We're preparing a special issue of Old Cars Weekly that will be sold only on newsstands, and I figured the publication's readers are the best people to ask. So, I'm looking for feedback. What are the best stories to put in this special magazine-sized issue of Old Cars Weekly? To get you thinking, here's a preliminary list of stories we're planning for the issue:

Gregg D. Merksamer's Pennsylvania Turnpike story
A drive in a Duesenberg
Autronic Eye repair story
Matt Ross' coverage of the northwest's Pig-n-Ford races
Unrestored 1941 Willys coupe feature
VW drive in California
Stories from the Highway Patrol
JFK hearse story...

and what else do you think?
Let me know!

Recently, someone asked me if his one family-owned, 40,000-mile 1985 Chrysler LeBaron GTC was not given collector status, and if the $5,000 “default rate” collector car insurance coverage was enough insurance. He asked his question of me since I own a 1981 Chevrolet Impala coupe that I treat like a collector car, and I thought my reply would be of interest to.

Personally, I consider any car that is special to a car enthusiast, and treated as such, to be a collector car. That could mean a pampered 1996 Buick Riviera or a 1986 Corolla (if anyone does such a thing) that are only driven in nice weather.

When it comes to values, the market determines the price a car is worth. The large bulk of the market for many 1970s cars and nearly all 1980s and later cars is made up of people who regularly buy and sell cars of this era as used cars for transportation, so as a 1980s car collector, you are in a large minority (as am I with my 1981 Impala coupe). As an example, most people who own ‘57 Chevys use them as collector cars and few, if anyone, still uses a 1957 Chevy as daily transportation while disregarding its collectability. Most people who own 1981 Impalas and 1985 LeBarons use them only as daily transportation without ever considering their future or present collectability.

Since an insurance company needs to follow the market when determining prices, it cannot change prices for specific cars and owners (i.e., it’s bad business for it to give you more than the market value of a car because you treat your car better than 99 percent of those out there). And right now, our cars are at their lowest values they will ever be at.

It’s not all bad, however. Since most people treat 1981 Impalas and 1985 Chrysler LeBarons as “used cars,” and have done so since they began driving off the dealership lot, our very nice cars are in a shrinking minority. Attrition has set in, and there are far less mint models like ours than there were when they were new. Therefore, we have cars that can only grow in desirability.

God forbid, if your car does need to be replaced, you should be able to find another one in the $5,000 price range. It won’t be the same car, of course, since you can’t turn back the clock to 1985 and buy a brand new one. Also, it will be difficult to find another low-mileage 1985 Chrysler LeBaron GTS, but they’re out there. You just have to look. I would never want to try to find another 1981 Impala coupe to replace mine because I know how long it took to find the one I did, but they’re out there, and right now, that difficulty in searching for one does not carry a very high price tag.
 
The people who began collecting Duesenbergs in the 1940s and 1950s were picking them up for $250 to a few thousand dollars. Of course, those cars are now worth hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Our cars will likely never be worth that much, but now is the time to invest in cars that we feel will appeal to future car collectors. LeBarons were popular and attractive when they were new, and so it’s likely a market will grow for them.

The first Impalas were two-doors, and my Impala is from the last year  a two-door Impala was built. Therefore, I feel that, although my car is valued only at around $5,000, it can only go up from there. And by purchasing the car now at a relatively low price, I got in at the ground floor, like those insightful Duesenberg owners.

My suggestion to you is to keep up with the market values and prices for cars like yours. If and when you see cars sell for more prices than your car is insured for, contact your insurance company and get a recent appraisal from a qualified appraiser to reflect the value gains.

Gorgeous weather, an overflowing show car field and a sold-out swap meet appear to have made this year’s Iola Old Car Show the biggest yet. For me, it may also have been the best.

With all of the guests we welcome at the show, I enjoy spending a lot of time talking to Old Cars Weekly subscribers and usually run out of time to meander through the gigantic swap meet. (I’ve never seen the whole thing). However, I found several treasures in the swap meet this year, including the Kidillac pedal car I mentioned in my editorial following last year’s Iola car show. I didn’t let it get by me again and scooped it up this year.

I also purchased a spare dual-snorkel air cleaner for a 1955 Cadillac and 1962 Cadillac wheel, but my biggest score was a solid 1955 Cadillac back bumper, complete with nice bumper ends. Each year, I make it a point to stop in at Cadillac and Ford collector Jim Huotari’s swap space in search of Cadillac parts, and every year he has a surprise for me. This year, he had the best surprise of all. Now I can end my 15-year search for a 1955 Cadillac rear bumper, thanks to Jim.

The show concluded by helping nearby car collectors Dave and Marlese Lindsay return their collection of Full Classic Packards, as well as their Duesenberg, to their home. Dave handed me the keys to his 1934 Packard Super Eight convertible Victoria. Packards from 1934 represent my favorite year of Packard production, and driving the car was absolutely magical. Thanks, Dave!

Such a wonderful and huge event as the Iola Old Car Show cannot happen without the efforts and expense undertaken by people like Dave and Marlese Lindsay; the family of Jess Ruffalo, who brought their recently deceased father’s collection of finned Mopars and ’50s trucks to the Iola Old Car Show one last time; Bob Schmidt, curator of the ’57 Heaven museum in Branson, Mo., who, after showing his 1957 Belvedere at the Tulsarama! activities, brought his car to the Iola Old Car Show; the hundreds of “Coming Up Sevens” theme tent and Blue Ribbon Concours exhibitors; prewar, postwar and modified show car owners who drove their cars to the event; thousands of swap meet vendors; and the people offering more than 1,000 cars for sale in the car corral.

To everyone who came to Iola, Wis., for the Iola Old Car Show, I offer a giant Iola-sized “Thank you!” The show is one of the best in the world because of you, and we hope to see you next year.

At 3:01 on July 11, the Iola Old Car Show staff waved the checkered flag so that vendors, many of whom had been waiting since last weekend to enter the grounds, could run to their vending spaces and set up their wares.

These photos were taken at about 5:00 on July 11, so you can see how quickly the parts started pouring out of truck beds and off of trailers. In the first half hour I was on the grounds, I was able to spend $100. I bought a rusty Kidillac I saw last year and scooped up a spare dual-snorkel '55 Cadillac air cleaner.

If you aren't here, I figured I'd also post a few of the sweet deals you're missing!
The '57 T-Bird is a bit rough and is priced at $15,900 (if it's still for sale), and the 1970 Chevelle now has a 350 V-8 and a four speed with a price tag of $6,950.

I've also run into Dave and Marlese Lindsay, who brought their Duesenberg Model J convertible sedan and several Classic-era Packards, and George Collar and Bob Brown, who have several finned Mopars on display next to Ruffalo's cars.

If you're not here yet, you've got three days left to enjoy the sweet swap deals, the beautiful cars and all the cheese curds you can fit in your stomach!

I thought you'd enjoy these pics of the Iola Old Car Show grounds (and the building surrounded by the grounds) before the vendors start rollling in. These pics were taken July 10 (last night), and vendors will begin setting up after 3 p.m. today, July 11.

All of the "used cars" in the parking lot will soon be replaced by show cars and rusty parts!

By the way, the building is where Old Cars Weekly and Old Cars Price Guide are published.

See you at the show!

I was hoping to write a blog entry as Buck's hood was cooling from the return trip from Back to the 50's, but I'm having a hard time catching up with the phone calls, e-mails and, of course, getting Old Cars Weekly ready!

I want to thank everyone who stopped to say "Hello" at Back to the 50's. The show was great with perfect weather, a gigantic 11,500 cars in attendance and plenty of old and new favorites to drool over.

Cars that really stood out to me this year included a 1958 De Soto convertible in gold (very tasty looking!) and the rat-rodded, chopped, rusted, lowered, sectioned, Z-ed and everything else-ed machines at this year's event. I like old-school, low-buck hot rods (even if the treatment is done to high-buck 'Henry tin' Deuces), but these cars are so low to the ground that they are as driveable as a Radio Flyer strapped to the bumper of a grocery getter at 70 mph. The driver's head sticks out of the roof in a way that would make CARtoonist George Trosley think he was living in a parallel universe of his own creation. I love George's work, but let's keep that look to the comic books, people. What do you think about these creations?

I was also happy to see several of my old favorites: a jet black 1957 Chevy Two-Ten Sport Coupe that is said to be in the hands of its original owner, who once drag raced the car, and a Harbor Blue and Larkspur Blue 1957 Chevy Two-Ten Sport Coupe. These cars area always at the show, and I love seeing them every year. In fact, I count on it. I hope to catch up with the owner of the black car, but I've never seen the owner of the car. I hear my uncle knows one of the owner's friends, so I hope to catch up with the ebony Two-Ten for a future story in Old Cars Weekly.

While at Back to the 50's, I also drooled over several 1957 Oldsmobiles. I think I am going to sell my rusty one and concentrate on restoring my rusty '55 Cadillac, but you can bet my next collector car is going to be a '57 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket 88 Holiday coupe...in gold!

If you missed Buck at Back to the 50's, be sure to swing by the Iola Old Car Show. The vendors aren't in the gates yet, but the tents are up, the fences are up and Iola is nearly quivvering with excitement for the big show. Buck is already set up next to the Ultimate Garage and Krause Book tent near the tower, so say "hello" while you register to win in the Ultimate Garage giveaway!

I also hope to publish some photos of the show grounds as the  vendors start to pour in, so stop back for some pix!

While at Back to the 50's, I saw a 1953 Chevy four-door sedan (or it could have been 1954 - I can't remember) that had a gold script on each rear door above the stainless trim that spelled out "Two Ten." I had never seen the name "Two Ten" spelled out on a Chevy, including that year. The unrestored car wore its original paint and the script was similar to the Bel Air style, so I know it was original (though it needed restoration). Have you seen this before? I sure wish I had taken a photo, but my camera wasn't nearby.

They say there’s no rest for the wicked, and if that’s true, I must be pretty bad.

I took advantage of the long holiday weekend over Memorial Day to get my family’s ’55 Cadillac Series 62 coupe ready for the Classic Car Club of America’s Grand Experience on June 3. This event at the Classic Car Museum/Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Mich., was for Classic-era cars (V-12 Packard, Cord, Duesenberg, Marmon,  Cadillac, and others) manufactured during the “Classic Era.”

At this year’s Grand Experience event, the CCCA featured Cadillacs, so the club welcomed all Cadillacs built through 1970. So, the old yellow Caddy stretched its 133,000-mile legs to make the trek across the Lake Michigan ferry for the show. It was quite an adventure, but you'll have to read about that in Old Cars Weekly!

Since my family’s 1955 Cadillac is unrestored, I’ve put a lot of elbow grease into the original paint to get it to shine. Since the deadline for the show is looming, I spent the weekend touching up the paint chips, polishing the paint, and then applying a second coat of wax. If you drive big cars and take proper care of their paint, then you don’t look forward to waxing them, either. In the end, I applied two coats of wax. My elbow is out of grease, but the car looks great.

As if waxing a Cadillac twice in one day wasn’t enough, Keith Mathiowetz and I went to work preparing Buck, the Old Cars Weekly 1954 Chevrolet panel truck, for the Tulsarama event in mid June. Buck hasn’t been very well taken care of lately, but Keith and I made up for it by washing it, waxing it and cleaning out the interior. Keith even touched up the paint so Buck looks its best during the Tulsarama festivities.



Waxing the ‘55 Cadillac took a while, but waxing the sides of Buck truly felt like waxing the planks on an old barn. The paint was dry, and there was almost as much surface to wax on buck as there is on a barn. Regardless, Buck is looking pretty for a heavy-duty truck with more than 200,000 miles since its rebuild!

If you’re at Tulsarama or Back to the 50’s, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the freshly waxed “Buck the magic truck!”

Having just enough information, but not all the facts, can result in dangerous assumptions. Such is the case with many non-automotive media outlets speculating on the value of the Tulsarama’s 1957 Plymouth once it’s pulled from the Tulsa earth. Such assumptions wouldn’t ordinarily bother me enough to spout off about them, but it appears many of these sources are quoting the No. 1 value from Old Cars Price Guide, and that’s not right.

First of all, unrestored cars are not No. 1 cars. A vehicle has to have undergone a nut-and-bolt restoration that’s recent enough to make its owner comfortable with eating a sizzling steak from the “dirtiest” crevice of the vehicle’s underside (note: there should not be a dirty or rusty crevice ANYWHERE on a true No. 1 car). Not many vehicles are restored to this level, which is what makes No. 1 cars so valuable. Now, I love unrestored cars, and I’m the first to admit that unrestored vehicles can be worth as much, if not more, than restored cars. But it’s impossible for an unrestored car, even if it has zero miles, to be in No. 1 condition, and we all know these media sources are not aware of that fact.

Furthermore, celebrity car prices cannot be charted through any price guide. Remember the “Dukes of Hazzard” Dodge Charger? (I know, I know, we haven’t let you forget about that car on this Web site.) Every knowledgeable person will tell you that Charger will be worth more than an identical-appearing Charger from the same year, because it has some screen time, and it was owned by one of the famous people who helped make second-generation Dodge Chargers even more popular.  

The Tulsarama Plymouth may not have any screen time behind it, nor was it ever owned by a celebrity (or any person at all), but more importantly, it’s a celebrity in its own right. In fact, it’s quickly becoming the world’s best-known car, and only a handful of people have ever laid eyes on its gold-and-white body. And, since this Plymouth’s odometer has turned less often than a short-term politician, it’s all that much more valuable, even if it comes out of the earth looking less like a car from 1957 and more like a car from 1857.

So, what is this Plymouth worth? That question can be answered with as much confidence as predicting its condition. But, it’s safe to say the car will easily fetch six figures. If it’s in nice condition, and since there are at least two well-known and well-funded institutions interested in acquiring this special Plymouth, there’s a small chance it may reach seven-figure territory in heated bidding action at the right auction venue.

There is one thing you can count on, however, and that’s the fact this Plymouth is worth more than $30,000 -- and we’ll keep you posted on its fate within the pages of Old Cars Weekly.