Q: What particular marques and eras do you specialize in?
A: My special interest is the prewar car era, especially cars like Lagonda, Aston Martin, Alvis, Invicta, as well as of course the lovely eight- and six-cylinder prewar cars built by Mercedes, and to have an Italian company, Alfa Romeo.
Q: How did you develop this particular interest?
A: Basically, my interest started by going backwards actually in time. I was very much into the 60s when I started with my interest in cars, and then it developed back when I learned about the great engineering skills people had actually before WWII. I was fascinated with what they actually achieved by building those beautiful, lovely eight-cylinder cars. Remember those big eight-cylinder cars, hard to actually develop and build, even Mercedes as well. I’m smitten with that, so that’s how it developed really.
Q: What is the most memorable car you’ve sold at auction and why?
A: The most memorable car is actually a car we sold in Monaco in 2010. It was the 1937 BMW 328 Mille Miglia “Buegelfalte,” of course a prewar car. This car is very memorable for me because it is a one-off car, it has a fantastic race history, and it is really a beautiful car.
Q: What is your market prediction for this coming year?
A: My market prediction for the coming year is that the collector car hobby will remain strong. We have a lot of interest – and new interest – from all over the world, especially from Asia, China and from Russia. I am sure that the prices will remain strong. Especially great cars, meaning rare, extraordinary examples with great provenance and documentation, will sell very, very well. We have seen some very strong results for important, historic Ferraris. I am sure this tendency will stay the same, if not even pick up this year.
Q: How do you keep busy in the collector car hobby?
A: It is actually very easy to keep busy in the collector car hobby, as there is an event almost every weekend during the year, beginning at the end of January with our Arizona sale and going on until mid-November even. So, what I do is I actually go and visit Concours events, for example, the Concours d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, or actually I take part in rallies, as the Silvretta Classic or the Ensa Classic, mainly of course here on the mainland in Europe, mainly in Germany and Austria, and it’s great fun.
Q: Do you have any advice to new collectors?
A: My advice to new collectors would be, always go for cars you like. Don’t ask the first question, “Is it a good investment?” Just go with your gut feeling and what you like and what you love. My experience in the market is, whatever you like, it’s just a question of time when the cars will come up as a good investment for you in a way, because you love the car.
Q: Does your dog Eddie ever call shotgun for the front seat of your Jaguar?
A: Yes, my dog Eddie actually does call shotgun on the co-driver seat of my Jaguar! I’m just wondering how this question came up? [laughing]