Which Enzo Era ferrari are you referring to? Maybe I am wrong but I don't see any on the link you provided.
$3.4m - almost exactly what a nice 275 gtb4 is worth today Inflation Calculator: Bureau of Labor Statistics
What would be interesting is if John_B could present his data in real (inflation-adjusted) terms better illustrating the giant "U" between the two peaks and also better defining the bottom of the "U" as a likely price floor. Not trying to cause you work John, but your analysis has raised an interesting point when looking at the big picture in both "nominal" and "real" terms.
Good idea. Below are the series inflation-adjusted to 5/2016 prices using CPI. Interestingly, the current peaks in both 275 GTB/4's and gold are very close to the inflation-adjusted peaks. Image Unavailable, Please Login
A bit of tea-leaf reading from John_Bs "real" valuation graph: * Just eyeballing the base of the Gold "U" occurring about 1996, it appears that Gold has a minimum long term value of no less than $500 per ounce. The height of the Gold "U" from the base to highest point of the "U" is about 3.6 times the value of the base (1,800/500 = 3.6). * Just eyeballing the base of the 275 GTB/4 "U" occurring about 2003, it appears that the 275 GTB/4 has a minimum long term value of no less than $500,000. The height of the 275 GTB/4 "U" from the base to highest point of the "U" is about 7 times the value of the base (3,500,000/500,000 = 7). * Thus, the pricing volatility of a 275 GTB/4 is about double that of gold (7.0/3.6 = 1.9). Just my 2 cents to make sense of the performance of Classic Cars versus other assets.
John, that depends to a large degree also the amount of cars sold. How many cars were sold at the early peak and how many now? Imho, averages over a year or so are far more relevant than a single sale at a peak high or low as it also averages out most of the excesses.
Yes, the implied assumption in this analysis is that the same amount of cars were sold for each data point. Your observation also likely applies when comparing one model car versus another car or against some equivalent quantity of a commodity (apples to oranges) to get an assessment of price volatility.