Why I built Halo.

I grew up in my grandfather’s garage. Before I could drive, I knew the smell of oil and warm metal, and the quiet of a Saturday spent with a car that needed attention. I have never really left that garage.

My first proper car was a BMW, and I worked my way through the 3 Series range before moving on to Mercedes, and then to the Porsche 911, including a 911 Cup car.

My first exotic car was a Ferrari Challenge Stradale, and I put 22,000 miles on it in 18 months. It was an absolute dream. My biggest regret was selling it, especially when you look at the prices today. As a member of Damon Hill’s P1 Supercar Club, I was lucky enough to drive more Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys than I can count.

When I lived in the UK, I raced my own Big Healey in the Austin-Healey feature race of the Aston Martin championship. It taught me more about these machines than any showroom ever could.

One of my dream cars was always the Jaguar C-type. Real ones are very hard to get, so mine is an exact aluminium replica that took over a year to make.

More recently I owned a Porsche GT3 and a Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Badge. I have sold them both. Today I live in Sausalito, California.

And my ultimate dream car? A Ferrari F40. If it’s yours too, you can put one in a Dream Garage for fun.

Over those years, the cars I love became first-class assets. That is true of the hypercars and the headline supercars, and of the cars Ferrari has built across its whole history. Yet the people who own them usually know less about what they are worth than the owner of a small share portfolio. They have an insurance schedule two years out of date, a dealer’s number with no evidence behind it, or a price guide built on estimates.

I started Halo so that everyone who owns, buys or writes about these cars can see their value clearly, built only from what cars have actually sold for. Every figure links to the sales behind it. Guide prices and estimates are tracked but never counted. When there is not enough evidence to give a confident answer, Halo says so.

I see the right cars as works of art, and I will admit a particular affection for the analog era: hydraulic steering, a gated shifter, an engine you can hear. Those cars deserve a record as careful as the one we keep for paintings.

A few promises, because you should know who you are dealing with. Halo is independent. It does not buy, sell or insure cars, and it never will. What you tell us about your collection stays yours. It is never sold and never shown to dealers, and if you show a car on the private market, buyers see the car, not you. You can delete everything at any time.

If you care about these cars as much as I do, I would be glad to have you with us.