INVEST IN THIS CAR AND YOU’LL FIND YOURSELF DRIVING A VERY HARD BARGAIN

IT’S a quandary that, in the City of London and elsewhere, employs millions of brain-hours a day. If you have a bit of capital put by what is the best investment?

Obviously a deposit account in a bank, at half a per cent per annum or even less, is a mug’s game. There are ISAs, a bit more and tax free, but with a firm cap on how much you can invest. The stock market is the big one – hence the hundreds of firms called “investment managers”. The broad rule of thumb is: the higher the percentage return, the riskier the investment. Anything in double figures is sky-diving – very thrilling.

Specialists urge gold, precious metals, gem diamonds, art, vintage wine and a host of even more exotic homes for your life savings. The key seems to be the rarity. Some eyeball-popping sums have been paid at auction for oil paintings that in less than a lifetime have increased by 50 times or even more.

But how about this? Classic and vintage sports cars. But be careful – you really have to know your cars.

A Ferrari 290 MM dating from 1956 could have been bought off the production line for a few thousand dollars. One just sold for £22million.

That followed a Ferrari 250 GTO at more than 48 million dollars, pictured.

If you drive that into a tree, that’s a very expensive shunt.