Baby boomers with bucks have vroom for vintage cars

Classic car prices soar as baby boomers look to recapture their youth.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Dean Avery recalls being awestruck when his mother's date picked her up in a 1965 blue fastback Mustang. Avery, 11 or 12 at the time, thought the car and its sloping back window were cool.
"I'd never seen anything like it before," he said. "It was so eye catching."
Avery, now 49, couldn't afford one until four years ago, when he bought a 1966 Mustang for his wife. Two years ago, he bought a 1967 for himself.
Driving a surge
Baby boomers ranging from age 40 to 58 are driving a surge in the classic car market, buying the cars they couldn't buy when they were younger. Muscle cars such as Mustangs, GTOs and Camaros are among the automobiles propelling the market, said Graig Jackson, president of Barrett-Jackson Auction Co., in Scottsdale, Ariz., the country's largest car caution house. Sports cars and street rods are also popular.
"These cars just bring you back to your youth," said Avery, a sales manager for an industrial company who lives in San Leandro, Calif.
Very pricey
Many of these cars command prices well into five or even six figures. Jackson said a 1969 Camaro ZL1 would fetch between $550,000 to 750,000, up from $250,000 two years ago. A 1965 Shelby 3TG50 Mustang would command $110,000 to $120,000, up from $55,000 in 2002.
"You are seeing a lot people who worked their whole life now making age old dreams a reality," Jackson said. "People's money is doing nothing in the stock market. At least they can enjoy the cars."
Still, Jackson said most people buy vintage cars not as an investment, but for fun. He said 40 percent of buyers at his company's big annual auction in January were first-timers.
This year, sales at the auction reached $38.5 million, up 35 percent from 2003 and 13 percent from 2002.
"Classic cars are like a recreational property," said Keith Martin, publisher of Sports Car Market Magazine. "Old cars are not good for daily transport. They have no air bags, no air conditioning, terrible brakes."
Related businesses
The nostalgia for old cars is fueling the growth of related businesses. Last year, Hemmings Publications launched Hemmings Muscle Machines, a companion to its existing publication on collectible cars.
And three years ago Douglas Hasty founded Unique Performance, a company that takes old Mustangs from the 1960s and retools them into Shelby Mustangs, one of the iconic cars of the 1960s.
Carroll Shelby was a legendary driver and car designer who refashioned Mustangs with bigger engines, lighter frames, better brakes and smoother handling. The new versions of his cost between $99,000 and $198,000. They've become so popular with boomers that Unique is going to begin selling retooled Plymouth Baracudas and Chevy Camaros next year.
Meanwhile, Shelby has been making replicas of '60s vehicles for about a decade and they've proved very popular with collectors who don't want to spend splurge for an original.
Cobra replica
Two years ago, dentist Ted Glover bought a replica of a 1965 Cobra for $120,000 because he couldn't justify the $300,000 to $400,000 price of an original. There are just too many other autos he wants to add his collection of 36 cars, which includes a 1970 Hemi 'Cuda.
Glover said he has spent between $500,000 and $1 million on his cars but estimates they are worth about $1.2 million. Still, while many of his cars have appreciated in value more than his stock market and real estate holdings, he doesn't see them as an investment.
"It's not just a car. It's more of an emotional attachment," Glover said.