And which was the best investment?

At the Classic and Sports Car Show at Alexandra Palace last month, the winner of the ‘Greatest Supercar of all time’ was announced. The shortlist included eleven supercars from the last 100 years and the winner was the McLaren F1.

              Those to make the shortlist were:

Up to 1914                                                      Mercedes 1908 GP

1914-1928                                                       Bentley 4 ½ litre Blower

1930s                                                              Alfa Romeo 8C

1940s                                                              Jaguar XK120

1950s                                                              Mercedes 300SL Gullwing

1960s                                                              Lamborghini Miura

1970s                                                              Lamborghini Countach

1980s                                                              Ferrari F40

1990s                                                              McLaren F1

2000s                                                              Bugatti Veyron

2010s                                                             McLaren P1

I would say that’s a pretty good list, and I for one agree with the winner.

But, we at www.RetireEasy.co.uk are focussed on finance, so I thought I would take a different and altogether more mercenary slant and see which would have been the best buy if bought new and kept until now.

So, which of these cars would have been the best investment if bought new and sold in 2016?

Well, I did a little research – not as easy as it sounds. Most of these cars were built for several years during which prices changed and for some the prices are only available in certain currencies so that it was necessary to check dollar and Euro to Pound rates at the time. I took, where possible, the first or second year of production and tried to exclude special versions.

And, one of them proved impossible to pin down. Mercedes only produced four GP models in 1908, each with 12.5 – 13.5 litre engines and famously coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the French Grand Prix that year. So none were sold new and I can find no evidence of sales in the last few years. As a hint, a 1955 Mercedes W196 grand prix car sold at auction a couple of years ago for £19.6 Million!

In order to gauge relative investment outcomes I took the new price in the year launched, the number of years that have passed since launch, and the value today.

And the winner is:

The McLaren P1. Launched in 2013 at £866,000 and now worth £1.4 Million giving a return of 17% per annum. I have to say that this short period coincided with rapid increases in value across the board, and only 375 were built.

In second place:

The Alfa Romeo 8C. The 1939 2,900cc beauty would have sold for around £2,500, depending on coachwork, and one sold this year for £15 Million for a return of 12% pa. This for me is the extraordinary result since as late as the early 1960’s these cars were cheap as chips.

And in third place:

The McLaren F1. So, the winner of the ‘Greatest supercar’ survey is a strong third in the investment stakes as well. In 1992 it would have cost ‘just’ £540,000 and recently Rowan Atkinson reportedly sold his for £8 Million. The return on this investment would have been 11.9% pa.

So let’s look at a comparison table. How well have the top ten supercars of all time stacked up as investments?

So, what interesting facts come to light?

• The best investment is the least Great – the McLaren P1
• The other McLaren, the F1, must be rated as best all-rounder – the Greatest AND the 3^rd best investment
• The equal 2^nd best all-rounders would be the Lamborghini Miura and the Alfa Romeo 8c 2900 (3^rd and 4^th and 5^th and 2^nd respectively), but for me the outstanding Alfa is the winner. Who wouldn’t settle for a return on you investment of 12% pa over 77 years!!?
• The fabulous Ferrari F40, 4^th greatest, is only the 10^th best investment and the Jaguar XK120, 2^nd greatest comes a lowly 8^th in the investment stakes

So the best all-rounders would be:

1. McLaren F1
2. Alfa Romeo 8C 2900
3. Lamborghini Miura

Can we learn anything from these results to help choose what to buy now and to hold for the long term?

Limited numbers is key for investment, ranking far above usability – compare the McLaren P1 with the JaguarXK120, although in terms of ‘greatness’ the opposite is true.

I’m sure there will be many that disagree with the outcomes and conclusions, and we would love to hear your views. Are there any other criteria by which we could judge the best all-rounder? And which ‘modern would you buy to fulfil ‘greatest to own’ and ‘best investment’?

Please do let us know.

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