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The classic car as a cash cow
Although the restoration of historic vehicles would be a lucrative niche for independent workshops, the necessary know-how is in danger of becoming extinct. The Automotive Technology Guild is therefore launching an initiative to train people to become classic car experts.
The classic car as a cash cow
Helmut Neverla is a classic car driver with both professional and private passion. The former owner of a classic car workshop and current chairman of the professional branch committee and educational representative for automotive technicians in the WKO recently restored a Lancia Flavia Coupé from 1964 with the help of several specialists and took part in the “Ennstal Classic” last year. From many years of experience, he knows the range of skills required to restore a historic vehicle. “Forging leaf springs, tailoring leather seats and convertible roofs, repairing carburetors, welding radiators, making wooden fittings, etcetera - the few specialists who can still do this today will soon retire and have no successors,” warns Neverla. This leaves a niche unused, in which there is a real treasure of gold to be discovered, especially for independent workshops. According to statistics from 2015, around 247 million euros are sold on the Austrian classic car market (see box); the most recent study published in the daily newspaper Kurier in June 2019 even speaks of 690 million euros annually. By far the largest share is attributed to restoration, with specialist know-how and craftsmanship skills being in high demand and therefore being rewarded accordingly.
Preserve knowledge
“It must be possible to save this knowledge from being forgotten and to pass it on to young automotive technicians,” says Neverla. Together with Markus Fuchs, director of the Siegfried Marcus vocational school in Vienna-Floridsdorf, and Manfred Kubik, training officer for body construction technicians at the WKO, he designed various concepts for a new profession “classic repair”. “Our dream goal would be to bring together a class of 10 – 15 students who, in three and a half to four years, would acquire at least a basic knowledge that they can build on,” says Neverla. The training variants range from a four-year apprenticeship to an attempted training course to a double apprenticeship. The teaching content, which is specially tailored to historic vehicles, ranges from sheet metal processing to mechanics and electrical systems, repairing carburetors and ignition to rust removal. Helmut Neverla is confident: “If there are enough interested parties, we will start in the 2020/21 school year
start."
DATA & FACTS
On average, a classic car collector in Austria is 54 years old, owns 2.9 vehicles and drives around 4,657 kilometers on 36 days a year. The average value of a historic car is 26,903 euros, a two-wheeler
Classic 5,847 euros. The industry's impressive annual turnover is around 247 million euros (and the trend is strong
increasing) and is divided into the following divisions:
| MARKET POTENTIAL | BY VEHICLE | TOTAL MARKET |
| restoration | 4029,– | 121,870,000 |
| service | 1041,– | 31,230,000 |
| Accessories | 884,– | 26,520,000 |
| garage | 1092,– | 32,760,000 |
| Insurance | 653,– | 19,590,000 |
| Taxes/tolls | 495,– | 14,850,000 |
| sum | 8,194.– | 246,820,000 |
Source: Austro Classic, 1/2015