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Car Share Clubs: The Ownership Alternative

Jennifer Hall

October 1, 2005

It is that feeling that comes with just knowing your classic collector car is resting in the garage as you fall asleep at night. It is the most desirable model, the best year. Not since your marriage have you perused something so avidly. You vow to keep it in mint condition and it wants for nothing. You arrange detailing appointments more regularly than visits to the dentist for your children. But is classic car ownership really the high road you have always felt born to drive?

The Morgan Plus 8, from Club Sportiva in San Francisco, caters to real sports car lovers. (Click image to enlarge.)

Lately your exotic beauty has been sitting under its flannel cover more than you intended. You seem to be flying for business more than driving for fun. Last time you took her out for a spin the engine was not running as well as you remember. And now you feel yourself craving another. Your buddy has a vintage convertible sitting in his garage, and it sure looks like a lot of fun.

Torbin Fuller, cofounder of Bay Area–based Club Sportiva, one of the first exclusive car sharing clubs to arrive in the United States, knows: “I had owned a number of sports cars” the entrepreneur says, “and it was in 2002 that I sold my 1982 Ferrari because it was too much of a hassle to maintain.” But fortunately the loss prompted a better idea. “I quit my job and within two months had opened the club.” Fuller left 60,000 other employees at Ford Motor Company for San Francisco’s clear driving weather and began fitting newly recruited members into seats of his 10 mint-condition classics, no ownership burdens attached.

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The Private Collection at Hangar One in Scottsdale features head-turners like the Vanquish and Maranello. (Click image to enlarge.)

Fuller was able to open his company so quickly because he modeled the business after the already successful industry pioneer Classic Car Club. Ten years ago, with a concept much like real estate time share and residence club programs, the European company introduced the very first car share club to maximize the driving experience of classic, luxury, and sports cars. Pass an application process, pay the membership fee, make an annual dues commitment, and you are cruising through the English countryside in a 1970s Ferrari. When you finish, hand it back and drive away in a different classic.