Weak dollar opens market overseas for classic cars

The showroom is 45 miles north of Columbus.

VANATTA, Ohio (AP) — Though many business owners bemoan the weakness of the U.S. dollar, Phil Stalling has found a way to take advantage of the situation: Sell overseas.

Stalling and his son Phil Stalling Jr. specialize in selling American classic cars, and lately European drivers can’t seem to get enough.

The Stallings operate Phil Stalling Classic Cars, a veritable classic-car museum with everything from ’32 Ford Roadsters to ’57 Chevys and ’68 Mustangs and Camaros.

The inside of the showroom, about 45 miles north of Columbus, is a hodgepodge of classic-car memorabilia, old license plates and service-station signs.

“We get plenty of tire-kickers,” Stalling Jr. says of people who come in just to dream about owning a piece of American automobile history.

The more serious buyers tend to fall into two categories: investors who want to sink their money into something more solid than the stock market, and enthusiasts who are looking for “The Car.”

“It usually has some sentimental value to it,” the elder Stalling said. “It’s the car they dreamed about owning when they were kids. Now, they can finally afford it.”

He’s lucky enough to have his dream car in the shop right now, a 1932 Ford Roadster hot rod. The car is for sale, for $39,900, but that doesn’t keep him from creating excuses to drive it while it’s there.

For the Stallings, classic cars are a passion that’s become a full-time job. The phone rings off the hook most days with calls from prospective buyers, and in the past six months, those inquiries increasingly are coming from overseas.

They have two cars on a ship bound for Denmark, they just shipped one last month to London, and last week, they sealed a deal to send a Mustang to Australia.

Bob Lichty, president of Motorcar Portfolio in Canton, has seen the same trend at work in his specialty-car business, mostly in the past six months. He said that exchange rates — the euro recently hit a record high against the U.S. dollar — are making it easier for even average European investors to get their hands on a piece of American history.

“It absolutely is driven by the weakness of the dollar,” Lichty said.

Along with the normal appreciation of a classic car’s value, he said, American classics are worth more overseas because they’re even rarer in that market.

“A ’59 Cadillac El Dorado driving down the street in Dusseldorf is quite a sight,” Lichty said.

Helen Lentine, owner of Trans Ocean Auto Inc. of New Jersey, said she expects a large boost in the number of cars shipped overseas from Hershey 2007, one of the world’s largest car shows, to be held Wednesday in Hershey, Pa.

Although her automobile-shipping company might send as many as 100 classic cars a year from the show, she said this year’s total could top 170.

It makes sense for a European investor to buy now, Phil Stalling said, because most classics only will appreciate in value. He just bought back a 1936 Ford he sold in 1991. He paid almost twice as much as the buyer did 16 years ago, and he knows he can sell it for even more.

The classic cars are more than just an investment, Stalling Jr. said. They’re meant to be driven.

“I call it car therapy,” he said, speaking specifically of his dad and the ’32 Ford Roadster. “You can be having the worst day, but when you hop in that car ... five minutes later, you have a grin you can’t pry off your face.”