How Does a Car’s Designer Add to Its Collectibility?

A few weeks ago, I was asked to talk at an event being held at the Hagerty U.K. Clubhouse in Bicester, northwest of London, to discuss whether cars were art. It was the second time I’ve been involved in such a panel discussion, the last in the heart of London at the Royal Academy as part of the wonderful Savile Row Concours celebration back in 2023. 

Whether cars are actually “art” is a question that I believe requires a long discussion, preferably fire-side with like-minded friends in a pub. We all recognize cars that are beautiful, elegant, and brutal—models that combine artistry in the engineering of their design and whose creators are undoubtedly artists. But for me, a piece of art is more than just a finished product; it is the story. A car’s narrative only exists when it moves, and I said as much at Bicester, a statement that was met with general disagreement from the others on the panel. 

From a market perspective, I accept that a combination of design and a named designer makes a big difference to value. Hagerty’s Collectibility Algorithm tracks this factor, and weights it as one of the most important in forecasting whether a car will move from being a classic to a collectible. Names of individual star designers like Gordon Murray, Sergio Scaglietti, Henri Chapron or Marcello Gandini mark the car as something special, as do the products of the very top design houses such as Zagato, Saoutchik, Figoni et Falaschi, and Touring. In short, if the name of the designer is included in an advertisement, someone believes it adds value. 

But design must be combined with engineering excellence. Look at the top 50 cars identified by Hagerty as the most collectible, and the above famous names are there, but 13 other cars have an unlisted designer. More compelling is the engine. Nearly every car has a V engine configuration, with two world-class exceptions—the Jaguar XK straight-six and the Porsche flat-six—and the average engine size of those top cars was a healthy 4365 cc. Plus, 62 percent of the models had variants that were raced on track. 

So, it’s not just my own belief that design must be combined with movement to create automotive art; the data seems to back me up. The other evening, I felt my point was proved when a Jaguar XJR-15 was fired up after the talk. Its undoubtedly beautiful body had sat there for the previous couple of hours, capturing only the odd inspection, but when that extraordinary 6-liter V-12 roared to life, people suddenly crowded around it and the phones came out. To use modern parlance, it needed the engine running to give you the feels, and as we stood in that damp Oxfordshire car park, the air reverberating with pulses of raw power as the car revved, it was as if we were transported back to Le Mans in 1991, watching it charge through Tertre Rouge. Apt, then, that both its designer, Peter Stevens, and one of the racing drivers of this extraordinary car, David Brabham, were there that night, representing the balance of beauty and movement.