Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Robb Report
Supercar Blondie and McKeel Hagerty Discuss the Future of Collector Cars at House of Robb in Monterey
By Basem Wasef,
13 hours ago
Two automotive giants converged at the House of Robb activation at Monterey Car Week to reflect on the future of the collector-car market in a panel moderated by Robb Report ‘s automotive editor, Viju Mathew. Social media maven and online-auction impresario, Alex Hirschi, a.k.a., Supercar Blondie , and the enthusiast’s enthusiast, Hagerty Insurance CEO, McKeel Hagerty , explored how their passion for cars have established radically different business empires that share a powerful common ground.
Alex Hirschi leapfrogged auto-journalism conventions, building a vast social media audience of 120 million followers by showcasing some of the most innovative exotics in existence. Hirschi’s newly launched SBX auction site presents high-end offerings that are personally vetted.
Alex (“Supercar Blondie”) Hirschi and McKeel Hagerty during their discussion on the collector-car market at Robb Report’ s House of Robb at the Carmel Valley Ranch on August 17.
Though her business ventures have focused on the high-end market, Hirschi credits simple origins for her automotive addiction. “My first car was a seven-year-old, busted Mitsubishi Lancer with rust on the roof,” she says, explaining that coming from a car-centric family in rural Australia fostered a deep love of long-distance driving. It wasn’t until she moved to Dubai after university that she fell hard for supercars. “I started filming my takes on supercars as someone who loves and appreciates driving them. It took off because I had a new perspective on cars that were already being talked about.” When her Instagram following grew to 50,000, monetization followed through brand deals whose revenues soon eclipsed her day job. “I realized, there’s something to this, I may as well go for it.”
Alex Hirschi mingles with House of Robb attendees after the panel.
McKeel Hagerty grew up in a similarly automotive-focused family, with a father who drew his three children in with restoration projects. Hagerty joked that the 1967 Porsche 911 S he purchased for $500 and restored with his dad was the “ . . . only good car deal I’ve ever actually done.” The restoration seeded a lifelong passion that has driven the expansion of Hagerty Insurance into an event and media juggernaut that includes the Hagerty Drivers Club Magazine , which has grown into the highest circulation automotive magazine in the world.
McKeel Hagerty (left) converses with Robb Report’ s president, Luke Bahrenburg, and senior vice president of Live Media, Cristina Cheever at House of Robb.
According to Hagerty, one of his key missions is to “create more on-ramps for the next generation of enthusiasts. “The first time I judged at [the Pebble Beach Concours] I was 32 years old, and the youngest judge in the room. 10 years after that, I was still the youngest judge . . . that’s a bad sign, everybody.” Recognizing the need to propel the hobby into the future, Hagerty has acquired and transformed a series of automotive events for a younger generation. “There are traditions in the car world that need to be protected and stewarded,” he says. “I’m mindful of the fact that there is nothing less sexy than insurance, right? But we chose to think of ourselves as an automotive company and not an insurance business from the beginning.”
The hydrogen-powered Hyperion XP-1 Prototype hypercar was on display during the proceedings, and is being auctioned through SBX Cars.
While Hagerty harbors a deep appreciation for analog cars from yesteryear and Hirschi embraces bleeding-edge extremes such as the soon-to-be-auctioned Hyperion XP-1 hypercar prototype, they meet in the middle when asked what the next once-in-a-generation, Ferrari 250 GTO–level collectible will be: Both point to the ’90s-era supercar masterpiece, the McLaren F1, which merges analog three-pedal driving with future-forward engineering. At the end of the day, it’s cars like the F1 that bring a story to the experience of driving and appreciating special cars.
“Feeling something, that’s everything,” Hirschi says. “This is not about transportation, Hagerty adds, “in this world of cars, it is all about emotion.”
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0