JP Morgan Private Bank: The new logic of the classic car market
By Folarin Oyeleye | 14 May 2026 | Wealth
JP Morgan Private Bank challenges some long-held assumptions about classic cars and explains why they are more than just passion assets
Folarin Oyeleye is the head of Europe, Middle East and Africa lending solutions for J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
For most collectors, the garage and the portfolio have always been separate conversations. One is about passion and provenance. The other is about returns, liquidity, and long-term strategy. The assumption that these two worlds don’t overlap has persisted for a long time. It’s time to rethink. Here are the three biggest myths standing in the way.
Myth #1: “A Classic Car Is a Passion Asset, Not a Financial Asset”
For decades, the assumption was that buying a classic car was an indulgence, not an investment. We believe that framing no longer holds. Blue-chip collector vehicles from heritage marques have demonstrated long-term appreciation that rivals – and in some periods outpaces – traditional asset classes. In fact, classic cars ranked among the top-performing luxury investments over the decade to 2023.
What’s changed is not just performance, it’s infrastructure. The market now has sophisticated pricing benchmarks, specialist insurers, dedicated auction houses, and a growing body of transaction data that allows values to be assessed with genuine rigor. This is no longer a market that operates on handshakes and gut instinct. It is a market that can be underwritten.
Our team works with specialist appraisers to establish condition-specific, provenance-verified valuations. When we look at a collection, its analysed with the same discipline as any other asset on a balance sheet.
Myth #2: “Borrowing Against My Collection Means Giving Up the Cars”
With the right lending structure, the collector keeps the keys. This is the most emotionally loaded misconception. Many collectors assume that lending against their collection means surrendering them to a lender’s storage facility, locked away and undriven.
In a well-structured classic car lending arrangement, that simply isn’t the case. The structure is closer in spirit to a securities-backed line of credit than a traditional asset pledge. The collection serves as collateral, but possession, enjoyment, and day-to-day management remain entirely with the collector.
We design lending facilities around the reality of how collectors actually live with their cars, not around a one-size-fits-all collateral model. The goal is to unlock liquidity to fuel other opportunities or needs without disrupting the collection, or the life built around it.
Myth #3: “The Classic Car Market Is Too Niche – and Fading”
A new generation of collectors is actively reshaping and reinvigorating the market, creating structural tailwinds. Specialist market data points to a significant surge in collectors under 40. Driven by nostalgia for vehicles of the 1980s and 1990s, and empowered by digital auction platforms that have processed billions in transactions, a new generation of digitally native buyers is entering the market with sophistication and capital.
The market is not fading. It is evolving. And the collectors who understand that evolution – and who have a financial partner equipped to move with them are the ones best positioned to benefit.
The Bottom Line: Your Collection Deserves a Seat at the Table
Classic cars have always been more than transportation. They are rolling sculptures, historical artifacts, and – for the right collector with the right financial partner – sophisticated instruments for balance sheet optimization. The myths that have kept collections financially dormant are giving way to a new reality: one where passion and strategy are not in conflict, but in conversation.
