Arturo Keller rated the world’s No. 1 car collector

Ever wonder who the world’s top car collectors might be? Each year, The Classic Car Trust attempts to answer that question with its rating of the world’s top-100 collector car collectors. 

We’ll get to the names in a moment, but first must preface the list as the Trust does each year when it publishes its annual yearbook, The Key. 

“We would like to reiterate that the Ranking of the Top 100 Collectors is not based solely on the economic value of the collection,” the editor reports, adding that economic value accounts for only 50 percent of a collector’s point total.

The other 50 percent is based on access to the collection by enthusiasts and scholars, the historical and cultural value of the vehicles, and awards won at major international events.

That last category accounts for American Arturo Keller trading places with the previous No. 1, Evert Louwman of the Netherlands to top the ratings for 2021 just months after Keller’s 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540 K won Best of Show at Pebble Beach. 

Louwman moved from first to second on the new list. Ralph Lauren retained third, Miles Collier and Fred Simeone swapped spots — Collier moving up to fourth. 

Others listed among The Key’s top-10 collectors were Laurence Auriana, William “Chip” Connor, Anne Brockinton Lee, Samuel Robson Walton and Albert Spiess. 

Americans claimed 20 of the top-25 places, with Peter Mullin, Jack Nethercutt, A. Dano Davis, Bruce McCaw, Andyony Wang, David MacNeil, Bruce Meyer, Peter Sachs, Tom Price, Andreas Mohringer, Richard Workman and Nicholas Schorsch joining those already listed.  Of the top-100, 56 are US residents.

Noting that the average age of the top-100 collectors is 72, a full year younger than the average age of the top-100 of 2020, The Key calls that change “encouraging.” Among the top-100, only American Richard Workman, Pablo Perez Cornpanc of Argentina and Francois Perrodo of France are listed as being younger than age 50.

Even with a slight if “encouraging” shift in the top-100 collectors’ average age, only 3 percent of the top-100 are in their 40s and you have to wonder if younger generations are losing interest in cars and in collecting them.

Not so, The Key reports of its survey of boys and young men aged 15 to 21 from the US, Europe and Asia. We’ll share the statistics in another report as we continue to mine the Trust’s 273-page annual report.