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As 2021 draws to a close, so Max Girardo has taken the time to summarise Girardo & Co.’s year and peer tentatively into the future. From secret sourcing missions to Rétromobile, here’s what Max had to say…

After a year in which the world began to recover from the wretched pandemic, what sticks most prominently in my mind are the truly great cars we were able to source for our brilliant clients, from ‘2127 GT’, the 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione which finished second overall at the Tour de France in 1960, to the 1984 Tour de Corse-winning Lancia 037 Rally Evo 2 Group B.We’re getting set more and more of these secret missions by our clients, yet they still report back that the cars we find are always expensive! Quite simply, that’s because we’ve found the very best. And we always say buy the best!

Great cars are still selling and, overall, the market is progressing – nothing’s going backwards. That’s because the older, more traditional classics are holding their values – there’s no such thing as a cheap Bentley Blower or Alfa 8C – while more modern supercars are going from strength to strength. Cars like the Maserati MC12 and Ferrari Enzo, both of which we’ve had the pleasure of rehoming this year. Likewise rally cars, our dirty little not-so-secret. It’s great to see younger buyers coming in and showing such fierce enthusiasm for these newer road and competition cars.We made it our mission to bring you along for the ride this year, and tried to create entertaining, authoritative and engaging content to keep you in the Girardo & Co. loop. We were granted the chance to return to some of our favourite events – no amount of FaceTime, Zoom or Skype can replace the invaluable time we get to spend speaking first-hand with our clients, so heading to Amelia Island, Pebble Beach and the Gulf Historic – among many others – was a real treat this year.

Likewise, the opportunity to drive a selection of incredibly special cars – I’m not sure I’ll ever forget howling down the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans in the Ferrari 550 Maranello Prodrive or sliding the Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta ‘Interim’ around Goodwood during the Revival.Back at homebase, I’m delighted to report that we’ve nailed down our building plans and finally ‘broken ground’. We’ll be bringing you regular updates as we turn Belchers Farm into a destination where you can leave reality temporarily behind and fully indulge in our wonderful passion. I’ve always championed the idea that these cars are so much more than the sum of their parts and represent memories and experiences.

We want our facility to represent that and our clients, most of whom we’ve dealt with remotely over the last two years, to come and experience Girardo & Co. – to talk to the guys and see firsthand the quality of the cars we have the privilege of hosting. More space filled with even greater cars naturally means we’ll be upgrading our coffee machine.Looking forward into 2022, it’s with a heavy heart I have to announce that owing to the volatile nature of the coronavirus pandemic, we will not be attending Salon Rétromobile in February. It was certainly not an easy decision to make, especially given how far we’d got with our preparations for the event. However, rest assured we’ll be reinvesting that time and energy into other projects designed to connect with our clients. Oh, and we’ve got some phenomenal cars waiting in the wings. Watch this space!In the meantime, I’d like to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to the countless partners with which we work and without whom Girardo & Co. simply wouldn’t function. Wherever you are in the world, Happy New Year. Catch you on the flipside…Photos: Tom Shaxson for Girardo & Co.