Fun Things - A Hot Property

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In an interview with the Daily Express, Moss admitted that he had never considered what his life after racing would be like, remarking that “Fangio was world champion at 47 and I’d expected to go on until I was 50”.

All of this will doubtless come as a surprise to today’s generation of racers, who do not expect to be commanding poll position into and beyond middle age and who can make millions through the kind of sponsorship deals that were simply unheard of in the fifties and sixties.

Moss’s words reveal that his generation of sportsmen, although well paid, faced a very different reality. “In 1961, I earned £32,000 equivalent to £500,000 today,” says Moss, adding “but that was for 52 races”. 

Moss goes on to reveal that despite having commanded a good salary, when he retired he quickly realised that he had no training for any other job and jokes that the only careers open to him were politics or estate agency.

This last statement is not made without irony, as since his retirement Moss has built up an impressive portfolio of buy to let properties in London, which are now worth tens of millions of pounds.  Indeed, Moss can frequently be seen zipping about the capital on his way to see one of his apartments.

Moss’s skill in property management was hinted at prior to his retirement from motor sport, when he purchased the freehold to the land on which his Mayfair home is built.  (The site was one of many in London that suffered bomb damage during the Second World War).

The house that Moss built on the reclaimed land was a triumph of innovative, James Bondesque design, complete with control panels which activate lights and other electrical devices around the house, lifts and even a dinner table that descends from the ceiling. 

As it has turned out, Moss’s property portfolio has given him a second, extremely profitable career, which today sits neatly alongside his continuing racing commitments. Indeed, the one thing he is sure of is that his love-affair with building and property will not end and as if to prove this, Sir Stirling and his wife, Lady Susie have just embarked on new a project - the building of a home in Florida.

With the enthusiasm of a man less that half his age, Moss assures us that, like his London base, this new building will come complete with the latest in hi-tech gadgetry, environment saving devices and, perhaps, even Robots!

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