Food for thought

[jjflash]

Not Porsche-specific, and directed more at the "collector" car market, but I found this interesting. Taken from an email from Hagerty's (the insurance guys) "Cars That Matter".

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"Every major auction since last September, (Hershey, Scottsdale, Amelia, Maranello and Indianapolis ) has taken on heightened significance as we struggle with our hobby's place in the context of a severe economic downturn and near banking collapse. Each of the above sales was accompanied by an unprecedented amount of hand-wringing before and tea-leaf reading after. It will reach a crescendo in Monterey this August with sales by RM, Gooding, Bonhams, Russo and Steele and now Mecum. These sales will truly be the acid test for the collector car market.

There are finally signs that point toward a possible recovery in 2010: The stock market has been in positive territory for the year, jobless claims have dropped for the first time in twenty-two weeks and a large number of banks that took TARP funds have paid those loans back. Wells Fargo even went so far as to declare the banking crisis "over."


Demand for slots in the Monterey sales has been brisk to say the least. RM added a third night and Monterey newcomer Mecum added a second night. In months past, auction companies were having a difficult time rounding up quality consignments. What it all means is ambiguous at best: The optimists are saying that consigners finally feel that the market is righting itself and that Monterey will be a feeding frenzy. Pessimists say that the economic crisis has become so prolonged that more people are being forced to tap into their car collection to generate liquidity.

One thing that may be a factor in bringing people back into the market is the specter of inflation. Non-food and energy prices have risen recently raising this concern. Traditionally, collectibles have been seen as a bulwark against inflation. Certainly the antiques market saw tremendous growth during the last great inflationary times in the 1970s. For now, we'll leave the prognosticating to others and simply report where the chips fall, but it's not a stretch to say that this will likely be the most influential Monterey sale since 1991.

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[gsjohnson]

Not sure that it is as pretty a picture as that, but you gotta love the optimism...