In May 2010 Californian auction house Gooding and Company oversaw the private sale of a Bugatti 57SC Atlantic. The pre-war coupe, one of three ever made, was bought by an anonymous collector for an undisclosed sum, believed to be around $30m.

This comfortably eclipsed the previous record paid for a classic car, in Italy a year earlier, where an early 1960s Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa sold at public auction for $12.2m. Rare though such headline sales remain, classic car values at all levels appear to be growing exponentially. Once the preserve of a small band of enthusiasts, classic cars have become the ideal choice for any investor who wants a little more in return than just hard cash.