of this too, they are missing out on the utility as much as any of us, the only difference is they can make a choice to do something about it.

 

There is another downside to this seclusion and that is it hurts the investment long term. The value of collector vehicles are established by the demand. Rare and beautiful alone does not equal value. The more people that see or know about your thing the more people connect with it, the more they desire it and the more they pay money for it. Some of this is done with movies and magazines, but some of it is seeing the thing in the flesh, confirming it is real, feeling special in a unique experience of being witness to it in action. If nobody knows about that thing - then who is going to drive the continuing market?

 

Think about the model T. It's a cheap car that has endured 100+ years as part of the American zeitgeist. The people that own them as classics use them often. I have seen more Model T's driving around this summer than I have seen 1985 honda civics. Little kids get to see it, grown men and women get to appreciate it because it is just around, and so the value of a mass produced item that is actually really common and not all that good looking is the only real antique growing in value. Look at same year hupmobiles, lesalles, chandlers - all cars with more mechanical merit than a model T and their values are stagnant or shrinking. Why? the number of people that care about them are shrinking. If those who bought for investment really cared about investment, they would take control of the market and make the car as visible as possible, but they don't because it isn't just about money.

[PRD2BDF]

I drive one of 3,000 Saab 9-5 here in the States. It makes It a million dollar?

 

But I'm with some of these fellas, I would rather drive it than to let it sit. Sure it has a value but like everything else, it's just a car and it can be restored again.

[Green Bastard]

Me personally, I couldn't buy a car for it to just sit. And after it sits for so long, unused, it really becomes just something to look at.

[Not Brian]

We're all relatively wasteful to those below us.

[Draco-REX]

I think cars should be driven. In general, if a car isn't a piece of automotive history, I think it should be taken out and enjoyed. Otherwise, you're missing out on half of what it is.

 

That said, historic pieces I can see spending most of their time in a garage. It's a shame to hide them away, but I understand it. However, I think they should still see some daylight at events like the mentioned Pebble Beach and Goodwood. They are still cars, and motion is intrinsic to what a car is.

[Otis Nice]

We're all relatively wasteful to those below us.

 

QFT.

[Stretch]

If I had a disposable income my cars would have hardly any miles because I'd be driving a different one every day of the week

[Forrest Gump 9]

Different people have different hobbies and interests. If I hav enough money and spaces, I'll buy every car out there that intrigues me. And yes I will drive them, but with let say 1000 cars collection it would be very hard to rack up miles.

[Geeesammy]

Don't give a shit.

 

It's their money they can do with it as they wish. Most million dollar cars literally gain zero interest from me. Hell, the most expensive street driven car that will get attention from me is a GTR. Anything past that is pretty meh.

 

Few exceptions can be made, but anything $150,000+ is pointless to me minus Bentley/Rolls