Banking on Ferraris

From $17 million in 1990, 330 GTO s/n 4561would have to sell for $47 million today just to keep pace with the cost of money

by Michael Sheehan

One doesn’t have to be Fed czar Ben Bernanke’s tennis partner to know the world’s economic markets are volatile, but how does that relate to the present and future Ferrari market?

As aspiring Ferrari-socio-economists, we always look at the past to gaze into the future. Let’s begin with the first fuel crisis of late 1973. As a gallon of gas went from $.33 to $1, exotic cars went from being desirable to just “Who cares?” stupid. Near-new Daytonas, Dinos, and Miuras cluttered Southern California used car lots with Daytonas priced at $15,000 and Dinos at half that. But all cycles end; consumers grew comfortable with $1 gas, and from 1975–79, America’s economy and real estate markets boomed and inflation soared. The Ferrari market rallied and in only five years, from 1975 to 1979, that $15,000 Daytona became a $75,000 Daytona, a 400% run-up. In August...