For years I managed a private car collection here in Newport Coast, about $7 million of cars. One day the owner sent me an email with what he called a problem. A good one to have, but a real one.
He had his eye on all three of the new hybrid hypercars: the Ferrari LaFerrari, the McLaren P1 and the Porsche 918 Spyder. Three remarkable machines, each well into seven figures or close to it. He couldn’t decide which one to buy, and he wanted my opinion.
Choosing the right car, not the loudest one
On paper, any of the three would have been the “right” answer. That’s exactly why the decision is hard. So we didn’t talk about lap times. We talked about how he actually drives, what he wanted to feel behind the wheel, and how the car would fit his life.
He also made a point I’ve never forgotten. Show up to a Porsche event in a 918, he said, and you’re simply the guy with the most expensive Porsche in the lot. A LaFerrari is different. It buys you access: invitations, rooms and relationships that money alone doesn’t open. At that level, a car isn’t only about how it drives. It’s also about which doors it opens.
In the end he chose the 918 Spyder, for its technology and, just as important, its everyday drivability. It was the one he’d actually use.
A year and a half, start to finish
Buying a car like that isn’t a transaction. It’s a project. For the next year and a half I acted as the go-between for my client and Porsche, from the initial deposit through every specification decision, to flying out on a private jet for an owners’ preview event at the Thermal Club, the private motorsports club outside Palm Springs.
When the car was finally delivered that December, I was in his driveway to see it safely off the flatbed.
What managing a collection really means
The 918 was one chapter in a much longer relationship. I managed that collection before the 918 arrived and for years after. Day to day, that meant:
- Service and maintenance, scheduled and followed through, so every car was ready to drive
- Logistics by air and ground, to events, shows and home again
- Buying the next car, and selling the ones he was finished with
- Being the one call for anything with wheels
That’s the work I’ve since built into collection management: the same care, scaled to a garage of three or five cars as easily as thirty.
What it taught me
The best car isn’t always the fastest or the most expensive. It’s the one that fits the way you’ll live with it. And for my clients, the real value of having someone in their corner isn’t access. It’s time. Their lives are busy, and they’d rather spend their time enjoying their cars than managing them. Discretion matters too: I don’t name drop, and I never will.
This story ran in COAST Magazine’s “Driver’s Seat” feature in March 2015. It’s where the name of this section comes from. Here I’ll share more of the stories, and the know-how, from thirty years behind the wheel.
If you have a few special cars and would like one dependable person looking after them, I’d be glad to talk. Collection management →
Looking for your next car instead? Finding your next car →
Keep driving,
David