r/TheIntercooler

In this week's Ti podcast we discuss the huge disconnect between the prestige supercar market and man on the street with a sports car in his garage.

Things properly frothed over at Monterey Car Week with records falling left, right and centre – some by almost double the previous mark. The most remarkable examples below (most RM Sotheby's but the Diablo was at Bonhams, the F50 and Enzo at Mecum, and the Cobra at Goodings Christies).

Diablo GT – $2,425,000

F40 – $8,365,000

LaFerrari – $8,695,000

288 GTO – $11,555,000

Enzo – $12,100.000

F50 – $14,575,000

Ferrari Daytona SP3 – $17,825,000

Corvette Grand Sport #003 – $18,705,000

McLaren F1 GTR 10R – $34,655,000

Ferrari Luce ‘Tailor Made’, chassis 0 – $40,000,000 (charity lot)

Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, CSX2300 – $42,905,000

What's the consensus on what's going on here? Are prestige supercars a new asset class, comparable to the art market? Certainly doesn't feel like any of these are going to actually be used as cars...

And do we think that this new asset class, whatever it is, is in a bubble - where purchases are driven solely by FOMO and the conceit that they won't ever stop going up?

Or is something more clandestine going on (rumours of money laundering being all over the internet)? Something that Ti certainly can't comment on without any substantial evidence.

One thing we certainly can comment on is how difficult it is to shift garden variety sports and enthusiast cars at the moment, with values being decidedly soft leaving many who bought 2-5 years ago now well under, now matter how much they may have restored or improved their examples.

All thoughts welcome...

Yesterday Ti toiled in the sunshine to shoot the photos and video for this story, coming soon. In the moorland of the Brecon Beacons, we brought together:

A Caterham 360R

Fist Grande Panda

Skoda Superb

McLaren 750S

and a Rolls-Royce Phantom

The question is, what on earth possessed us to put this seemingly unrelated collection together? Well, to our eyes, behinds, fingers and toes they all possess something very special in contrast to so many cars on sale today.

But what is it?

Answers on a postcard.

If ever I needed a relaxed evening in the sun with cars, a burger, and a zero-beer(x2) it was tonight.

Despite all the supercars, the Sera was the star for me. Joyful in every restored crevice, voluptuous glass panel and subtle modification.

I also never appreciated how many tones the body of a DMC-12 could offer. It is not just a silver car. Over the course of a few hours the setting sun cast it in bronzes and a dozen shades of grey showing panel work that simply hid earlier on. Mega thing.

I hope Ti gained a few subs along the way as it was a very relaxed evening and hope it’s repeated with another theme to set them apart from the usual stuff. Well done.

There’s no shortage of concours competitions to go to these days, but they tend to be populated exclusively with time capsule ornaments. And that’s not the Ti way. What if someone came up with the antidote to the traditional car concours…? Well, last night we did just that, with our inaugural Concours d’Appréciation.

We wanted cars that got driven, hard and fast, for tens and ideally hundreds of thousands of miles. Not basket cases desperate to be put out of their misery, but cars that had been loved not as an ornament, but for what they were designed to do.

One bookend was a 1954 2CV whose paint could not be seen for rust but which, beneath, was in fine fettle and will be driven to Le Mans next year. At the other, a Porsche Carrera GT with 77,000 miles on the clock. In between, a Ferrari 599 GTB found in the desert with its engine on the back of a Toyota Hilux, an E9 BMW 3.0 CSL whose owner insists he'll be buried in it, and a 1992 Caterham Supersprint that's done over 100,000 miles, Finland to Spain and Houston to San Francisco.

Our winners: that Carrera GT, a gorgeous 1750 Alfa Romeo GTV that gets driven across the Pyrenees every year, and a Honda Integra Type R which has covered 131,000 miles since its owner bought it almost 20 years ago.

Add all eight generations of Golf GTI, the first UK public showing of the Longbow Speedster, and rumours of a 911 3.2 ClubSport with over half a million miles having escaped the concours enclosure to go feral in the grassy car park... and the event was a sparkling sell-out success in the sunshine.

Thank you to everyone at Bicester Motion, our partners at JBR Capital, every Ti contributor who entered into the spirit of it, and above all everyone who brought an interesting, well loved, well used car. 

Want to come to the next one? 

Photo credit: Toby Rea, insta: lensograph_tr