“Cool and interesting can arouse fascination and affection, but no one, not even Peter Klutt, has built a company as important and successful on these qualities alone as LMC. His business prowess and years of experience have led to a better understanding of the rare automotive market that few can match and even challenge. Maybe one of them is the `71 Mach One from Peter`s high school era, the Mustang that started it all. This is important given the large sums and large fluctuations in market value that can quickly occur with exotic cars. Peter is intimately linked to this reality. In fact, its accurate assessment of the market and its direction is the secret to its success. “I was hooked,” Klutt says with a slight smile, referring to the long-gone-gone renovation. “Throughout school, I bought and sold cars and earned enough money to pay my school fees. Passionate about researching, restoring, driving and marketing classic vehicles, he made the pragmatic decision to obtain a university degree in business administration.
Good idea. Peter Klutt combined his love of cars with his business acumen and warm, open nature and became a leading influence in the collector industry. His Legendary Motorcar Company (LMC), founded in 1985, has grown from a tiny suburban garage to the dominant force in the restoration and marketing of rare cars. The new 55,000-square-foot head office features approximately 100 beautifully restored vehicles for sale. The adjoining work area with fully equipped mechanical, assembly and prefabricated halls is constantly busy working on the others. Some will replace the models sold in the showroom. Others belong to almost fanatical owners who refuse to entrust their cars to anyone other than LMC. Tracking, exchanging and recovering vehicles is a fascinating and potentially profitable business. But – no wonder – the cars themselves have an appeal that goes far beyond their market value. After all, anyone who loves cars would love to get behind the wheel and drive a rare beauty just for the thrill. Without admitting that he falls in love with certain cars, Peter says that some vehicles have warmed his heart as much as his wallet. If that happens, who will win the showdown? Peter Klutt agrees.
It is the contrast that fascinates him the most. Driving a 1929 Ford Model A can be fun, but driving a 1929 Duesenberg is a revelation. “They`re incredible compared to other cars from the same year,” he says, referring to the Duesenberg. “So far ahead of its time, refined and exciting. You have the same experience today when you drive a LeFerrari. The price is out of sight, but so is the performance and appeal of the car`s design. Each season, the team will select an old or broken car and repair/tune it for the show. However, just like humans, beauty is not everything. Peter loves to drive rare cars, but when the driving experience doesn`t live up to the promise of a car, the romance quickly fades.
This can happen even with cars that, at first glance, seem to offer exaggerated exuberance. Like an Aston-Martin DB4GT that Peter bought and then showed off on his TV show. A beautiful vehicle, but the driving experience did not meet his expectations. Each episode of the TV series focuses on one or two vehicles like episode 1 of season 1 while they are informed of a 37 Packard in episode 4 of season 2, where they help a young man with a serious illness realize his dream of owning a replica of the legendary 68 Mustang GT from the movie Bullitt. Maybe there`s no formula that can be used when it comes to these wonderful machines, and there`s no computer application that can set a price and make a buying or selling decision. But Peter Klutt is getting close. From 2002 to 2008, the co-host of Klutts was automotive journalist and racing announcer Tom Hnatiw, who was responsible for the phrase “Do you need such a car? No. Do you want a car like that??? He was followed in 2009 by television personality Michelle Jobin, best known as Global News` weather anchor. Jobin`s successor from 2011 to 2012 was actress Marni Van.
Canadian racing driver Ron Fellows was occasional guest co-host from 2008 to 2010. After its previous owner pushed the car into a telephone pole, the broken `71 Mustang — or what`s left of it — was purchased by a 15-year-old boy in Etobicoke, Ont., for $200 in cash. With the help of his welder father, the teenager spent the summer repairing and restoring the car in the family driveway and driving $600 worth of parts into the project. In September, he sold the now beautifully restored Mach 1 for $2700, generated nearly $2000 in profits in his bank account, and built Peter Klutt into one of the most successful and rewarding businesses in the automotive industry. Then, around 2008, the tipping effect occurred. Muscle cars started to lose value and everyone started craving Ferrari. Peter Klutt observes these price fluctuations, making buying and selling decisions based on what the market tells him, sprinkled with his intuition and experience. The legendary Motorcar Company Ltd. opened its doors in 1985 with the dream of restoring and exchanging the best and rarest classic and performance cars. ® Legendary Motorcar soon began producing award-winning national restorations as well as record sales. After three short years, our facility had grown to 4,000 square feet and restorations and sales began to encompass all makes and models, while still staying true to our goal of providing the best. By 1990, we had expanded our acreage to 12,000 square feet and started selling more European brands, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Porsche, and of course, we continued to sell some of the rarest domestic models.
In 2002, LMC moved into its new 75,000 m² facility. The new location in Halton Hills includes: 100 car dealerships, fully equipped machine and assembly rooms, a downspray booth and body shop and conference centre. Each area of the restoration workshop is occupied by experienced craftsmen with several 100 years of experience. “We`re looking at two things,” he says. “We start by looking at car price history and compare a make and model over the years with other models in its class. Next, we look at the demographics and ask who is most likely to want certain makes and models. Peter is a combination of racing driver, vehicle archaeologist, museum curator, craftsman, astute businessman and excellent automotive instructor. The building also includes a conference center and a video studio where episodes of the TV show Dream Car Garage & Legendary Motorcar are produced for broadcast in the English-speaking world.
A tour of LMC`s facilities is anything but disappointing. Behind the showroom full of restored vehicles, each of which is rarer and more eye-catching than the other, is the equipment needed to restore them to better condition than new. From Pullmax metal formers to downdraft paint booths, everything is state-of-the-art. But when it comes to explaining LMC`s uncompromising quality standards, that`s not what Peter brags about. With over 30 years of experience, one would assume that Peter Klutt is a bit jaded of this company. After all, how many “wow factor!” can you have when, at any given point, half a dozen Ford Shelby Cobras are parked right next to your desk and a $4 million four-cam Ferrari comes out of the shop door? Born into a racing family in the late sixties, it was inevitable that Gary Grant would get excited about all things car. After a career in the automotive industry, automotive media has become the perfect way for Gary to share this passion with car enthusiasts. Peter Klutt responds with a smile and a nod.
“You have to remember,” he explains, “that over the years, hundreds of manufacturers have built thousands of models, each of which is different from the others in many ways. Not all of them were Lamborghinis and Duesenbergs. But it doesn`t matter the make or model. Somehow, they`re all cool and interesting. Dream Car Garage was a weekly television show produced by Westward Wind Productions for 11 seasons between 2002 and 2012. The series was produced in Halton Hills, Ontario. The host was Peter Klutt, a car enthusiast and owner of Legendary Motorcar Ltd., from which many of the vehicles featured on the show originated. Peter Klutt`s enthusiasm for cars is passed on to the next generation. His son Gary shares the task of hosting the TV show.
Her other son, Ryan, is still busy searching for barn finds, which are cars that have been alone and in the shade for years, waiting to be found, purchased and taken to LMC for restoration. All of this adds up to a comprehensive, state-of-the-art facility for all aspects of your classic car`s needs, from basic restorations and service to storage and an ever-changing inventory of some of the world`s best collector and investment cars for sale. To make matters worse, submarkets are moving at their own pace, sometimes alongside the entire classic car market and sometimes on their own. As an example, Peter highlights the value of muscle cars, which grew dramatically over the years between 2002 and 2008. Early in the cycle, a restored Hemi-powered “Cuda convertible” sold for about $200,000. Five years later, the same car could fetch $2 million. “In the same period,” Peter notes, “a four-cam Ferrari initially cost about three hundred thousand dollars. Five years later, the price had barely doubled. That`s not a bad return for Ferrari owners, he notes, but nothing like a tenfold increase in Cuda`s price.
He underscores this point by noting that “57 T-Birds, prized by the generation before the baby boomers, sold for between $30,000 and $50,000 in 1990. Twenty-five years later, the price had barely budged.