Classic Car Fund Open for Investment

By Will Silk
With traditional forms of investments seeing troubled times in a global economy that continues to only offer uncertainty, many are looking for something more substantial and forthright to place their money behind and feel confident that they will manage to see a modest return. Similar to the recently announced fund by IGA Automobile, this is exactly what the Classic Car Fund aims to offer to a worldwide population of enthusiastic investors.
The Classic Car Fund is managed by Filippo Pignatti, a notable historian and vintage car enthusiast himself. Mr. Pignatti says, “This is very much a non-elitist approach to investing in this sector. We want to be fully transparent, hence our quotation on the fund exchange. There is so much ambiguity; many investments aren’t performing steadily in the current volatile landscape – The Classic Car Fund, provides a platform for those looking to diversify their portfolio.”
The team of personnel behind any fund is paramount to assist in the direction and alignment that the group wishes to take aim at in terms of securing a successful result for their clients. The Classic Car Fund is not absent in experienced personnel to assist their clients in moving forward and securing a prolific portfolio that will ultimately aim to produce a return for all in involved.
Peter Blond is retained as an advisor, bringing years of experience from Sotheby’s Auction firm; as well as Daniel Brooks, who has participated in such international events such as Le Mans and Pebble Beach. A four-person panel of consultants has been established including Dr. Prof. Dirk Boll, managing director of Christies in Switzerland, Jan Donghi, who brings a large amount of experience to the legal end of the hobby with him, Jose M. Oliver, founder and President of the St. Moritz Automobile Club, and Eleanor Thorneycroft who will manage the marketing side of the fund.
The Fund’s plan is to put roughly 70% of their assets into classic automobiles. This amount could differ based on the input from the team of advisors, consultants, and the fund manager. Once acquired, cars in the fund could be loaned out to museums, movie production companies, private exhibits, and so on with the money generated by such actions returning to bolster the return for the investor. The fund also aims to keep a diversified portfolio, including but not limiting to, futures, deposits, and money market funds.
The goal of the fund according to their website is to obtain cars, “that embody the attributes of style, performance, historical significance, rarity and competition history that often typify first rank collectibles.” However they span out a bit more to include cars that some may not necessarily categorize as important in the market. Listed on the Fund’s site are five categories defining five types of collectible automobiles. Ultimately, Fund Management will have the final say on any prospects, but it seems likely that this fund will see a more diverse range of cars making up its portfolio.
Simply put, this is yet another effort by investment strategists to seek out and tap into knew markets, and the collector car hobby is perhaps a virtual gold mine in terms of the cars, the history, and the values that the current market reflects on a daily basis. Once again, this type of organization has the ability to really do everything right, provided the cars within the portfolio are shared with the public as the company states on their site. Going forward, it’s groups like this that potentially offer all of us a secured asset in maintaining some of history’s most prized automotive creations.
For more information, visit www.theclassiccarfund.com.
[Source: Classic Car Fund; photo credit: Dennis Gray]