You never know who you’ll meet at Daniel Schmitt & Co., the classic car dealer whose two showrooms are tucked into an otherwise unassuming stretch of Lindbergh Boulevard near St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Weezer guitarist Brian Bell recently stopped by and bought two Porsches. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (who visited with his security detail) purchased a 1965 356C Porsche convertible—the same year as his birth.
For Schmitt, it’s all in a day’s work. “They are just like any other customers,” he says of the celebrities who visit.
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Yet Schmitt’s day likely doesn’t look much like other car dealers’. The world of investment-grade cars is so competitive, Schmitt obtained his pilot’s license to give himself a leg up—he flies himself to auctions around the country to find the best sports cars on the market, mostly Porsches. However, a recent visit to his showroom revealed Lamborghinis, an Aston Martin or two, and a vintage Mercedes-Benz convertible.
“If somebody wants a 1989 Porsche Turbo, the black one over there is probably the best one in the country,” he says, then gestures to another gleaming machine. “OK, the Porsche in the corner over there is a ‘97 Porsche Turbo S. That’s a $600,000 car. They didn’t make many of them, and it’s the only one in the world for sale right now. That’s kind of our niche, is to have really special cars that are highly desirable that we can put on the market.”
Schmitt estimates that fewer than 1 percent of his clients are based in St. Louis. (There’s a reason he’s located so close to the airport.) But he’s also in good company. “There are more classic car dealers in St. Louis than anywhere in the world,” he says. “I can think of 20 within a 20-mile radius.”
The business is a family one for Schmitt. His father Charles also focused on luxury cars, with dealerships in both St. Louis and Beverly Hills (“corner of Rodeo and Wilshire, best location in the world,” his son remembers). Charles Schmitt sold cars to Cary Grant and Fred Astaire, his son says, and was even engaged for a time to actress Victoria Principal.
And that may be one reason Daniel Schmitt & Co. has a particular interest in cars that aren’t just beauties, but beauties once driven by beautiful people. He acquired the 1931 Cadillac that Howard Hughes gave to Jean Harlow and a 1971 Mustang once owned by Steve McQueen. He has sold no fewer than four different cars once owned by Elvis Presley. “I don’t think there’s another dealer in the country that specializes in celebrity cars like we do,” he says. For a certain sort of collector, that provenance doesn’t just add a premium to the pricing but puts it in a whole different ballpark.
Many of these cars, after all, aren’t for driving. They’re investments. And so, much like artwork or expensive watches, the price is not in their utility but rather in what the market will bear. Schmitt compares them to oceanfront property: The scarcity is a huge part of the appeal.
And for people who collect these kinds of cars, Schmitt’s weekly newsletter highlighting the latest cars on offer is a must-read. “We have a 45 percent open rate,” he boasts. And some of those cars move: “It comes out on Thursdays, and the hottest cars will usually be sold by the following Monday.”
That’s not to say everything moves fast. As Schmitt shows off the cars now in his showroom, accompanied by Shelby, his friendly Bernese Mountain Doodle, he explains that patience is key in his business—that, and confidence in one’s judgment.
“What I see most dealers that try to do what I do is, they go buy a few cars, and they won’t sell in a month or two, and they get nervous,” he says. “They take them to auction, they sell them and lose $20,000, $30,000, $40,000.” He doesn’t do that. “If I buy a car, I probably give it a little bit more thought. I’ll buy a car and I’m prepared to sit on it for a year or two.”
But not forever. “The two cars that I said I’m going to keep forever, I sold because someone made me a ridiculous offer,” he says. And those are two he might have kept. “Now those cars are worth double what I sold them for five years ago,” he says, ruefully. “So the moral of the story is, I would have been better off not selling them.”
He adds, “There’s so many cars that I’ve owned that I wish I would have kept, but I’m in the business to make money, not collect cars. You can’t mix the two, unfortunately.”
