Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment

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A 100 year old car can be a great investment

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-100-year-old

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Old but ready to drive: this Benz 8/20 has a 1950 cc engine …

Source: Schroder & Weise Classics

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-100-year-old

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… and develops 20 hp at 1800 revolutions per minute.

Source: Schroder & Weise Classics

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-100-year-old

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The top speed is 65 km / h.

Source: Schroder & Weise Classics

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-vehicles

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The fact that you can see its eventful life in the Benz 8/20 does not have to be a disadvantage, because cars with a patina are becoming increasingly popular.

Source: Schroder & Weise Classics

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-vehicles

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Such vehicles can be good investments that exceed the one million mark at auction.

Source: Schroder & Weise Classics

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-100-year-old

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The record sum of 11.7 million US dollars was achieved in 2012 by a Mercedes 540 K Special Roadster (not the example shown) at a Gooding & Company auction in America…niche Pebble Beach.

Source: picture-alliance / dpa

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-pre-war

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Napier’s pre-war vehicles are also rare and sought-after. At the beginning of the 20th century, Napier was the most successful British brand in motor racing.

Source: Schroder & Weise Classics

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-100-year-old

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Of this Napier T21, which was ready to drive at the Bremen Classic Motorshow and was offered for sale, only three were built.

Source: Schroder & Weise Classics

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-vehicles

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It is considered to be the first series-production six-cylinder in the world.

Source: Schroder & Weise Classics

Pre-war vehicles: a 100-year-old car can be a great investment-pre-war

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However, pre-war classics are not an easy hobby, on the contrary. They require a lot of sensitivity with the dome and a lot of power when braking and steering.

Source: Schroder & Weise Classics

Two-part market: a Benz 8/20 from 1914 proves that record prices are being charged for well-known, ancient classics. Cars from less well-known brands, on the other hand, are rapidly losing value.

E.mil Lallerstedt from Ekero near Stockholm was its first owner; the first mass-produced car was delivered to him on January 1, 1914: a Benz 8/20. Completely original, beautiful patina, on the right an acetylene headlight that should probably shine for its driver on hunting trips – this was how the centenarian stood at the Bremen Classic Motorshow at the beginning of the month, with a completely traceable history and ready to drive.

In fact, the Benz 8/20 is considered to be the first production vehicle because it was always offered with the same chassis and only a few bodies. The well-known classic car dealer Schroder & Weise Classics is offering the piece of jewelery for more than 200,000 euros.

At the classic show, the Benz was flanked by other pre-war classics that had not yet been shown to the public or had not been shown to the public for a long time; one of only three Napier T21 60hp record cars built in 1907, a Bugatti Type 38 from 1927 with a Fiacre Coupe body with pony skin-covered trunk and an Alfa Romeo 1750 Zagato.

The prices for this car start at a few 100,000 euros, but can also exceed the million mark. Because there were no concrete sales negotiations in Bremen, the providers kept a low profile.

Some oldies are slow-moving

In general, pre-war classics are traded more discreetly than later-built cars, and the market for eighty to centenarians is divided into two parts. Record prices are being asked for top models from brands that still exist, while former everyday cars from past car brands with no history have been in the catalogs for years or can only be exchanged or given in payment.

For example a Mercedes 540 K Special Roadster. Once owned by Baroness Gisela von Krieger, it was sold for $ 11.7 million at a Gooding & Company auction in Pebble Beach, USA in August 2012 – the highest amount paid that year for a pre-war classic.

In contrast, so-called bread-and-butter cars, everyday cars at the time such as a well-preserved Opel Olympia, prove to be slow-moving. The price goes down. The Opel is currently being offered for 12,000 euros. Oldtimer dealer Claus Mirbach from Hamburg complains: “I’ve been offering it for two years.” There are also hardly any interested parties for other pre-war vehicles, which cost around 50,000 euros on average.

The memories of brands that have long since ceased to exist seem to have faded even among enthusiasts. There are still a few classic fans who are interested in simple pre-war cars or who are looking for a car from the year they were born, says Axel Segelhorst from the Mercedes-Benz Veterans Club, but: "These people are dying out."

No lobby for the treasures of yore

The cost of restoring these old classic cars also exceeds the price that can be achieved for them later. "The owner must be a great enthusiast," says Segelhorst. He mentions convertibles and special models as exceptions.

Rainer Herbst from E. Thiesen has also recognized a boom in cars from "living brands". These include Mercedes and Bentley, but also Lagonda, Alvis and the early MG models. In contrast, American ex-manufacturers such as Dusenberg, but also other exotic brands such as Delahaye, Talbot, NAG and Brennabor are rapidly losing value.

Classic car specialist Hans-Joachim Weise speaks of a lack of a lobby for the treasures of yore. "Last year there was an Adler Triumph Junior Cabrio from 1936. Almost nobody knows the car anymore, it only sold for 16,000 euros."

The decline in value is accelerated by the fact that pre-war classics are usually difficult to drive. The start-up procedure takes a long time, the coupling requires a lot of sensitivity due to the mostly unsynchronized gears, the brakes are weak, and steering is extremely strenuous.

Particularly popular: cars that were built before 1905

This is what distinguishes the passionate classic car fan from the cool, calculating collector. When pre-war classics sell for millions, car enthusiasts are hardly involved, says dealer Weise. Rather, it is about the profit that can be achieved from an investment that has been profitable for many years.

Expert Herbst says: “These days, expensive cars are traded like works of art. They have been bought since the 80s and 90s to invest money or to complete a collection. With a Rembrandt it doesn’t matter at some point whether it costs 40 or 50 million euros.

It is similar with cars in the 20 or 30 million euro range. The price of such classics is no longer based on the value of the vehicle and the restoration work – it is decoupled and determined completely irrationally. "

According to Weise, there is a particular demand for cars that were built before 1905 and that can take part in the prestigious London-Brighton Run once a year. “Otherwise they will disappear as an investment in the garages.” A lot of capital flows into large premium brands and into very old cars with high performance, i.e. with more than 15 hp. The rule is: the more exclusive, the more expensive.

You can tell the age of the classics

Connoisseurs pay attention to fine details. For example, a distinction is made between chain drive and cardan drive. For example, while a 50-hp Daimler from 1906 with a cardan drive is sold at a price of 500,000 to 600,000 euros, the identical car of the same year achieves 1.5 to two million euros, provided a chain provides the drive. Way says.

“The solvent investors look for the absolute top from the multitude of cars on offer.” And as on the art market, buyers are not immune to counterfeiting. Two examples of a BMW 328 with the same chassis number are known.

Patinated cars, classics that show their history, are becoming increasingly popular. “But they are more user-oriented than collector-oriented,” says Weise. Classic car fans like him welcome the trend towards originality, because the history of the car is "often falsified" during a restoration. Some owners also compromise. They renew the technology under the body, but leave the rest as it was.

Hans-Joachim Weise would like the new owner to handle the Benz 8/20 with care. “Because the car was alive, and you should still see it.” When the Swedish first owner Lallerstedt bought another car, he shipped the Benz to an island east of Stockholm and kept it with a friend who looked after the car and partially restored. This friend’s daughter took him back to the mainland.

“Anyone who buys a pre-war classic like this is a real connoisseur and also has the necessary money,” says Weise. But even if no buyer can be found for his Benz in Europe in the short term, Weise is not afraid. "At the latest when China opens up the market for end-of-life vehicles, there will be new interested parties."

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