|
 Maybe
I was just overwhelmed by Miles Collier's article on "Collecting
Strategies" and its discussion of vertical, horizontal, implied horizontal,
thematic, nostalgic and relational strategies for car collecting. Yikes!
I thought someone went out and bought the car he or she coveted as a teenager
and then saw something else of interest and bought that and suddenly they
had a car collection. Who knew there were strategies to car collecting?
Or maybe it was the
ensuing chapter, the one on collector car auction companies, which included
Barrett-Jackson and Bonhams & Butterfields and Mecum and the rest,
but for some unexplained reason omits Kruse, which even though it's fallen
from grace remains an historic, large and major player in the classic
car marketplace.
Maybe I was overwhelmed
by the lists and charts and graphs: the million-dollar cars, the 1,000
most expensive cars sold during the 2008-09 auction season, the top five
sales by marque, the significant Ferraris, significant muscle cars, significant
Corvettes, significant pre-war classics, significant etc.
There's also a collector
car price guide that lists everything from an Abarth Boano Spider to a
Volvo 1800ESI with values, appreciation rates and even how the car's value
has changed in the last year.
Maybe it was my expectations
that caused me not to appreciate Keith Martin's Guide to Car Collecting
as much as I should. There is no doubt that Keith Martin, founder and
publisher of the Sports Car Market magazine, pretty much the "bible"
of the car collecting hobby, and his staff of writers and editors knows
their subject matter.
But I guess I anticipated
the book would be more of a step-by-step, how-to guide for the absolute
novice to the collector car hobby. What I wanted was a book that would
take me by the hand and lead me from lust to actually having the car of
my dreams parked in my garage, with the $21.99 cover price for the book
being an investment that would save me thousands later on, that would
make sure I not only got the best deal on the best car I could afford,
but that would guide me through the foibles of collector car auctions,
private sales, restoration, transportation, insurance and even the collector
car finance companies, and on to car shows and concours, to rallies and
vintage races.
But, for example,
the chapter on collector car insurance - actually, it seems each chapter
is really a reprinted article from a previous issue of SCM magazine
- doesn't mention any of the insurance companies by name or provide their
contact information, let alone tell me which ones I can trust.
While I wanted the
book to be even more informative, I cannot deny that the book is entertaining,
what with features such as "Nine Exotics You Can Afford," "Four
Fun Collectible Cars Under $25,000," "Eight Italian Sports Cars
for the First-Time Collector," "Nine Muscle Car Sleepers,"
"Eight Corvettes to Run Away From," and "Seven Ways to
Make Your British Car More Reliable" among the book's chapters.
|