“More recently – just last year, actually – we bought and sold a 1932 Marmon,” Akbani recalls. “The Marmon Motor Car Company built the car that won the first Indy 500 in 1911.And the gentleman we sold it to is on the Forbes’ Top 40.” “We took the idea of selling classic cars, which was traditionally done through local connectionsand small sales circles, and we made it into a worldwide phenomenon”
for Gateway Classic Cars. “Our following on the worldwide market means we’re always attracting new sellers as well,” Akbani says. “Buyers and sellers know we’re the best. The United States is still the leader even though we’re not producing the most exotic cars. It’s our atmosphere. We’re the heart of the industry and the culture.” Scandinavia and Germany are bastions of American hot rod culture and account for nearly two-thirds of Gateway Classic Cars’ European exports. Currently, Akbani is establishing on-the-ground connections in both Hamburg and Munich. Akbani also believes that American popular culture has played a major role in the rolling success of Gateway Classic Cars. “The movies and music videos that we export to the world really expand our market. There’s a Taylor Swift music video with over a billion views on You Tube and it features a 1965 Mustang. This kind of cachet is encouraging us to set up a showroom later this summer in Atlanta where the music, televi- sion, and movie industries are strong.” (The 1967 Shelby GT500 Elea- normodel that Akbani mentioned earlier was used in the 2000 re-make of Gone in 60 Seconds starring Nicholas Cage.) As a nationwide team, the folks at Gateway Classic Cars are not strang- ers to requests from those in the spotlight.Among the A-list who calls themselves Gateway Classic Cars customers is two-time Cy Young
Akbani believes that it is no coincidence that with the “dawn of the internet age came the golden age of the classic car industry.”
“We started this business on February 8, 1999.Products and services were just beginning to come to market on the internet. We took the idea of selling classic cars, which was traditionally done through local connectionsand small sales circles, and we made it into a worldwide phenomenon. If it wasn’t for the internet I don’t know that we’d be this successful.”
Growing an international reputation for sales has reaped many benefits
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • JUNE 2016
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