Time has a way of making people smarter than they should be. Recently, while rummaging through some old paperwork, I ran across a Kirk White newsletter from 1971.
Now, for those uneducated or too young to remember my friend Kirk White, he was a combination of an enthusiast and a car dealer. His “Kirk F. White” livery appeared on the rear quarter of the Roger Penske/Kirk White Ferrari 512M that Mark Donohue and David Hobbs drove to third in the 1971 Daytona 24-hour race.
Kirk also was a drag racer earlier in his life, but in his later life he was making a living selling rare sports cars. Along with that, he published his newsletter, posting insightful stories and his inventory of cars. This is where the story gets interesting.
One can remember the stories of their parents’ youth: you know, walking to and from school uphill in the snow. Along with that, I remember loves lost and cars I should have bought. Would haves, could haves, should haves–we all have them.
Kirk’s 1971 newsletter really hammered home the vision I should have had. Kirk was always ahead of the curve–he was into significant Ferraris before anyone else and at one time had three 250 GTOs in his inventory. Pick one: $9000 each, your choice.
Then there were the significant hotrods. He had the Ray Brown roadster, one of the most important hotrods of all time, and the tether racers–also known as spindizzies. Whatever Kirk was into, he was first on the scene. So, getting back to the point, I read the offerings Kirk had back in December 1971: 1967 Shelby Cobra, CSX 3205, $9800; 1967 Ferrari 275 GTS, $7500; 1966 Ferrari 400 Superfast, $15,000; 1959 Ferrari 250GT California Spyder, engine partially disassembled, $4500; 1964 Ferrari Superamerica Cabriolet, one owner with 4700 miles, as new, $4800; 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4, $10,500.
The list goes on and on and on and includes prewar Bugattis, Talbot-Lagos and Lamborghini Miuras (for a measly $9800).
All this is both wonderfully entertaining to review and terribly disappointing because of what we could have done had we had a few shekels in the bank. For me, personally, in 1971, I was 28 making about $10K per year. So this put everything in perspective, but it is nice to dream about what could have been.
In fact, in 1968, I passed on a 1959 Porsche RSK Spyder for $2400. I could imagine telling my wife, the ever-patient Mrs. Jane, that I just bought a car with no roof or muffler, that had no a/c or radio, was noisy as hell, and smelled bad for a third of our family income. Vasek Polak bought it for the $2400 asking price.
About 40 years later, I had the good fortune to have lunch with Vasek at L’Hôtel de France and asked him about the Spyder. “I bought it from Al Sager VW in Jacksonville, brought it to Hermosa Beach, and sold it for $4000–and I thought I had made a fortune,” he said. Which points out that if I had bought the car back then for the $2400, a year later I could have doubled my money.
Over the years, I’ve bought right several times and wrong a couple of times. My winners have been the ex-Sid Taylor Racing/Tourist Trophy-winning Brabham BT8 for $2900 and the Cooper Ford, née Lang Cooper, for $6900, which I had restored in my shop by ex-Lotus and John Wyer fabricator Colin Day. There was also a one-owner Maserati Ghibli Spyder (with Chevy motor–Ivan Ruiz found the original motor in nearby Daytona, and I converted it back to “as original” with a change from automatic to five-speed). My biggest and most important find was the 1934 Ford Special Speedster built at the Ford Tri-Motor plant for Edsel Ford and now in the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores.
The cars I’ve lost money on are a 1980 BMW M1, a 1953 Oldsmobile Fiesta (now in the GM Heritage Center), two early Corvettes (a 1955 and a 1954), an RS 60 Spyder (he wanted $13,500, I offered $12,500–lesson learned) and a Lotus Eleven Le Mans once driven by Innes Ireland that I found in a Jacksonville junkyard.
So here is the bottom line: It is entertaining reading the old ads from Competition Press and Kirk White’s newsletter, but don’t dwell on all the lost opportunities and comparing the then and now prices. Think of your personal financial situation at the time. As you age, your tastes, bank account balance and opportunities change.
One could say, “Buy early, buy often, but most importantly, have the passion and don’t sell unless you have to or want to up to something you desire more.” My Porsche-collecting friend Steven Harris calls the purchase of these rare cars “an alternate asset allocation.” I like that. Mrs. Jane doesn’t.
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