The passion builds
The next revolution in the collector car market occurred in the United States when casino magnate Bill Harrah decided to start collecting cars. He placed 325 cars in a museum in Sparks, Nevada. The quarter-millionth visitor passed through the museum less than four years later.

He couldn't stop his passion for accumulating cars, and his collection soon numbered 1,400 vehicles. If the cars were a little rough, Harrah would get his staff to restore them to better than new.

His collecting passion established a new market for the best-of-the-best cars and drew good cars out of the enthusiasts' market. His bold ambition was to own one example of every car ever made.

When Harrah bought the Winthrop Rockefeller collection in 1975 for a little under $1 million, the rest of the world took notice of the increasing value of old cars. This collection numbered 68 vehicles.

This was soon eclipsed by more high-profile car sales.

Big money pours in
Following the oil crisis in 1973, old car prices had stagnated at the lower end, but everything changed in the mid 1980s. Interest rates eased and the world economy boomed. Investors were now entering the market, speculating on the most desirable models.

These people weren't interested in showing the cars, they were simply stored to be placed on the market again.

In 1981, Don Williams who was the founder of the Blackhawk Collection in California claimed the status of the first person to sell a classic car for more than $1 million. The car was a 1931 Figoni-bodied "boattail" Duesenberg — European styling with American class.

Bill Harrah died of a heart attack in 1978, and Holiday Inns bought his company, including the car collection, in 1980. They began selling the cars and finally raised $100 million between 1984 and 1986 in a series of high-profile auctions, which still left enough cars to create two motor museums in Reno and Las Vegas.

The old car market was now stretching in price from a few hundred dollars for a rough but running Ford Model T to ultimate cars such as the Duesenberg. Predominantly, it was pre-World War II cars that fetched the sensational prices.

The competition begins
The old car market was becoming increasingly differentiated between the car enthusiasts who bought cars to restore themselves and would drive them to car shows and rallies, and the other end of the hobby with car collectors who often purchased near-perfect examples and placed them in private museums.

Many of these collectors enjoyed showing their cars. Since the early 1950s, a Concours d'Elegance was held around Pebble Beach near Monterrey in California.

The concept of a competition of elegance harked back to 17th century France where the most fashionable horse-drawn carriages would be displayed to potential customers. In France and Italy in the 1920s and 1930s, new coach-built cars would be matched with models dressed in the height of fashion to entice buyers.

The Pebble Beach event harked back to this age. For many years it was a local event, but more recently it has become the premier old car event in the world, operating in a symbiotic way with the major classic car auction companies and prestige car manufacturers.

Similar events are now held all over the world. The premier event in Europe is the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este held at Lake Como in Northern Italy where the fashion is just as important as the cars and far more exclusive than Pebble Beach.

The trend toward up-market car shows is spreading around the world. A concours was even recently held in India.

Events such as Pebble Beach celebrate the great coach built cars of the 1920s and 1930s — names such as Rolls-Royce and Packard, and long forgotten but magnificent brands such as Hispano-Suiza and Delage.