title: “Hot Wheels” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-22” author: “Gloria Bergmark”
While the Detroit of 2006 struggles to survive, the fast bruisers cranked out by the Motor City in its 1970s halcyon days now help fuel the $17.8 billion-a-year classic-car business. That’s up about 25 percent in the past year alone, say car insurers, dealers and restoration experts, thanks mainly to the echo effect of televising major auctions. As many as 400,000 collector cars, worth about $14 billion, traded pink slips in the past 12 months; additional revenue comes from after-market parts sales and service, which now tops out at $100 per hour. “What’s driving this market are boomers who either owned the cars when they were kids or had always dreamed of owning a particular car they couldn’t afford,” says McKeel Hagerty, president of Hagerty Insurance, the nation’s largest classic-car insurer. “Now they have the money.”
While some automotive enthusiasts look at classifieds or shop online–a classic car is sold every four minutes on eBay Motors, says a spokesperson–hardcore buyers generally go through auction houses or private dealerships. Barrett-Jackson Auctions in Scottsdale, Ariz., a 35-year seller of collector automobiles that now specializes in muscle cars, saw revenue from its 1,100-car annual auction in Arizona grow to $100 million last January from about $62 million in 2005. That helped trigger steady growth across the market: last month RM Auctions pulled in $43 million, up from $31 million last year. (In January, RM will unveil a ‘71 Hemi ‘Cuda convertible that’s expected to go for $3 million.) The auction was held in tandem with the Concours d’Elegance, a pageant where 175 classic cars, not for sale, compete for best in show at Pebble Beach in Monterey, Calif. Tom Krefetz, who owns a car-restoration company in Oceanside, Calif., sold 17 cars at the RM auction–and paid $140,000 for a 1967 330 GTC Ferrari. His most surprising sale, however, wasn’t a car. It was a 1966 Vespa motor scooter that would normally go for $7,000. He got $17,000 after a bidding war erupted. “That can happen when you get two guys going for it,” says Krefetz, 54. “They just drive the price way up.”
Tired of watching auction houses profit from their handiwork, high-end manufacturers now want in. In July, Mercedes-Benz opened a collector-car store and service center in Irvine, Calif. The M-B Classic Center sells only Mercedeses older than 20 years. Asking price for a 1934 380 Cabriolet A in two-toned burgundy with red-leather interior: $1.2 million. If that’s too rich, the 1956 190SL is only $225,000. The facility also stocks Mercedes parts. “If we don’t have a part you need, we can make it because we have the blueprints to every part ever put on a Mercedes-Benz,” says store manager Michael Kunz. Not to be outdone, Ferrari is developing its own classics business. For example, the 308 model Tom Selleck drove in “Magnum, P.I.” can be had for a mere $30,000 to $40,000. (The average price of a new car today is $28,000, according to AAA.)
The interest in classic cars has spawned other ancillary businesses, too. Recently, Motor Trend magazine launched Motor Trend Classic because “we just couldn’t sate the appetite for classic cars in the pages of Motor Trend, so we dedicated a whole new magazine to it,” says Matt Stone, executive editor of both magazines. The Speed Channel drew its biggest ratings ever when it aired 33 hours of the Barrett-Jackson auction last January; it’ll show 40 hours this winter. Attendance grew by 25,000, and bidders came from all 50 states and countries like Uganda. “There’s no question television is doing for the classic-car market what it did to poker, bringing a new customer to the table,” says Craig Jackson, auction-house president.
How high will prices climb before the bubble bursts? In the ’80s, the classic-car market, driven largely by Japanese investors, rose exponentially–only to plummet when the Japanese economy went bust. What’s different now is that today’s buyers are “end users,” says Jackson, purchasing these cars because, above all else, they’re pleasurable to drive. (A tip from Concours d’Elegance chief judge Ed Gilbertson: if you’re looking for a cheap, entry-level classic, hardtop coupes usually sell for less than convertibles; black and red cars sell for more than green cars.) Like any luxury item, prices could tank if the economy falters. But, market observers say, these cars could continue to fetch record prices until a new generation of enthusiasts focuses attention on cars popular during their youth in the ’80s. Until then, tens of thousands of guys like Bill Weimann will buy cars at the top of the market–and not care. “Twenty years ago, you couldn’t give them away,” he says. “Now, when I drive, everyone’s head turns.” Just imagine what their jaws would do if they knew what he paid.
title: “Hot Wheels” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-13” author: “John Frady”
There are still plenty of college kids who are happy to drive a junkmobile. And at city schools, students rely on bikes or even–gasp!–the subway to get to class. But on many campuses today, college kids want the wicked whips they’ve seen in popular movies like “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” and hit shows like MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.” Nearly nine out of 10 college students today own a car, according to a survey by Harris Interactive. They’ve become a $15 billion auto market and now purchase nearly one in 10 new cars, according to automotive researcher J.D. Power and Associates. And many aren’t satisfied with stock. They’re spending $4.2 billion a year customizing their cars, according to the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association. They’re outfitting their rides with ground-shaking sound systems, nitrous-injected engines and 20-inch rims (called dubs in street parlance). “Just like their ringtones, their clothes and their dorm rooms,” says SEMA’s Peter MacGillivray, “their vehicles reflect their personalities.”
That’s why there is no single “look” that dominates campuses now. Back in the ’90s, Civics were so prevalent that student parking lots looked like Honda dealerships. Now the Civic isn’t even in the top 10. Instead, college-age kids are going for a mix of mostly Asian models. The top five, according to J.D. Power, are the Scion tC, Acura RSX, Mazda3, Volkswagen GTI and Hyundai Tiburon. The common characteristic: all these models are easy to modify. California Polytechnic engineering student Erick Li spent $4,000 customizing his black Scion tC by lowering it, beefing up the suspension and adding red “underglow” interior lights and high-intensity headlights for carving turns in the California hills. “A lot of cars can outpower me,” he says, “but I can outmaneuver them.”
When it comes to modifying cars, though, college kids are all over the map. There’s the boy (and girl) racer crowd that favors revved-up pocket rockets, like the Subaru WRX, that they’ve driven in videogames. Then there are the blinged-out Escalades and Range Rovers they’ve seen on “MTV Cribs.” The latest craze is for “donks”–grandpa cars like Oldsmobiles and Buicks from the ’70s jacked up on huge 28-inch wheels, once known as donkey tires. Still others go for “rat rods,” well-worn hot rods with distressed paint jobs (including faux rust) that share an esthetic with pretorn jeans.
For some campus car nuts, their hobby becomes their career. A&M’s Hodges has already lined up a sales job with one of the nation’s top automotive-retailing chains once he graduates. Luke Starner, a junior at Ohio University, couldn’t wait until he graduated to get his automotive career rolling. He’s formed Amped Imports, a customizing business in his hometown of Amanda, Ohio. “We help people with ideas,” he says, “and help them tune their cars.” His own heavily modified ‘99 Civic has earned him plenty of street cred with other guys into customizing. But unlike Hodges’s Firebird, Starner’s ride is no chick magnet. “People say you can meet girls because of your car, but I haven’t,” he says. “Maybe I don’t have a cool enough car.” Or maybe he just doesn’t get his head out from under the hood enough.
