[Announcer] - The following program is made possible in part with support from Q-TV viewers and members.

[Eric Jylha] - Hello, I'm Eric Jylha.

Here inside the Buick Automotive Gallery and Research Center in Flint, Michigan.

Where over 25 classic and concept Buicks, Chevrolets and other locally built automobiles are exhibited.

From the dawn of the 20th century automobiles, trucks and railroads have transformed and indeed dominated American life.

In particular, automobiles and their derivatives trucks and other work vehicles have influenced the shape and design of our cities, our homes and even our relationships.

The word automobile derived from both Greek and Latin auto or self and mobilis or moving was first coined in the 14th century by an Italian named Martini.

It's practical development however didn't really commence until late in the 19th century.

The automobile, as we know it was not a singular invention but rather an evolution that took place worldwide, over time and continues to this day.

It started in France in the 1860s moved to Germany in the 1880s and then emerged in the United States in the 1890s.

Eli Olds initiated the automobile industry at the start of the 20th century in Detroit where he created and patented the assembly line process.

In 1902, Eli produced 2,500 curved dashed Oldsmobiles and a new transformative industry was launched.

From this advancement, Detroit grew to become the automobile capital of the world.

The American way of life was transformed however by Henry Ford, with the introduction of the Model T and the modern assembly line in 1914.

Nothing would ever be the same.

The Model T was a practical vehicle in its various configurations as a family car or as a variety of trucks.

Did you know that there were over 1800 automobile manufacturers in the United States alone between 1896 and 1930.

And it's probably a safe bet that there are automobile enthusiasts who are collecting, restoring and even driving cars today for many, if not all of those 1800 manufactures.

Such classic automobiles have captured the imagination of many who just want to travel back in time and once again be behind the wheel of their first car or who could now afford the car of their dreams.

So join us now as we discover classic vehicles and their collectors and here the stories behind their labors of love, the time, the energy and the dedication needed for an automobile to be restored to glory.

(upbeat music) Over the years, the growing popularity in the motor vehicle has inspired many to open up a toolbox and embark on the sometimes long and arduous process of restoring, preserving and enjoying these reminders of times gone by.

Though styles in engineering have changed greatly over the decades, what hasn't changed is how such vehicles capture the hearts and minds of those who truly appreciate the beauty and utility of these grand expressions of the human spirit.

Remember, behind every one of these classic vehicles there's a story, so join us now as collectors and restores share their experiences.

Each a unique and highly personal journey.

[Paul Andrus] - These steam cars were chugging around out there and I got a ride in one, well, once I rode in one that was it, I said, well, I got to have a steam car.

[Paul Andrus] - I got interested in the steam cars out in Hershey, Pennsylvania and that's the biggest car show in the world and I had two other antique cars that's why I was going on there to get parts for those and these steam cars were chugging around out there and I got to ride in one, well, once I rode in one that was it, I said, well, I got to have a steam car.

I was watching Hemmings Motor News magazine and then I'd seen this one in there and this one here was a basket case, or was cheap.

Well, like I say, we brought it home and it was in bushel baskets and boxes and I would picked up a valve out of a box and I didn't even know what it was let alone where it went.

But the car was basically all there.

The car, of course runs on steam and I tell people, well, it burns water well, it doesn't really burn water, you gotta have kerosene which is more expensive now than gasoline.

So the boiler is in the front and there's a big kerosene burner underneath with a white gas pilot light and the burner comes on and off and there's no electronics on this car.

The pumps know when to pump water the fuel pumps know when to pump fuel just by springs and diaphragms rather than electronics.

And once you get up the steam the throttle valve is on the steering column and you, the steam goes back down through the burner and it super heats it, then it heads for the engine which is in the back of the car bolted up to the differential and there's no transmission, no neutral.

When you give a steam, you're on your way.

I thought they would be a simple to operate which they are once they're all fired up but getting them fired up sometime is a little tricky but this is a two-person car to get going.

I have my wife pumping this thing she's gotta pump the fuel pressure keep the fuel pressure on the main burner while I'm watching to make sure everything's working all right.

Once the car is moving then the car will pump its own pressure but until you do there's a hand pump in there that has to be pumped, usually by the wife.

I think we should start the car up and we can see how it chugs around.

Now, I sometimes the book says 20 minutes but sometimes it's 45 minutes.

It all depends how the pilot light acts and how the burner acts and how everything is going.

Okay, to start up the Stanley you wanna make sure you have enough water in your boiler you open up this blowdown valve which is halfway up in the boiler and if water comes out, you're fine.

You've gotta open up this vent you have to make sure you have pressure on the pilot valve and then you preheat the outside of the valve.

Now, Stanley's came with a small blowtorch but nowadays, propane is convenient.

(blowtorch humming) So you preheat the pilot on the outside and then you stick the torch in through the pilot hole, turn on a pilot fuel, right here and the pilot light should be burning.

You will look into a small peak hole that's here and if you have a blue flame like we have now then you can work, it has to set about it should run for about 10 minutes, first to heat the main burner up.

Now the main burner has ignited so I'm going to shut this vent to keep the heat in.

So now we're going to wait for about 15 gallons of water to boil and make steam inside the boiler.

Now, after about 15 minutes of heating up 15 gallon of water we're going to take it for a ride.

(car chugging) (upbeat music) (car chugging) [Joe Zarazua] - It's a lot of fun driving them because again, it takes you back to the old days they're a lot different than the new ones.

This is what started it off.

This is a '70 LeMans Sport, which is my first brand new car I bought back in 1970, April Fool's Day.

Met my wife the day after so we've been together ever since and she's also a car bob.

This is our latest, newest addition which is a '64 Ford Falcon.

I really wanted one of these, since I was in high school, that was my time era when I went to high school.

This is a '56 Thunderbird which was in really bad shape, I took it right off the frame every nut and bolt and put it back together in an eight-month span.

It was a lot of work but as you can see it come out pretty nice, we're really pleased with it.

This '56 Ford Victoria here is my wife's pride and joy and I enjoy driving this also.

We have taken this to Iowa, Toronto, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and that's what we do we enjoy driving our cars, this is our hobby.

It's fun putting them together, finding parts and everything but the great joy is going around showing them to people and us enjoy driving them.

Well, originally I've always been a car lover since I was a kid and the '70s LeMans Sport we drove it and it was actually our second car for a while.

I was gonna sell it and my wife actually talked me into keeping and restoring it.

[Janet Zarazua] - When I was growing up my dad and my brother were really interested in cars.

So I was always dragging around to used-car lots and then my brother grew up in the he was a teenager in the 50s and he was always talking about cars and I was little sister that admired my big brother wanted to be into whatever he was doing and he actually bought a '56 Ford.

My parents bought it for him in '58 and I fell in love with that car which is such a beautiful car and he'd take me for rides and I was just sold on the '56 Fords then when I married my husband, he's a car guy too so I just carried over and here I am.

[Joe] - Restoring the Thunderbird was a lot of work.

I knew from previous work on the LeMans and Victoria what I was getting into and when I got that one I knew it was gonna be a completely teardown off the frame and of course once you get into these, you think well, I'm this far, I might as well go a step further and that's the way it goes through the whole process we're this far, let's do the transmission let's do the engine, let's do the interior.

So it just snowballs from there.

It needed so much work that I actually had about 30 sheets of items that I had to order.

There's reproduction companies out there that sell you the parts for these.

So that was a long tiring job there and I just turned it apart and thinking about rebuilding but ordering parts and of course the expense.

There's about four or five different vendors so you choose and pick which ones have the best price.

It was an experience that I'm glad I did but I don't think I'd wanna do it again.

[Janet] - Most people feel that cars are for men and that that's a hobby for them but I've met a lot of women who really are into the cars too.

Maybe not getting under 'em and fixing 'em and that type of thing but just really thoroughly enjoy riding around in 'em, going to car shows seeing other cars, talking to other people that have the cars.

Now, I actually did, and I was very proud of myself.

The '56 Ford needed a new gas tank and I got right under the car with Joe and helped him put the gas tank on and I felt pretty proud of myself.

[Joe] - This is more like, not just a hobby but we don't, in our case we don't have a cottage up north, we don't have a boat we enjoy these cars a lot.

Every nice day, pretty much every nice day we'll go out and we'll cruise around.

Driving these cars is really a neat experience when you're out there and just driving around and people that go by there, give you a thumbs up give you just big smiles.

It's a lot of fun driving them because, again, it takes you back to the old days.

They're a lot different than the new ones even though these have been redone to probably better than new, original-new and the ride is a little rougher they're not as quiet as the new ones or quite as comfortable.

And that's the nice thing about it is that they're different, you can, again go back in time to when you were younger and you can just feel it, turning on the radio and listening to the old music and so it's a great feeling.

[Donald Harbron] - The difference between a nice driver and a number-one show car is the quality of work you're doing.

I've always liked old cars, back when I was in high school I needed a car get to work and I bought an on old car fix it up so it was drivable and through high school I had hot-rodded a few and then got some nicer cars and then later years after family was gone from home I decided I want to get back into doing something for activity rather than just sit around twiddle my thumbs and keep me busy and we got back into the antique cars.

Bought the '34, basically I was gonna fix it up just for a driver and to tool around and I kind of got carried away and ended up with the number one show-car out of it.

The difference between a nice driver, and a number one show car is the quality of work you do on it.

I mean, I could have repainted it, put a new interior and it got it running and good and drove, as a driver but as I got into things that's find more and more wrong with it.

So, finally I just tore it totally part every part and piece and everything apart on it and just completely refinished each piece you know, as near-perfect and correct as I could possibly do.

So then we get into showing cars, we belong to VCCA the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America and ACA, Automobile Club of America and their judging is all done against points.

There's so many points you start with Like VCCA, they start off with a 1000 points and there's usually four judges you know, there's the interior, the exterior the motor and the chassis and there's certain things they look for to be right or wrong and mark you down accordingly from that.

You can have more than one first in each class you have to be within a certain amount of points to get there.

The car behind me is 1936 half-ton panel truck, Chevrolet and when I purchased this I was at a swap meet and I was actually looking for parts from my '34 and I got talking to this guy 'cause a lot of the parts they look alike and he got telling me about this panel truck.

And I just, well that, that'd be something unique and rare you know, I like to see what it was and possibly purchase it, well, I went to look at it and it was actually a pile of parts.

He had it totally tore apart he couldn't even tell what it looked like and he showed me a picture with a '36 half-ton panel truck would look like which I thought, yeah, that'd be neat kinda do.

In the process of looking for parts I look for parts for that for 14 years before I started putting it together and I found four other ones, all junkyard parts nothing what was drivable or runnable or anything and I just kept looking for parts and kept collecting and collecting until I finally felt I had what it would take to put one good car together.

One of the unique things about this truck originally, it was Pennsylvania Internal Revenue truck it has a plaque on the firewall that says that.

So that makes it kind of a unique truck too.

The Corvette is a '58, kind of a unique car.

It was a basket case what I bought it.

When you say a basket case, totally tore apart but it's panama yellow, the combination of the color the motor combination and the year there was only like 150 of 'em built in that particular color and engine and it's a pretty rare car too.

When we built this house, we build it as figured as our retirement home we'd built seven other homes but at the time we were into the antique cars and people wanted to come over and see my cars and, you know, in the wintertime they'd be out in a little cold pool building you'd go out and uncover them look at 'em quick, come back in and we said well, let's do it where we could build a home where we could actually put the cars in the basement and keep them climate control and we wanted a room in the basement with the cars we could call like a family room or something.

And so we decided it would be kinda neat and to do a 50 Soda Fountain in part of the basement and the cars in the rest of the basement.

That way you can come down to see the cars and you can enjoy the Soda Fountain.

It's completely working facility.

So the way I happen to get the Soda Fountain stuff was a friend of mine from Houghton Lake called in Roscommon and they were selling out a hobby shop with a Soda Fountain to the walls, so I bought the whole thing and it just fit right into our plans.

When I was in boy scouts we used to go up to Roscommon and we've been in that Soda Fountain and actually back in in the early '50s had sodas and everything at that counter and so, we do it from way back then.

This is my current project I'm working on it's a 1919, 490 Chevy touring car.

I bought the car in Kentucky about three years ago at an auction sale.

It has only 800 original miles on it.

The body is basically done, the engine is done the rest of the running gear I have to do yet my goal to get it done is for July, 2011 for the 100th anniversary of Chevrolet.

I think what I get out of it as much as anything starting out with something what is fair shape or something like the 36 truck that was a pile of junk and developing it into a real peace of art.

[Nick Tisch] - So we hadn't stepped inside of a milk truck in like 45-50 years.

I decided to do a restoration on the truck in honor of my father, he was a Twin Pines milkman and I thought it would be a kind of fitting that if my brother and I would build a truck that replicated my father's and I looked for over two years on the internet to find a decent truck, one truck was in the Indiana and by the time that it was shipped up to the driveway here half the parts had fallen off on the way so we had to look for a second truck and we found one in Port Huron and we got that.

So I actually built the truck out of two different trucks.

The truck in Port Huron was so bad that it was stuck in the dirt and when we went to pull it out of the dirt we found the frame was rusted in too.

So we had to take it apart and we spent three days up at the junkyard taking it all apart there and bring it all home in pieces.

I tried to get a body shop to work on the truck nobody in town would work on it as this thing is way beyond repair.

So, I kind of tricked the body guys and I gave them a quarter panel and I gave 'em a front quarter panel gave 'em the rear doors, gave 'em the front fenders and I had about eight different body shops working on the truck at the same time.

When they finished up all the parts, I used to be a mechanic so I had all the mechanicals in the basement over the winter time and restored all the mechanicals.

So then when springtime hit I had all the drivetrain done and then I had all the parts and pieces to put back together, from there we took it to one guy that says, "Oh gee, I can do it now "because it's all back together and it's roughly in shape."

so he finished it off and painted it for us and the day of the Woodward Cruise it was the first day that it had driven out of the driveway that's how close we came to to finishing it that was two years ago.

We took it on the Woodward Cruise we had zero problems with it, it ran just great and the people there, we got standing ovations from people in the bleachers.

I had old milkmen jumping inside the truck to tell us all the stories that they related to.

We had just a wonderful time, from there on I started collecting memorabilia cases and bottles and things like that and my brother also has a real good collection.

He's been collecting longer than when I had the truck.

[Gary Tisch] - And I've been collecting Twin Pine stuff for probably 20 years now.

I've got over 200 Twin Pines bottles I've gotten a lot of paper, products over the years bill pads, we have dairy books of the route books we have the potato chip cans, milk crates, the milk cans.

I probably got the biggest collection of Twin Pines products probably in the whole world.

[Nick] - When the first truck got pulled in the driveway and my brother and I got out here to look at it it was just unbelievable because we hadn't stepped inside of a milk truck in like 45-50 years, it was really a unique feeling and I never thought I would see the day when the truck was finished because it was such a mess.

So when we did finally get the truck and be able to drive it down the street it was a really unique experience.

Something that all the old milk men begged to drive just to drive it down the street and it's got a real unique way that you drive the truck.

You can drive this either standing up or sitting down.

Normally the milkman would drive in to the dairy sitting down because he didn't have to go anywhere other than getting to the dairy which might be 18 miles away but when they got out to the route.

So you didn't wanna sit down every time you had to move it to another house so you could drive it standing up and unique part about that is that you could press the pedal down and there's a ratchet on the bottom of the brake and you would put the truck in neutral, put the ratchet on you could jump out of the truck and the truck would still be moving while no one's in there but it would come to a stop all by itself and I'd imagine the safety people nowadays would be having issue with that.

There is no ignition switch just a pull switch on it and it's only got one pedal on the floor for the clutch and the brake.

Halfway down is the clutch and the rest of the way down is the brake.

And it's got three different gas pedals on it.

One's on the floor, one's up, a little ways off the floor and the other one is the gearshift which you had to twist to make that because you're on your feet trying to drive it down the street.

You've got one pedal one foot is already dedicated to the clutch pedal and you can't possibly step on the gas with the other feet it just don't work, you'd fall down so it's very hard to get used to driving.

Some of my fondest memories were helping my dad he had two different routes that was common back in them days and we weren't old enough to drive.

I think we are about 14 years old but we were allowed to drive it up and down the streets if he got tied up for some reason we could do another house or two down the street and when we got into dairy we could drive it all around the dairy and that's actually where we learned how to drive.

We were just barely old enough to see over the steering wheel but it was a lot of fun But it's a rig, really brings back some great memories to be able to drive this truck again.

[Brian Roeser] - The day after Thanksgiving, 2008 we opened the garage doors and move the car for the first time in approximately 40 years.

The story behind this 1961 Corvette sitting behind me started with my dad when he was in high school he built a calculator for a science fair project which he did take first place and as part of that someone from Saginaw Steering Gear was there and was very interested in this project and from that he obtained a full ride scholarship to GMI and that's where he began his automotive career.

Shortly thereafter he decided he was going to buy a car.

At first, he had his mind set on a 1961 Pontiac Bonneville convertible after which my grandfather said, I'll match you and you can get whatever car you want or you can save the matching funds.

He decided to purchase this 1961 Corvette and what's unique about it is it has fuel injection which not very many cars were optioned with it not many people were familiar with it.

And added to that this jeweled-blue color is a one-year only color, it also has power windows which were not very common at that time.

The reason for the fuel-injection was a higher horsepower rating and he did end up using that extra horsepower at the drag strips, the local drag strips were going to be either an 1/8 mile or 1/4 mile in length I'm not sure what time this car had but I do have two trophies, one from the Central Michigan and one from Onondaga.

And they both have a number of about 104 written on the bottom so I'm guessing that was his lap speed at the end of the 1/4 mile.

I've known about this car for quite a while.

When I was about 8 years old I'd play with my matchbox toys and flour.

I was impressed that I knew what kind of car I was playing with.

I went to tell my mom, "Hey, I've got a Corvette Stingray."

And she'd say, "Well, you know your dad has a Corvette."

And that was a moment that polarized me to be a car guy.

I just couldn't believe that dad had this Corvette and I'd never seen it and didn't know where it was.

So after he passed away I went to his house where he grew up and I went over there to do some maintenance and I saw the garage that I knew it was in but had never seen it up to that point.

And as I walked to the garage I saw it was leaning on about a 15 degree angle which did concern me with winter approaching in 2008.

So, I called a couple of good friends and the day after Thanksgiving, 2008 we opened the garage doors and move the car for the first time in approximately 40 years.

When I first opened the door.

One, we didn't know if the building was gonna fall but second, I thought a lot about my dad who had just passed and I just saw the car and knew that was his pride and joy a long time ago and I then understood why he didn't want me at 16 or 20 years old to just start working on this car.

I really appreciated what was there, I knew that was his and since it was such a sentimental value I knew this would be a tribute car.

In my mind it's bittersweet it's a project I wanted to work on with him and so I want to restore it how he would see fit.

So I have decided that I pretty much want to restore it as it left Vassar March 1961.

To bring this car back to the standards that I think would please my father if he were here.

I need to bring someone else in to do that.

I have a 1970 Duster that I love working on and I just thought that this car needs to be done at a level that would take me 30 years and I don't wanna risk the mistakes.

So I decided that I want to enlist the help of people who know these cars and care for them deeply and to help guide me through the process of making the right decisions.

[Steven Snow] - When Brian first contacted me is through an email and he found us from our website and probably two months after the emails when Brian first came in and brought us in pictures of the car and told us where the car was located.

And myself, I'd probably driven by the cars at least a thousand times 'cause it was right off of 675 and after he told us the story of the car and the uniqueness of the car sitting in that garage for all those years with a piece of baling wire that secured the door that night I had to drive by and see it for myself where the car was, 'cause it just didn't sound real at first and once seeing the little garage was falling over and the neighborhood it was in just kind of like this kinda had a lucky life to still be alive and it'd be a pleasure to restore this car just the history behind the car alone.

[Brian] - I know to get this to the level my dad would have wanted will take a while.

So I'm comfortable that if this takes a year to do two years to do, three years to do, that's fine as long as in my mind I know it's how he would have wanted it and once it's done I'd like to take my mom for a ride who's never ridden in it before and I'd also like to take it back to Wickes Park in Saginaw where my dad took some photos in the summer of 1966 and recreate those shots at that same location.

[Eric Jylha] - Automobile collectors come in all varieties from the person who has only one vehicle that they spend nights and weekends restoring and enjoying to those who have caught the collecting and restoration bug just a bit more seriously.

One of these automobile enthusiast is Tom McDonald who has taken his love of collecting and restoring classic cars to a much higher level.

[Tom McDonald] - Every day I come down and look in the car barn and make sure that things are fine and talk to my cars.

We enjoy each other very much.

[Tom] - Back in 1946 I saw an advertisement a 1921 Model T Ford touring car for sale.

And I bought it for $18 in that summer went to Soo St. Marie and that really got me started in the old cars that we had a nice trip up there and back and after I graduated from college I worked in the reconditioning shop of one of the large dealers in town and I learned how to recondition automobiles and I've done it ever since and it it's been a pleasure and it's been a great joy.

Started the dealership in 1980 and most of the car collection precedes that.

I have 93 collector cars at various vintage, various years and the 1903 Cadillac being the oldest.

I try to collect unusual cars.

I really cherish Model A and Model T Fords.

I have a number of General Motors cars, Ford and I love the British cars the Rolls Royces and the Jaguars, they're well built and remember during World War II England was famous for the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines.

So they're precision people and it's fun collecting the English cars.

And in that's not only really collecting cars it's also it's restoring the cars to their same beauty they had when they were in the showroom and that's the challenge, that's the fun.

Every day I come down and looked in the car barn and make sure that things are fine and talk to my cars and we enjoy each other very much.

The car I'm sitting in now is the 1903 Cadillac it's a one cylinder and of course back in those days you had to crank a car, there were no electric starters.

They made 4,000 that year and the car sold for $750.

It goes about 18 miles an hour, it's fully restored and it's more of a show car than a drivable car.

And when we have the various shows throughout the area we always display this car it's quite an attraction because it was the first year that Cadillac built an automobile.

And they did a very good job and it became the standard of the world in those early days.

Why don't you come along with me now and I'll show you some of my favorite cars and I'll talk a little bit about their heritage.

This is a 1934 Buick, it's called a 90 series.

One of the largest cars Buick has ever built.

I found it in a salvage yard in Battle Creek it's been in the family since 1952 and was on display at the Saginaw Art Museum in Saginaw, Michigan in 1954.

This is a 1941 Cadillac, four-door convertible.

It was the last year that Cadillac built a four-door convertible.

It was the first year of the hydramatic transmission and the first year without running boards.

This car is fully restored, it's a show car and it's restored to its original showroom appearance when it was new in 1941.

This is the 1921 Model T Ford touring car.

It's 20 horsepower, I bought the car for $18 in 1946 back in those years, of course there was gas rationing during the war so a lot of these cars were put up on blocks and everybody wanted a new car after World War II so a lot of these were available at a very good price.

This is the 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith limousine it is one of the largest cars that Rolls has ever built and on the back door you will see two L's and the car belonged to Lord Henry Edward Colin Worth and then below the name is another 'L' was a participant in the House of Lords.

It's a traveling limousine it was made special for him and for $50 Rolls Royce will document why the car was built and who it was built for and gives you all the information and that's the thrill about owning a car like this because it is documented.

Last but not least, this is a 1933 Duesenberg II built by two brothers in Indianapolis Fred and August Duesenberg.

They were all hand-built automobiles and back in 1933 the Duesenberg was the most expensive car in America selling from 15,000 to 20,000.

And very important people, movie stars important people of America would buy the Duesenbergs.

Duesenberg built a little from 1929 to 1937 about 560 automobiles and it's a very joyous car they're top speed automobile.

A long wheelbase of 153 inches.

I established years ago the Tom McDonald Historic Automobile Association hoping that when I'm no longer here these cars will be put in the museum or put to good use.

Automobile, I feel is art.

[Eric] - For most collectors and restores the joy of owning and working on a classic cars is simply a hobby that allows them to relax and get away from the daily grind.

But for some this hobby has developed into a way of making a living doing something that they really enjoyed.

Let's take a look at a few of these hobbyists who have turned their love of the automobile into a way to pay their bills.

[Mike Nickels] - We use sandpaper, a lot of sandpaper.

I got into old cars when I was in high school and in the 80s I was able to pick up a wood car came in parts and pieces and I put it together and this is the car, so I've had this car for 30-something years and over the years I've been in contact with other people that do wood cars and I ended up turning it into a hobby and still working in the construction business for a while and then I turned it into a full-time business.

I build cars now for people all over the country and all over the world.

I have work that I've done in Belgium and worked on a car that came from Holland and doing a car now that's going to be shipped to Australia and had to add on the building a couple times and maybe I'd like to give you a tour of that little building and see what we're all about now.

This little building part of the building is here.

Here is the first part that I started doing cars in and right now there's two, 32s in here, one's from Vermont and there's also a 39 in here from California and I'm gonna give you a little quick history.

The wood cars were first used to carry people back and forth to the train stations and then later they got picked up by the surfers 'cause they were cheap cars that would haul their boards but construction people used them in the 30s and 40s and people that had large families that they needed to do some traveling.

Just fun ,this is kind of what we do here little parts and pieces of this and come on I'll show you some more.

This is a section of the shop where we do all our woodworking it's kind of the heart of the operation 'cause it's the wood work that we do.

We do a lot of handwork, we use routers and drills and power planes and we have a couple table saws so we don't have to change blades around and joiners and pantograph carvers and sandpaper, a lot of sandpaper.

This is kind of a sample of the wood that comes in.

This happens to be off of 47 Ford and the wood's pretty bad at this front door.

So what we do, is we tear it all apart use the pieces for patterns and we come up with a new door like we have over here.

This is going on a car that's going to Vermont when we're done and it's all out of maple with African mahogany paneling in it.

The car you might see in the background is a 48 Chevy that used white ash and mahogany paneling and we just putter away here all day long and just have fun to get dirty, it's great.

This is Mark, he's here learning some new trade here he came out of the building business like we did.

What are you working on today Mark?

[Mark Wojcik] - This is a thunder arch, it fits the 48 Chevrolet which are both of these cars behind me.

I'm just cutting the finger joints in these new pieces as you can see, there's quite a bit of wood to start from but it takes a lot of wood to get this arch all formed-- [Mike] - I see, okay.

[Mark] - And get it in and trying to match exactly how they place their finger joints in my new pieces so that we're making the cars accurate as possible with-- [Mike] - And then a little more machining on these parts and you'll be able to slide-- [Mark] - Be able to put them together [Mike] - Slide these together as a finger joint connection.

Why don't you show them what you're working on Mark.

[Mark] - Okay, sure.

This is a 48 Chevrolet wagon I'm holding right here an original D pillar, which is this portion of the car we basically, I use this as my blueprint to make the new part and this car I've been working on in conjunction with another one that's just like it for the last six months and we're at a place now where I need to build the two rear doors for the car.

The gates aren't in it right now 'cause there are in another phase but when I finish the two rear doors this car will pretty much be completed and that will be hopefully within about a month.

And both the owner and I are very excited about that and then I move on to a 46 Oldsmobile wagon and also a 47 Olds wagon.

[Mike] - This is a collection of 20 years of work.

Every car that has come in with any wood at all on it we save because there may be another car like that coming in.

We had a car up front which came with no wood from California this'll be my pattern that I'll use for that car up front this is the wheel arch, goes right above the rear tire this is happens to be the right side so wheels in here and sits right on top of the fender and between all this I have all the patterns for wood cars from 1929 to 1951.

This whole library of parts is kind of in my in my head so when Mark needs to, a car will come in that he may need a part for I'll have to come back here sort to and get patterns for him for that particular car that people need.

And it's all here you just gotta know what you're looking at, so it's fun, it's fun.

We just love doing what we do and we get excited about it and we just like to share that enthusiasm with everybody that we come in contact with.

(sandpaper sanding) Mark, what are you working on today?

[Mark Norton] - Well, just doing my in-between sandings for the car that's in the clean room.

[Mike] - Oh, okay, prepping it out.

What grade are you working on with this morning?

[Mark] - 320, I have two more coats to go so this will be 320 and the next one 400.

[Mike] - That would be great, be nice to see this project going out the door.

Hey, why don't you go in the clean room and check it out in there?

[Mark Norton] - Okay, I'll show ya.

This is our finished varnish and this is achieved by about four coats of spraying.

The surface is prepped with different degrees of grit paper starting at 220 and going to 400.

Typically, it takes about four weeks to complete a whole car.

This section is done separately from the doors and the tailgate and after the four weeks of the varnishing process then it'll roll into the next step where all the hardware, glass and everything is installed.

[Mike] - This is my own personal project I started about a year and a half ago on it and this is where it would come after Mark got done varnishing it which he has done this where I'm putting in seats now and putting on door handles and the glass is gonna be put in later this afternoon.

My parents had one of these when I was a young lad we used to go out west and maybe that's where I really got interested in doing these, but the next step is the customer drives it out the door and would like to go for a ride I think that'd be fun to do.

(upbeat music) [Deb Shultz-Pawlosky] - For a macho man with a car to come in and have a female restore it doesn't always work real well but I can usually win them over.

CH Schultz and Sons is a 93 year-old upholstery firm that was started by my grandfather, over several years was then sold to my my father and my uncle and then years later was sold to myself.

So I am actually the third generation here.

We do a lot of new car warranty, we do restoration we do classics and customs.

So that means we do hot rods or original restoration.

And to be a female in this business people walk in the door and my father was very wonderful at this.

They'd walk in the door and my dad would sit at the sewing machine and sew and they'd asked to see the owner so I'd sent him over to him and he'd say they'd want this or that or something else done and he'd say, you know I can't help you, you have to go in the office and talk to my daughter, she's the one that handles all that she's the one that does all the research.

So slowly through fighting with all the men and finally them listening to me they could ask me for my dad but it was him graciously sending them to me to get all that done.

But it's a hard field to be in because typically women are not in this field they're mostly men and for a macho man with a car to come in and have a female restore it doesn't always work real well but I can usually win them over.

In doing the restoration usually the interior is the last thing they do.

Some people don't have the money by the time they restore a complete vehicle to have the interior done.

Pricing restoration will depend on the age of the car what the material costs and where it has to come from.

You will be as inexpensive as maybe $3,500 and you could be as high as maybe $25,000.

In a restoration, to make it authentic if they bring it to us and they want it authentic we have many different ways to research and whether it's the internet, catalogs, library but we do have what's called a Detroit Body Book which goes back to 51 for us that tells us exactly what was in every car during each year so that we have a way to reference that and search for just that original piece of material and we just are in awe to look through the book and this was in a Nash and this was in a Rambler and this was an Oldsmobile.

And each fabric pattern will have a number on it with that number, they can then go all over the United States and search for that one piece of material that they're looking for.

I'm a artist at heart, so to be able to create and be able to sew it and start at the beginning with nothing and end up was really worth the time and the effort that you had to put into it.

And now working in the office I get to design the custom cars and lay them out and pick the colors which is very very rewarding.

It's wonderful to see their excitement when they pick it up when they're driving out of the driveway with this car that's completed because I'm usually the last person in line.

When I'm done, the car's finished the restoration is complete.

They are on their way to the first cruise they are ready to enjoy that vehicle, totally restored and they're on their way home to enjoy their pride and joy.

(upbeat music) [David Cotton] - Every time I fly over a barn I know there's a car hiding in there.

Bay City Motor Company really started in 2005 and was the product of years and years in the auto business years and years of collecting cars and being involved in classics.

Bay City Motor Company is a used-car lot that sells classic and vintage cars that are of the highest grade and we sell them globally.

But behind that the Bay City Motor Company Bay City Auto Company, are legacy names for the original company which my wife's grandparents started in 1904 and it was the original, the very first Cadillac dealership even before General Motors formed and it was also the first and last Cadillac distributorship in the United States.

We found this building had been idled in 2005 started restoring it and opened in 2006.

Strictly as a classic vintage and unusual or exotic vehicle store.

When people walk through the door they very often ask literally the question "Where am I, what is this?"

And we say, you're in a used car store and we're set up kind of museum like and it's designed that way so people can be comfortable.

It's a fun place to be you, can browse and so forth but we sell used cars, we sell classic used cars.

The oldest one we've ever sold is a 1904 Maxwell and we generally stop in the early to mid 70s with exceptions but we sell around the world.

Our website's in 52 languages 95% of our cars sell outside of Michigan and about 45% of our cars sell outside of the US.

We are here to enjoy cars together we're here to meet their needs and very often we don't have the car they're looking for but we have the ability in most cases to find that kind of car.

So finding cars is an adventure and then really the whole business is an adventure but there are times we don't think we'll ever find another car that we wanna have in our store and then the phone will ring and it'll be a client we've worked with before but otherwise, I generally travel anywhere up to 6,000-8,000 miles a month, generally by car because every time I fly over a barn I know there's a car hiding in there and I'll go through literally thousands of cars to select maybe 100 that I'm interested in and maybe 15 that are cars that we really wanna have here, so that's a process.

There's nothing romantic about it, it's hard work but we find neat cars because of it.

Well, we have a 1970 Superbird in one of our two collection rooms.

It is an original car from Bay City area was sold at Fitzhugh Motors back in the day they no longer exist but the car's here probably has never been more than a 100 miles from where I'm sitting right now.

That car was so radical with the tall wing at the time that many dealers actually dressed them down took those things off and made them back into sort of stock Coronets, so they're even fewer of those from what was built to what exists and those cars are our little softer right now we're asking $134,900 for ours.

They have sold in the marketplace before the adjustment soon with the recession in the $250,000 range and they're beginning to take up again.

Other cars we have here, we've got a 1969 Chevy Malibu but this only has a 307 V8 but it is an absolutely extraordinary impeccably finished car, very rare color combination I found it down in Florida and it's sold and it's on its way to California for somebody who's been looking for that pristine Malibu with a V8.

Behind me is a 1964 Jaguar Series 1 that car came as a result of a call I got from actually competing dealer I know well and he said, "Dave, I think there's a car "you're interested in."

Well, I got in the car and I think was it 11 or 12 hour drive and I found this and it's a two owner car we're actually the third owners now.

We have the history on that car all the way back to when it was ordered by the selling dealer in New York for a European delivery we have all the drive papers when it was in Europe the service papers there when it was brought back and it's a car with extraordinary history and fun and a very rare color combination with the red interior.

One aspect of our business and a very large portion of it is consignment and that's where the person actually still owns the car but we are really the representative for them and we use our skills and all the resources that we have to market that car and we do so on a commission type basis and we do it for people who don't wanna sell it themselves don't wanna have thousands of calls and tens of people come to their door and kick the tires and walk away.

So we can affect the sale in a way that meets both parties needs perhaps much better than the individual on their own.

So we'd love to have people come through here we'd love to work with them about their car needs but we encourage them really go to a car show find a classic car store near where they are go in and enjoy, ask questions, enjoy the heritage enjoy the history, enjoy the uniqueness they're very very different than cars today.

And hopefully you'll get on the phone call us get on the internet call us we're the Bay City Motor Company we're really easy to find and we're really happy to work with people.

[Russell Kraft] - I don't mind the squeaks and the rattles and the little quirks that they have.

I guess I developed the interest in cars at a very early age I actually bought my first car when I was nine years old for three dollars, I bought it out of a junkyard and I dragged it home with our farm tractor.

My father wasn't real pleased about that when my mother and father got home from town and saw this old International carry-all sitting in our yard however, I still have that and today it's a fairly valuable old car.

I don't think that I'll probably ever restore that car because it's almost past a restoration but it's so interesting and it has a very interesting history.

Over the years I've amassed a nice collection of antique and special interest cars and I've gotten them in all different ways.

Sometimes I see ads in magazines very often a friend of a friend of a friend will tell me about an old car and I'll go check it out and see if it's something that I'm interested in.

I go to car shows and swap meets and sometimes I find cars there.

Very often people will drive by my business and see two or three old cars sitting out there and they'll turn around and come back and say "Gosh, you know, my father's got an old car "and he doesn't use it anymore "and would you have some interest in buying it?"

And so, very often I acquire cars that way it's very interesting because you not only collect the car you usually gain a friend and you learn several lessons concerning that car and the history of the car.

It's really important to me to do that.

When I started working on cars I started with antique cars because I had some that I wanted to do for myself and as soon as I started working on my first car some friends and neighbors brought their old cars over so that's kind of how I got started in this business.

Currently, my business consists of probably 30% of it is working on special interest in classic and antique cars.

The rest is spent on new late-model cars.

Old cars to me, half the fun of owning them is to know their history and in fact every old car that I have acquired through the years or worked on I always try to find out as much of the history of the cars I can, like who the original owner was if it's a commercial vehicle what kind of a job was it assigned to where in the country it came from and it's just those things are always important to me to know something about the car.

I have my old cars because I happen to like that particular car and it really doesn't matter I don't want to sound callous about this but it really doesn't matter to me if this person or that person likes my car.

I have the car because I like it it has qualities or memories or things about it that are special to me, it's not important to me to get trophies, that's not why I have the car.

I have the car because I enjoy that car I enjoy the working on the cars and I enjoy the result of working on the cars that now I can drive them around and I don't mind the squeaks and the rattles and the little quirks that they have.

I really do appreciate an all-original car and it doesn't matter to me that they don't have air conditioning or automatic transmissions or all of the amenities that go with the new cars today because I really appreciate how they were originally.

I'll probably be collecting cars and enjoying old cars as long as I live.

Fortunately for me, my son also enjoys old cars and that's one of the things that has been very rewarding for me my son and I get to enjoy these cars together and we enjoy the old car business immensely.

It's been real rewarding to be able to be working with my son and have him enjoy our time together as much as we do.

That's a very important part of the old car business as far as my son and I are concerned.

I'm sure that he enjoys working with me as much as I enjoy working with him.

[Eric Jylha] - Many collectors are motivated to acquire vehicles based on a specific interest, such as an era or styling characteristics.

In some cases they focus on specific makes or models such as, say the Buick or a Studebaker.

The Studebaker Company produced its first gasoline-powered automobile in 1904 and it continued to manufacture its innovative vehicles until 1966, having its most successful year in 1950.

One man who has a lifelong affair with the Studebaker is Dave Krueger, who has never lost sight of the beauty of these classic cars and trucks.

[Dave Krueger] - In the car shows that we go to today there's a lot of cars very very few trucks.

Well, in 1956, I was set up with a blind date the only reasons the lady would go was because I had a real neat car, the Studebaker Sky Hawk.

And 53 years later I still have them both.

The Studebaker collection right now includes this 1948 M16 wrecker, a 1957 Studebaker Sky Hawk the 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk.

The wrecker came from Maine and I had heard about it through Hemmings and I contacted the fella, he wasn't asking too bad a price except the price, that cost of getting it here the freight was about three times as much as he was asking for the truck and I decided that that wasn't really what I wanted to do.

About three years later I was contacted by a guy in Metamora who asked me if I was still interested in the Studebaker wrecker and I said, yeah I thought I would be, he said, well he had the one I was interested in buying that if I wanted it I could have it for what the guy asked for it and he'd eat the freight.

And I was at a Studebaker convention in South Bend the fella there looked at it, he said "Gee, this is a truck that used to be in the town "that I was from."

And I said, Oh where's that?

And he says, "North Berwick."

And I got on the back of the truck and there's a sticker that says Triangle Motors.

He has lunch with this fella that ran Triangle Motors twice a month, he went back and told the fella that I would call him and I talked to the fella that originally owned it, the truck worked for 10 years.

The truck is a real work truck Studebaker's built a lot of trucks at that time and it was a real work truck.

It has a 4-speed transmission with a two-speed axle so it gives me eight speeds forward.

The crane on it is a 1918 to 1922.

I can't set the date exactly 'cause the people that the tow truck museum couldn't tell me exactly but it was built between 1918 and 1922 by Weaver and he said that that crane and the two speed winch on the truck probably wore out between 10 and 15 chassis because all they did is pull it off bolt it to another chassis and they had the wreaker all set to go.

We have a lot of fun with our cars, we drive them we use them a lot and we'd go to different car shows and people always say "You know, how come you're letting your wife drive?"

And I always say, "Well, it's her turn this week."

But the truth is I'm legally blind and haven't driven for 40 years.

So we still have fun, she drives 'em wherever we go and we drove it to South Bend took us two days to get to South Bend at 45 miles an hour on the highway and it rides like a truck, like a real truck and so we got as far as Coldwater and we said this as far as enough for us today and we went to rest a day, the second day.

We really had a good time there we had three or four farmers come up and said they used to use a truck like this on the farm and it was really a farmer truck, it was geared real low and it was a working truck, it wasn't a highway truck.

In the car shows that we go to today there's a lot of cars but very very few trucks and people really take a note of it because they only see one, two at a time.

So it's just one of those things that people really take the know what else is about and it's kind of one-of-a-kind.

[Larry Somers] - Sometimes when I'm driving the Chrysler down the road I look over and I think that's my dad right next to me looking at me watching and grinning when I'm going down the road.

Back in the 1958, my father had a 58 Plymouth Sport Fury and the car was kind of a lemon he had it from about less than a year and he said, "Well, I might just well trade it off "trade it back in."

So he ordered the Windsor in 1960 we got this around Christmas time or around the January of 1961.

It was all original, it's got 38,000 I just turned 38,000 coming back from St. Ignace car show and that I put brakes on it and a muffler and added my bars the chrome on it and all the paint and anything else in it, I do have the original spare tire and at the wider white wall, they had a little white or white wall on that, but as far as it goes all I do is polish it and keep the chrome up and everything and cover it up in here now, I didn't used to cover it up but I kind of take better care of it now 'cause I'd like to last a little while longer.

The Windsor has some real neat interior features it's really neat dash and everything.

It's got like a asto thing, like everybody says it's like being in an airplane and then the interior the rest of it like the seats in that Dad made about a hundred dollars extra I think for the vinyl trim and there's a few other options rear seat speakers and the deck lid on the back as extra and they're chrome guards on the doors and chrome thing on the bumper guards on the rear.

My father was a kind of a modest person he just didn't like to drive the car that much he was scared that it might get hit or something like that and then a lot of times he didn't really he didn't go anyplace because he would all he did he was a working man, he worked he worked all the time, he never went on vacation if he did go anyplace, he drove the pickup and when he did take the car, if he wanted to take the car mother wanted to take it but he didn't wanna drive it because he said people were always looking at him and that bothered him, he didn't like that so my brother and I put most of the miles on this there was hardly any miles put on it after 1970 and it's been in this same garage ever since.

My father has been gone for 35 years and my mother had it but she never had a driver's license and I took it around the block maybe once or twice a year was all I did, I had never covered it or never did anything to it just put a little gas in it once in a while and then she passed away 19 years ago and then I got the house but I never drove it because it was in the estate and I never could've got it straightened around until about three years ago and finally I got it in my own name and then I started driving it and taking it to some car shows.

And it took me, you know, all them years to get it my name and that's the thing of it when if I forget it happens again and my family I'm gonna specify who gets which car, I've got two cars and one daughter's gonna get one and one daughter is gonna get the other that's gonna be in the will.

So isn't gonna be no fighting or hard feelings between either one of them.

I really like this car, I'm real proud of it because my father owned it means a real lot to me.

I like driving the car going down the road and there's people like waving at you, a nice car and well, I've just, I come to enjoy that I've been a car buff all my life I've had a bunch of them this one means more than anything.

Sometimes when I'm driving the Chrysler down the road I look over and I think that's my dad next to me looking at me watching and grinning when I'm smiling going down the road.

[Ken MacKinnon]- Unlike the other kids my age they were into muscle cars and I had a passion for the older antique cars.

I got into cars in high school after building models for many years and desiring a real car.

I ended up buying a basket-case 1936 Lafayette and dropping a German class to take automotive shop class and can say at least that I learned a little bit of everything during that year.

Unlike the other kids my age they were into muscle cars and I had a passion for the older antique cars.

The design of the automobiles in the late 1920s and early 30s, each individual piece seems to be designed with extra craftsmanship and effort the compound curves the difficulty in the manufacturing and execution of the pieces stands as a testimony that they were after an artistic look to a vehicle that otherwise would be today taken for granted before the 1920s there were utilitarian and were to get you from one place to another.

After the mid 1930s they became I think, again, a bit of a utilitarian.

until the excesses of the 1950's.

My current car collection includes this 1927 Kissel Speedster.

It's got some unique features including a rumble seat supposedly would hold two people exterior golf bags for the country club set 20-inch spoke wheels, no running board but rather a step to get into the fairly snug cockpit that includes aluminum floor covering and leather.

It is a Speedster there's no roll-up windows on it and if you got caught in the rain you'd have to snap your side curtains on.

The floating side mounts are also kind of unique in its design, they're not set into a fender they look like they're hovering in midair.

They're usually needed about every hundred miles in the roads in 1927.

The engine is a 8 cylinder large Lycoming for the time and this is a fairly long car, 132 inch wheelbase when most small sedans in Model A's were a 109 inch wheelbase.

The styling is more European even though this car was made in Hartford, Wisconsin by an American car firm.

They were known for some unique and custom cars from about 1906 to 1931.

The other two cars in my collection include this 1930 64C Sport Coupe.

This car was found in Cheyenne, Wyoming languishing in a barn.

It only had about 8,500 miles on the odometer but it needed complete restoration.

They'd use it as a farm wagon and it torn the entire back portion off to haul hay around.

This took about three years to restore and was quite a pleasure because the parts were so complete other than the back end of the vehicle.

They had put the rest of the parts up on a shelf in the barn so they were retrievable.

This is a 1929 Buick Convertible Coupe this was found sitting in the middle of a field in North Dakota, this was a seven-year project with my father and I doing every stick of wood that makes up the frame of this car.

These cars are all individually unique and because of the time effort put into 'em it's kind of difficult to say which one is your favorite.

[David Frownfelter] - If you wanna make friends, buy a car like this you'll have a lot of friends.

One day I'm sitting there at work I'm trying to do my job and a buddy of mine at work, Eric Lessor, he stops by and he throws down on the desk an Autotrader 'cause we always talk cars and in this Autotrader as I flipped through it was a really small picture of this car and it was in color and I noticed the light green and I'm like man there's a beautiful color and it's a beautiful car you know, everybody loves the tail fins I love the tail fins, you know.

And so I started calling the guy and we called and I had a whole bunch of questions for him and that's how I bought this car.

When you buy a car like this you know you're buying it as is.

There was some body work that was needed a little bit to rust here and there and there was some, you know plenty of other things that would be needed depending upon what the goal is.

If the goal is to put your family in it and of course, there's room for a lot of family and friends in here, the goal is to put a minute and to go for ice cream and to have fun with it which has always been our goal with this car.

Then we were ready to do that right off the get-go and that's what we did.

So we started enjoying it right away but then it's been kind of a step-by-step process by doing more with it.

Two years ago was when I did the bodywork paint job, carpeting, rechromed to really kind of take it to the next level.

Some of the things that I really loved about this car.

First of all it was the color what a beautiful shade of green, you know the seafoam green.

Now, when I bought it, the top was the same color as the rest of the car but I had seen a lot of cars in the 50s with a white roof and I wanted to go to the white roof.

So when I had the paint job done a couple years ago I went to the white roof on that.

The fender skirts, I've always thought fender skirts are really cool.

The tail fins, you know, Cadillac is famous for their tail fins over the years but 1959 was the highest fins that they ever made.

It was those ultra goofy doubled bullet taillights it's like, you know, it looks like it's a spaceship or something that's just gonna take off.

A unique feature about the cars, the windows front windows just go up and down and the rear windows have this articulating feature that causes the part of the window to drop and then the other part of the window to drop but once all the windows are down, there's B-pillar and with that open, then you've got all this open space between the front and the rear window and get a lot of breeze in and I like the look it's the four-door hardtop look.

When you read through the brochure from 59 it's clear that they put a lot of effort into making and a lot of expense probably into making this car something special in its day.

I love the reactions you get when you're out driving around with this car.

People are very friendly, they wanna talk about the car they wanna talk about, oh, you know, when their dad had one or their mom had one like this.

Everybody seems to like this car if you wanna make friends, buy a car like this you'll have a lot of friends.

People say that maybe it's an expense that doesn't pay off maybe some people say you can't call a car an investment and yeah, new cars appreciate and old cars the values go up they go down there's somewhat unpredictable but when you have a car like this it adds value to your everyday life as long as you can enjoy it.

Me, I don't know that I would want a whole lot of cars that you couldn't drive because they're like museum pieces 'cause then it puts too much fear into the picture.

I'm afraid it'll get scratched I'm afraid somebody will spill a chocolate shake on the seat and, of course, we're careful but we wanna have fun with it that always was the point.

It's all about expression, it expresses itself it's got style, not just the fins but you look at the details of the interior you look at the details of the grill you look at the way that certain angles of the sheet metal were shaped and it's all about style and it's all about expressing something and I think what it expresses is optimism and a zest for life and a no fear kind of a thing.

I'm not afraid to be different I'm not afraid to put that out there and this car expresses that whereas a lot of new cars they wanna fit in.

[Eric Jylha] - One of the more interesting offshoots of collecting and restoring classic vehicles is sharing them, such as in car tours.

Usually sponsored by car clubs car tours provide collectors the opportunity to drive their restore classic cars and trucks in an organized manner with others who share their passion for classic automobiles like this.

An outstanding example of one such car tour is the Revival AAA Glidden Tour it's the nation's first car tour.

This year's tour was run in and around Holland, Michigan and since the tour is celebrating the 65th anniversary we decided to tag along and find out more about this unique parade of classic, pre World War II vehicles.

[Mike Werckle] - We tell people it's not just the cars the real joy here is the people.

The Glidden Tour was started in the 1902, 1903 to really prove the reliability of the automobile because people really didn't think they were very reliable.

They had a tour that started in one city and drove to another and there was a big trophy that Mr. Glidden donated to give to people and this went on for maybe six or seven years and then stopped, you know, because it was clear that the cars were reliable.

So after the war, it was started again because people started these old cars and they wanted to show it not show their reliability anymore but just to have the Glidden Tour they would go to show these old cars were still very good and then it got to be a real club.

I mean, it's just a real adventure these are beautiful old cars.

The Glidden Tour only allows cars from 1942 and older so you have to have a car from that vintage even beyond it.

We have 170 cars on this tour they come from all the states we have people from as far away as California we have people, a lot of people from Texas from New Mexico, from Arizona, from all the eastern states from Illinois, from Michigan obviously Iowa, Nebraska, you know, Ohio, Indiana, anywhere they come from all over here.

We take these beautiful cars and we go all over the country.

Every year it's a different area of the country and we started like we are here in Holland and it's a hub tour, so we go to different places every single day, you know, and drive maybe 80 to 125 miles each day up and back and see beautiful things and see things you would never see if you didn't actually do that.

Local people generally put the tours on so that we know what's really there to see.

Like here at Windmill Island which is so beautiful and so the real pleasure of this for me now is that I go someplace different every year I see all my old friends I know from all over the country they come from all the states and they drive these cars we all try and out show each other, they have fun we don't really judge, we do pick winners in categories but not in the real precise way.

And we have a joy with meeting our old friends having all this fun, driving the cars, help each other so it's almost more fun for us.

When a car breaks down, everybody stops all the guys rush out to see what we can do and show our skills and help them clear it up and get it going on the road again.

We drive on rural roads we don't drive on main highways we try to stay off on back roads, always blacktop never on gravel because we don't wanna get anything chipped or damaged in any way.

We always set up the tours so you don't have to drive faster than 40 mile an hour so that you can have cars that'll go obviously much faster than that but we have it so these older cars can make the tour as well and they can't go through too many stop signs.

Too many stop signs hurt their clutches so for those of you don't have clutches that's a real deal with a really old car and an old clutch so you don't wanna have to stop and start too many times.

Hills are dangerous, these really old cars for almost always only have two wheel brakes.

So you can't go down steep hills you don't follow each other too closely so you can stop in time, I can't recall but maybe one tour where there's been ever an accident of any type and that was because of a mechanical problem with the car and not because of careless driving.

And we don't drive as one big group even though they're 170 cars in this tour we drive all different times and levels.

A group of five cars will take off at certain time 10 other cars take off on another.

We don't follow each other in fact that's kind of the rule, you follow somebody you're not gonna follow the directions and you're gonna get lost because they may not be paying attention that happens time after time.

We have a tour book that we use, which is very precise.

The tour leaders set this up write every directions says drive 32 miles or 10 miles here and make a right turn at the red barn, you know and it's things like that.

And you can come and go as you please and that's what happens here.

You'll see these cars ever at a break they're maybe 10 or 15 cars together but the rest of 'em will be down the road.

So if you wanna see all these cars you may have to wait an hour or two to see them all go by.

[Jim Cohen] - I've been involved in the old car hobby since I was born, my folks were in it.

First Glidden Tour I was on I was four years old and don't remember it but been on many many Glidden Tours as a young person and as an adult, so it's all about the people and it's all about the cars and it's just about having fun with the old cars and driving 'em.

The car I brought to this year's Glidden Tour is a 1911 Oakland, it's been in my family since 1952.

I've had it for about 30 years.

One of the things I really enjoy is fact that's an open car, doesn't go very fast and it cruises about 30-35 miles an hour and you get to see everything that's around you in an open car, things that you don't see in a closed car.

One of the things I really like about the Glidden Tour is the relationships that you make.

Not only the Glidden Tour but other tours as well you make lifelong friends from all across the country.

You can travel almost anyplace in the United States and you know somebody and they're always happy to see you and go to dinner and a lot of times you got a place to spend the night.

[Pam Smits] - Well, it is my first time on a car tour and it is, the Glidden Tour and I'm a freshman so I'm new and it's just been absolutely delightful just envisioning traveling through the country roads the original highways in an old car.

I mean, it feels like you're part of history.

Since I've always collected vintage clothing and jewelry and hats, I decided that each day I would dress in period to our car and it is a 1941 pre World War II and so I did my research as to what clothing to wear and decided that's what I would do.

The people here have been absolutely wonderful I've been to a number of car shows and when you're judging a car, it's high-stress and this has just been a relaxed, enjoyable time so everybody's enjoying each other, helping each other and as a freshman on the Glidden Tour I get a lot of extra help.

[Miall Cedilote] - This is a 29 Model A Phaeton and it's actually my father-in-law's, I married into this so once once I got married, I got the car and started going on the car tours.

This is my seventh Glidden Tour, we're unique in that we bring our kids along.

Were the only ones with car seats in our car as we bring our four-year-old son Jacob and my six-year-old daughter Samantha and strap him in and let him see where we're going and when my wife grew up she did pretty much the same things she went on all the car tours with her parents and we're just continuing the tradition.

Traveling with kids this young an antique car offers some challenges.

You have to plan ahead for snacks and drinks of course we gotta get the car seats in so when we got the car had to make sure it had seat belts put in it 'cause these cars don't have seat belts.

That was the first thing, seat belts so you can put the car seats in.

And you got to plan ahead with clothes to keep them warm, blankets their toys that they wanna keep and then also while you're actually going down the road like yesterday was a windy day and we've lost toys out of the car so you gotta be, make sure they're keeping track of them and they're not sticking their toys out and doing something like that it could be a bit of a challenge.

Another challenge with taking kids on antique car tours who gets to sit in the front seat.

Not only is it who gets to sit next to daddy and help drive and navigate and things like that it's also more of a comfort thing.

Whoever is in the back gets a lot of wind and if it rains they get more rain 'cause they don't have a windshield blocking them and so we ended up taking turns so it's one day for one kid and then the next day the one who's in the front is in the back and they switch.

And it can be a source of a lot of whining and complaining if you're the one that gets stuck in the back and it's a cold day well, you just kind of gotta go with it.

And also, even though the kids don't realize they're learning, they are.

We were at a lighthouse yesterday and my daughter was learning about Michigan in school and she goes, "Oh, Michigan's got the most "lighthouses in all the states."

and we were at one of the lighthouses and I didn't even know she was learning about it so it's just a really nice opportunity to get them to learn and hopefully when they start to drive then we will have even more cars and do it even more.

[Mike Werckle]- It is a joy, every time and every place we go we tell people it's not just the cars the real joy here is the people and that we have, there's all this fun of having our friends and seeing them and talking about the children sharing pictures, what not talking about new cars, old cars, etc.

The real fun of it is more the people and the camaraderie that we have with this as much as it is the cars.

[Eric Jylha] - Well, there you have it, we've completed our grand tour of old and classic automobiles and heard stories of collecting preserving and restoring but really we've only just scratched the surface.

In cities and towns all across the country are many other glorious examples of these marvels of design and engineering and indeed art and those who strive to recover restore and preserve their beauty and vitality.

Perhaps now you'll have a greater appreciation for an old rust bucket sitting out in an open field or sleeping in some old barn.

And then now you can imagine the possibilities that can result from a little love and a lot of hard work as it awaits its turn to be Restored To Glory.

(upbeat music) [Announcer] - This program was made possible by contributions to Q-TV from viewers like you, thank you.

(upbeat music)