The old saying goes that your car loses money as soon as you drive it off the dealer lot. But, if you pick the right car and hold onto it for the right amount of time, you can often find yourself making a tidy profit these days thanks to the increase in car collectors.
Which is where Chrome Temple and its Mach 1 Fund are hoping to create a new opportunity for investors. Founded in 2021, Chrome Temple is based in Sydney and is buying cars it believes will increase in value in the coming years and provide better returns than the stock market or traditional investment assets like gold, wine and watches.
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While it already has several highly desirable cars in its portfolio, this week it added a particularly special creation – the ex-Bob Forbes Motorsport GIO-sponsored Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 that was raced by Mark Gibbs in the final years of the Group A era of the Australian Touring Car Championship.
Chrome Temple founder and CEO, Lex Pedersen, believes this is a good investment vehicle due to both the demand for the R32-generation GT-R in general, but also the rarity of these racing examples. This was one of just five cars built by Gibson Motorsport during the early 1990s, and one of those was written off in an accident by Mark Skaife at the 1990 Adelaide Grand Prix support race.
The other three examples, all Gibson Motorsport-run cars, are in the hands of other collectors; namely Lindsay Fox and part-time racer, Tony Alford. The Gibson-built Nissans were considered to be the best of their kind, with one of them taken to Japan to race against the official factory built examples.
The Mach 1 Fund, which Chrome Temple claims has delivered investors 37 per cent net returns since it began, will now hold the car until it believes the time is right to sell it for the best financial return. All cars within the Mach 1 Fund are stored and not driven to ensure maximum value and reduce any risk of damage and wear.
“Road going, Australian-delivered, Nissan R32 GT-Rs are in and of themselves highly collectible, with just 100 delivered locally – but for the Mach 1 Fund to secure one of just five vehicles ever-built for the Australian Touring Car Championship and four in existence is a sound investment,” Pedersen explained.
“Within the Mach 1 Fund, we exclusively invest in vehicles that are exceptionally rare, highly collectible, and possess impeccable provenance. The Bob Forbes, Mark Gibbs campaigned Group A Nissan R32 GT-R not only meets these criteria but surpasses them. While we would love to keep the car forever, the nature of the Fund requires that everything is acquired with an eventual liquidity exit in mind, targeting potential buyers both locally and globally, given the vehicle’s broad appeal.”
The Mach 1 Fund focuses on investing in rare and ‘last of’ vehicles and some of its other assets include a Mercedes McLaren SLR, Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae, Lamborghini Diablo and Ferrari 812 Superfast.
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