by Mike Gulett –
The older I get the more my taste in cars, that I want to own, changes. Maybe some of you do not want to admit this but it is true for me. I am attracted to cars by their beauty and style but underneath they must also have technology and performance that is special.
But I also now want a fun, cool collector car that is easy to live with. It should have fuel injection, disc brakes, air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, other modern safety features, and is easy to drive but also fun and rare – and cool.
I really do not want to use my AAA membership for towing to my favorite mechanic like I have in the past with oh say, the Lamborghini Espada, Iso Grifo, Bizzarrini GT 5300 and many others.
I also do not want to drive a boring car that provides no driving excitement or that spectators do not enjoy watching drive by, or do not walk around in the parking lot and fantasize about. I certainly had this fun experience before but I want the fun of reliability and ease of maintenance too.
I want a very cool collector car that is rare, beautiful and does not require me to be an expert mechanic, or have one on staff.
This explains why my latest acquisition is a 2005 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish S. It meets all the requirements I have specified above.
Lamborghini Espada V12 Engine – With Six Carburetors – Sold in 2022
Aston Martin V12 Vanquish S – With No Carburetors – Bought in 2023
Something else to think about…one of one…
The “one of one” cliché is primarily used in the US, because many American collector cars were made in large numbers. To differentiate them, owners categorize their cars down to the option list that the car originally came with.
A “one of one” could mean that a particular car is the only one with the listed options and maybe the specific color combination.
Does this really matter? If the “one of one” designation is used because this car is the only convertible made in this model, then yes, it probably does matter.
If the “one of one” designation is used because the car has a list of random options combined with a unique color combination, then maybe it matters or maybe it does not matter.
In my one minute cartoon below the example cited is a real Ferrari from an auction in Monterey a few years ago (except for the color, I just made that part up-but it could be true).
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
2005 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish S
Mike,
Your video is spot on for sure!!!! I see this “one of one” or “one of six” nonsense all the time from sellers. To me, it’s all bullshit, because the model run for that year ran into tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. I would be more concerned with its provenance as a “numbers matching” model with respect to the car’s drivetrain and equipment. Jerry Seinfeld has a whole routine about cars, and cites ridiculous car names, one of which is the Ford LTD, as he says, limited to only six million.
I like what you said about what you want in a car these days, and one of the features you mention is reliability. There is an old episode of “Married With Children”, where Jefferson Darcy talks about how much he loves his German car, how he loves to go to visit it in the shop, as it actually spends more time in the shop than on the road. My step-son recently bought and then sold a BMW M3, that every week something else went wrong on. It totally damaged him from owning an ICE car – he just bought a brand new Tesla. Not only is it reliable, but he’s thrilled that only spends $20 per month charging the thing, instead of $80 per month in gas for that broke-down BMW.
Glenn in Brooklyn, NY.
In the 80’s i owned a BMW 530. When it ran it was awesome. I quickly realized the BMW stands for Bleed My Wallet.
I hear the feigned excitement of young journalists under pressure to produce stories about the analytical importance of breaking a speed barrier in drag racing by hundredths of a second.
Technology has brought us performance capabilities whose winning increasingly depends upon random events of thousandths of a second, as cost escalate and diagnostic technology that kills the mystery of yearss of experience becomes avaliable to all turners tuners with money.
Are we happier today than in my youth?
I choose to keep and maintain both dual points ignition and drum brakes as long as I can. Nostalgia can bring a joy technological advances and money can not.