many manufacturers in the 1920s he went out of business. Well, we ended up with a genuine Rickenbacker added to our collection which we eventually sold to a museum in Japan.” “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” Akbani believes that it is no coincidence that with the “dawn of the internet age came the golden age of the classic car industry.”
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 connection- sand small sales circles, and we made it into a world- wide 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 for Gateway Classic Cars. “Our following on the worldwide market means we’re always attract- ing 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 estab- lishing on-the-ground connections in both Hamburg and Munich.
Akbani also believes that American popular culture has
“We started this business on February 8, 1999.Products
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • DECEMBER 2016 110
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