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This asset may be coasting slowly downhill Ron Bartizek Business Local

Sunday August 24, 2008 | 10:11 AM

One of the more trivial reports about hardships brought on by soaring oil prices described the anguish of car collectors who are cruising less and sticking to shows closer to home. But judging by the exhibitors and gawkers at last weekend’s Back Mountain show, demographics are a much greater threat than $4 per gallon gasoline to practitioners of “the car hobby.”

While many of the cars looked like they’d continue to run long after their owners passed on to the great grease pit in the sky, there were precious few Gen Xers or other young people around to take their places. That leaves the question: Who will care about these carefully – and expensively – restored classics a couple of decades from now?

When the stock market tumbles, it’s tempting to shift money into more tangible assets like collectible cars. After all, they don’t make replacement ’34 Fords any more (although fiberglass replicas are easy to find). As in any other field, there are plenty of people ready to separate you from your cash with the promise of rich returns; for proof watch the Barrett-Jackson auctions on Speed TV. These carefully crafted extravaganzas turn parting with tens (sometimes hundreds) of thousands of dollars into entertainment while exposing viewers to outsized bids they’re unlikely to duplicate.

Other commodities also can seem attractive in troubled times; gold Krugerrands or stamps for example. Those have advantages over cars, says Ray Blockus, a longtime auto aficionado (and former Times Leader editor).

“People who collect stamps or coins, they can put them in a drawer or a safe deposit box,” he said. But you have to keep “nurturing” cars, tending to their mechanical needs, exercising them now and then.

All collectibles suffer from cyclical popularity, although you can make a good case that with cars the good times will never return. The truly rare and desirable models will always have a following, but turmoil on Wall Street combined with looming retirement is likely to crimp baby boomers’ spending on frivolity in the years ahead. And boomers have been the ones driving prices for ’60s and ’70s muscle cars into the stratosphere.

Cars do have a certain appeal over coins and stamps; owners who can do their own work may conceivably raise their pride and joy’s value by more than the cost of parts. And carrying an Inverted Jenny stamp around won’t spark conversation the same way pulling into the drive-in behind the wheel of a ’65 GTO does.

So while Blockus, 69, likes to consider his ’55 Dodge an investment, the returns may not show up in his bank account. “It’s an investment that you doubt that you’ll get your money back,” he acknowledges.

Still, Blockus has faith interest could spike again as a new generation rediscovers their automotive ancestors.

“America is in love with cars and I don’t think that’s ever going to change,” he said.

About the Author

Ron Bartizek covers business for the Times Leader. Reach him at (570) 970-7157 or rbartizek@timesleader.com.

Ron Bartizek has more than 30 years' newspaper industry experience, in advertising, news, general management and ownership. He has been business editor of the Times Leader since mid-2005.