A day in the life

Simon Kidston Historic car broker

6.00am

Every other day, I’ll do an hour in the gym with a personal trainer. I need someone to shout at me. The only stipulation I have is that there’s Eighties music on.

7.30am

I’ll have breakfast at home, before going to work. I’m currently based between Dubai, Geneva and London. If I’m in Geneva, I’ll go to the ofce, if I’m in London I’ll visit a restorer, a dealer or meet collectors. No two days are the same, but when the weather is appropriate and I’m in Switzerland I’ll drive the Countach, Miura, Dino or maybe the McLaren F1 to work. We’ve recently opened an ofce in Dubai; the UAE is developing an appetite for classic cars now. I’ll spend time on the phone talking to new prospects, most likely persuading them to graduate from modern supercars to something with more lasting value.

9.00am

Today, I’m driving my BMW i8 from Geneva to Milan to have lunch with the owner of a very sought-after Ferrari. It’s a car he’s owned for decades, one that everyone has tried to buy of him over the years. It’s a spontaneous approach on my part, prompted by the fact that we have a very serious buyer in mind. Normally people want to know the price and not much more, but it’s nice to have an ace up your sleeve.

1.00pm

An Italian magazine is doing a feature with the Countach at Vairano circuit. It’s a purple Periscopica, which we’ve had completely restored. It was delivered new to Sweden of all places, to a fairground owner. It’s one of only two in purple with a white interior. Even in the Seventies, you had to be brave to order that spec.

3.00pm

When I started in the business 30 years ago, the number of really special cars was said to be around 2,000. Since then, some cars have grown in stature – a Porsche 956, some Jaguars or Saubers, all McLaren F1s, and you could argue that a Schumacher-era Ferrari F1 car is in there now, too. So let’s say it’s between 2,000 and 3,000 cars in total. Collecting has become rather over-simplifed, though. My colleague took a call the other day from someone with a Porsche that was only a few years old, and the hook was that it was one of only four made without a radio. That demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of intrinsic value.

Evening

I’ll be dining with another well-known collector. I live in a bubble where all the cars are beautiful, the locations are fabulous and the people are fascinating.

I hope I can learn from them. It’s important for my business and the classic-car market in general that we bring in new people.

Even at 50, I’m the youngest judge at Pebble Beach. The knowledge in the room is greater than anywhere else in the world, but for the future of the classiccar world it needs to get younger, faster. I love pre-war cars; they weren’t made for old men, they were rakish, expensive and famboyant when new. Some Eighties and Nineties cars are coming of age, though. Does it make them all great? No. Does it make them saleable? Yes. Nobody worships an XJ220 like they might an F1, but there’s unquestionably a market for them.