Car Share Clubs: The Ownership Alternative
October 1, 2005
Brothers Philip and Dave Kavanagh—future founders of Classic Car Club—were
raised watching American Graffiti and looking up to their racecar-driving
uncles. In the early 1990s, they began their first classic car pursuits, but
could not find the choice cars they desired. “That was the germ that started to
grow,” says Philip, the younger brother, who recalls wondering: “How do we get
access to these cars?” The young men began brainstorming with a friend in
business school who needed to design a start-up company to complete his MBA. For
two years the team worked together and began to take memberships in September
1995 after acquiring a fleet of 10 cars, including a Porsche, an Aston Martin,
and an Alfa Romeo.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
A top-down drive in the Rolls-Royce Corniche is an experience to be savored.
This one is from the Classic Car Club Manhattan. (Click image to enlarge.)
Business ticked along until March of the next year. “I’ll always remember
that day was a Sunday because we had an article with a full-color
picture come
out in the Times,” Philip recalls. “I was sitting alone in
the office because my
brother was on holiday in Australia. The phone
just started ringing.” Those
weekend automotive section readers saw
immediately that the Kavanaghs were onto
something.
As the true father of car share clubs, Philip admits “it was a big gamble for
us. We couldn’t sell the product until people started to
understand the
concept that owning an old car will give you more
problems than using an old car
we professionally maintain for a
weekend.”
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