Classic cars rev their way back
Posted: Monday, March 05, 2007
Michele Linck, Journal staff writer
NORTH SIOUX CITY -- Remember the '66 Chevelle Super Sport, the '60s Shelby Mustangs? The 1970 Plymouth HEMI Barracuda?
Plenty of baby boomers do, and they're looking back now, remembering the car they had -- or wished they'd had -- in high school. Those were the muscle cars. Cars with the big block engines just begging to be drag raced. Cars with distinctive, aggressive shapes. Cars that inspired loyalty.
In a one-two punch in the early to mid- `70s, Ralph Nader and gas rationing ended the muscle car era, which dates roughly from 1960 to 1974. In came safer, more efficient cars with tamer engines and, some say, personality-free profiles.
But, sweet revenge, muscle cars are back. They're all the rage among the motor minded, and not just baby boomers. Enthusiasts' fervor is fueled by specialty magazines and television shows, and especially by the glamorous nine-day Barrett-Jackson auctions televised from Scottsdale, Ariz. and Palm Beach, Fla. Amidst fashion shows and celebrity events, select cars sell for hundreds, or thousands times more than their original purchase price, even into the millions of dollars. If that weren't enough, search the Web; Google lists 4.27 million muscle car pages -- in English alone.
The Internet, eBay in particular, is also fueling the market for muscle cars and all their parts, making them both easier to find but also more expensive as buyers worldwide compete for limited products.
Two resto-mod companies
Siouxland isn't the center of muscle car glam, but it's doing its share to feed the frenzy. Two well-known entrepreneurs and long-time muscle car enthusiasts, Gateway Inc. co-founder Mike Hammond, and Jetsun Aviation co-owner Steve Wilen, have each started a muscle car restoration company here in the past two years.
Cars can either be restored to their original state, with an original engine and all original factory parts. Or, they can become a "resto-mod." That's when the body is restored to its original appearance but all-new interiors and engines are stashed inside. A resto-mod may have a six-speed high-performance engine, tilt steering wheel, air suspension, reliable air conditioning, a comfortable interior, GPS and a 2000 watt sound system. Even cupholders.
Hammond's Dakota Muscle Cars is housed in a sparkling two-story, 10,000-square-foot garage on River Drive in North Sioux City. Wilen's American Hot Mods operates in an airplane hangar at Sioux Gateway Airport, where Jason Kassen does the daily "blood and tears" work.
"Mike Hammond is one of my best buddies," Wilen said in an interview from Scottsdale, Ariz., where he has lived for the past 10 years and started another business. "He and I are both car nuts. We're more like friendly partners than foes." In fact, Hammond's company restored-modified a 1970 Chevrolet Nova for Wilen that, in January, sold for $51,700 at "the Barrett," as Hammond calls it. And Dakota Muscle's own 1964 Chevelle convertible sold there for $66,000. Wilen said his 1970 GTO Judge, (inspired by comedian Flip Wilson's "Here Come Da Judge" routine) American Hot Mods' first resto-mod, brought the best price, $137,500.
But Wilen said he actually lost money on a couple of the five cars he took to the auction from his own collection: "You gotta dip a toe to find how things work," he said of his first Barrett's.
'Thought long and hard'
Before Hammond started building computers with Ted Waitt, he was working in Des Moines as a diesel mechanic In high school, he worked on his own `66 Chevelle Super Sport. Even during his years as a Gateway executive he was building drag racing cars in his shop at home with his brother-in-law, Chad Morgan. They still do, and Morgan still drives them in races.
Hammond opened Dakota Muscle Cars in October 2005. Since then he and a crew of four spend long days restoring, repairing and retrofitting classic cars, mostly from the 1960s and '70s. They've been so busy he just put the sign on the building last month.
"I thought long and hard about this for two or three years before I actually retired from Gateway," Hammond said over the blare of Z-98 radio while touring this reporter around the business. "These guys had to quit their day jobs," he said with a nod to his staff, all of whom he's known for years.
Hammond introduced the team as they worked: "Brent Elisen, painting. He's also good at everything else; Mike Ohrtman does all the engineering and CAD work. Randy Huggenberger, body and suspensions. And he can do anything, too. Chad Morgan -- his specialty is engines and drive trains. And everything else."
Nine vehicles in various stages of reconstruction grace the garage floor. All are eye-catching for their distinctiveness. Works-in-progress include a `69 Camaro Z28, a `69 Camaro RS, a Pontiac GTO, and a dazzling 1956 cherry red pick-up truck.
"Mostly we try to do safety and performance," Hammond said. "We increase the power. If you think about the way cars were in the late `60s and early `70s, kind of floating around, a loose steering wheel. We improve the suspension and brakes and typically do something with a little more power for the engine.
"Those were big engines back then, but the technology wasn't as good as it is today"
"Full restoration costs anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000," he said, "depending on the work you're doing." Sometimes people bring in projects they started themselves or bought part-way through the restoration. The business is so labor intensive that a single project can take 1,000 to 2,000 man hours, accounting for much of the cost.
Wilen said labor costs are the key to resto-mod shops locating in the Midwest. He said while there's a plethora of automotive talent in Scottsdale, for instance, the work pays about $70 an hour, compared with $35 in the Midwest.
So, is it profitable? Not yet, Hammond said. But he has a three-phase business plan and sees profitability ahead.
The first two phases have begun: restoration and building cars from scratch with new sheetmetal components from Taiwan. Third is building and selling as kits their own components, suspensions and engine accessories. It's just beginning. Later this year they'll offer parts in black painted steel and showy billet aluminum.
"We'll actually be putting things in a box and shipping it," Hammond said. "It's kind of like cookies. You work real hard on the recipe. Once you've got the recipe right you can make and sell all kinds of cookies. The design phase takes quite a little bit. Cars and suspensions, you want to make sure you design and test it real well before it sells."
So far, Hammond does his marketing through word-of-mouth, car shows, and now the Jackson-Barrett auction. Ironically, the former computer maker does very little online marketing. In fact, although he keeps the company's Web site, dakotamuscle.com, himself, he doesn't always make time to keep it updated.
Restored? Or resto-mod?
Wilen, who last week was tooling around in his silver 1970 Camaro, touts the resto-mods as the way to go. You get the head-turning physical presence of a muscle car, but a dependable, fun ride. (While in high school in Sioux City he drove an Oldsmobile 442 and a 1972 Super Sport Camaro, all the while coveting a local Dr. Kelly's white 1968 Shelby Mustang convertible.)
"If you have an old car," he said, "first of all, it stinks like gas because they had carburetors. The air conditioning doesn't work right ... all the complications of an older car." It could "crap out" anywhere and leave you stranded and embarrassed.
He said purists will walk up to him at a car show to see what's inside his resto-mod. "You'll find people who will puke all over themselves" at a modified classic muscle car, he said. "But if you have a GTO Judge, for instance, and the motor's gone and the transmission is missing, why not take that thing and modernize it?"
And, he said, the resto-mods typically sell for more. For example, a `62 Corvette with an all-new Corvette interior and engine sold at the Barrett for $235,000, more than an original restoration would bring. Who buys it? "Guys like me, who love the old stuff but want to jump in and drive it and have it be comfortable."
Want to play?
Get out your wallet if you're thinking of dabbling in muscle cars. Wilen said, for example, that a couple years ago you could buy a '69 Camaro for a few thousand dollars. "Today you can't touch one for under $25,000," he said. "There's no question the consumption and popularity has made it more challenging for the collector to buy the car he really wants -- the '69 Camaros, the Shelby Mustangs. But you can still buy a 1970 Camaro for $10,000 to $20,000 and still get a neat old car."
Even so, watch out. Parts are pricey, too. "I just paid $950 for a fender in the original GM box," he said.
And for those who, like Wilen, treasure the classic persona but want the modern creature comforts, there are the new models. GM is producing a Camaro now that has a retro look to it and Dodge is paying homage to the old Challenger. Same with the Mustang, he said.
Wilen said he thinks the muscle car craze will continue to be strong during the next five to 10 years.
But in a generation, he wonders, will kids who are tricking out their Hondas and Accuras today start longing for resto-mods of their high school rides?
NORTH SIOUX CITY -- Remember the '66 Chevelle Super Sport, the '60s Shelby Mustangs? The 1970 Plymouth HEMI Barracuda?
Plenty of baby boomers do, and they're looking back now, remembering the car they had -- or wished they'd had -- in high school. Those were the muscle cars. Cars with the big block engines just begging to be drag raced. Cars with distinctive, aggressive shapes. Cars that inspired loyalty.
In a one-two punch in the early to mid- `70s, Ralph Nader and gas rationing ended the muscle car era, which dates roughly from 1960 to 1974. In came safer, more efficient cars with tamer engines and, some say, personality-free profiles.
But, sweet revenge, muscle cars are back. They're all the rage among the motor minded, and not just baby boomers. Enthusiasts' fervor is fueled by specialty magazines and television shows, and especially by the glamorous nine-day Barrett-Jackson auctions televised from Scottsdale, Ariz. and Palm Beach, Fla. Amidst fashion shows and celebrity events, select cars sell for hundreds, or thousands times more than their original purchase price, even into the millions of dollars. If that weren't enough, search the Web; Google lists 4.27 million muscle car pages -- in English alone.
The Internet, eBay in particular, is also fueling the market for muscle cars and all their parts, making them both easier to find but also more expensive as buyers worldwide compete for limited products.
Two resto-mod companies
Siouxland isn't the center of muscle car glam, but it's doing its share to feed the frenzy. Two well-known entrepreneurs and long-time muscle car enthusiasts, Gateway Inc. co-founder Mike Hammond, and Jetsun Aviation co-owner Steve Wilen, have each started a muscle car restoration company here in the past two years.
Cars can either be restored to their original state, with an original engine and all original factory parts. Or, they can become a "resto-mod." That's when the body is restored to its original appearance but all-new interiors and engines are stashed inside. A resto-mod may have a six-speed high-performance engine, tilt steering wheel, air suspension, reliable air conditioning, a comfortable interior, GPS and a 2000 watt sound system. Even cupholders.
Hammond's Dakota Muscle Cars is housed in a sparkling two-story, 10,000-square-foot garage on River Drive in North Sioux City. Wilen's American Hot Mods operates in an airplane hangar at Sioux Gateway Airport, where Jason Kassen does the daily "blood and tears" work.
"Mike Hammond is one of my best buddies," Wilen said in an interview from Scottsdale, Ariz., where he has lived for the past 10 years and started another business. "He and I are both car nuts. We're more like friendly partners than foes." In fact, Hammond's company restored-modified a 1970 Chevrolet Nova for Wilen that, in January, sold for $51,700 at "the Barrett," as Hammond calls it. And Dakota Muscle's own 1964 Chevelle convertible sold there for $66,000. Wilen said his 1970 GTO Judge, (inspired by comedian Flip Wilson's "Here Come Da Judge" routine) American Hot Mods' first resto-mod, brought the best price, $137,500.
But Wilen said he actually lost money on a couple of the five cars he took to the auction from his own collection: "You gotta dip a toe to find how things work," he said of his first Barrett's.
'Thought long and hard'
Before Hammond started building computers with Ted Waitt, he was working in Des Moines as a diesel mechanic In high school, he worked on his own `66 Chevelle Super Sport. Even during his years as a Gateway executive he was building drag racing cars in his shop at home with his brother-in-law, Chad Morgan. They still do, and Morgan still drives them in races.
Hammond opened Dakota Muscle Cars in October 2005. Since then he and a crew of four spend long days restoring, repairing and retrofitting classic cars, mostly from the 1960s and '70s. They've been so busy he just put the sign on the building last month.
"I thought long and hard about this for two or three years before I actually retired from Gateway," Hammond said over the blare of Z-98 radio while touring this reporter around the business. "These guys had to quit their day jobs," he said with a nod to his staff, all of whom he's known for years.
Hammond introduced the team as they worked: "Brent Elisen, painting. He's also good at everything else; Mike Ohrtman does all the engineering and CAD work. Randy Huggenberger, body and suspensions. And he can do anything, too. Chad Morgan -- his specialty is engines and drive trains. And everything else."
Nine vehicles in various stages of reconstruction grace the garage floor. All are eye-catching for their distinctiveness. Works-in-progress include a `69 Camaro Z28, a `69 Camaro RS, a Pontiac GTO, and a dazzling 1956 cherry red pick-up truck.
"Mostly we try to do safety and performance," Hammond said. "We increase the power. If you think about the way cars were in the late `60s and early `70s, kind of floating around, a loose steering wheel. We improve the suspension and brakes and typically do something with a little more power for the engine.
"Those were big engines back then, but the technology wasn't as good as it is today"
"Full restoration costs anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000," he said, "depending on the work you're doing." Sometimes people bring in projects they started themselves or bought part-way through the restoration. The business is so labor intensive that a single project can take 1,000 to 2,000 man hours, accounting for much of the cost.
Wilen said labor costs are the key to resto-mod shops locating in the Midwest. He said while there's a plethora of automotive talent in Scottsdale, for instance, the work pays about $70 an hour, compared with $35 in the Midwest.
So, is it profitable? Not yet, Hammond said. But he has a three-phase business plan and sees profitability ahead.
The first two phases have begun: restoration and building cars from scratch with new sheetmetal components from Taiwan. Third is building and selling as kits their own components, suspensions and engine accessories. It's just beginning. Later this year they'll offer parts in black painted steel and showy billet aluminum.
"We'll actually be putting things in a box and shipping it," Hammond said. "It's kind of like cookies. You work real hard on the recipe. Once you've got the recipe right you can make and sell all kinds of cookies. The design phase takes quite a little bit. Cars and suspensions, you want to make sure you design and test it real well before it sells."
So far, Hammond does his marketing through word-of-mouth, car shows, and now the Jackson-Barrett auction. Ironically, the former computer maker does very little online marketing. In fact, although he keeps the company's Web site, dakotamuscle.com, himself, he doesn't always make time to keep it updated.
Restored? Or resto-mod?
Wilen, who last week was tooling around in his silver 1970 Camaro, touts the resto-mods as the way to go. You get the head-turning physical presence of a muscle car, but a dependable, fun ride. (While in high school in Sioux City he drove an Oldsmobile 442 and a 1972 Super Sport Camaro, all the while coveting a local Dr. Kelly's white 1968 Shelby Mustang convertible.)
"If you have an old car," he said, "first of all, it stinks like gas because they had carburetors. The air conditioning doesn't work right ... all the complications of an older car." It could "crap out" anywhere and leave you stranded and embarrassed.
He said purists will walk up to him at a car show to see what's inside his resto-mod. "You'll find people who will puke all over themselves" at a modified classic muscle car, he said. "But if you have a GTO Judge, for instance, and the motor's gone and the transmission is missing, why not take that thing and modernize it?"
And, he said, the resto-mods typically sell for more. For example, a `62 Corvette with an all-new Corvette interior and engine sold at the Barrett for $235,000, more than an original restoration would bring. Who buys it? "Guys like me, who love the old stuff but want to jump in and drive it and have it be comfortable."
Want to play?
Get out your wallet if you're thinking of dabbling in muscle cars. Wilen said, for example, that a couple years ago you could buy a '69 Camaro for a few thousand dollars. "Today you can't touch one for under $25,000," he said. "There's no question the consumption and popularity has made it more challenging for the collector to buy the car he really wants -- the '69 Camaros, the Shelby Mustangs. But you can still buy a 1970 Camaro for $10,000 to $20,000 and still get a neat old car."
Even so, watch out. Parts are pricey, too. "I just paid $950 for a fender in the original GM box," he said.
And for those who, like Wilen, treasure the classic persona but want the modern creature comforts, there are the new models. GM is producing a Camaro now that has a retro look to it and Dodge is paying homage to the old Challenger. Same with the Mustang, he said.
Wilen said he thinks the muscle car craze will continue to be strong during the next five to 10 years.
But in a generation, he wonders, will kids who are tricking out their Hondas and Accuras today start longing for resto-mods of their high school rides?
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Darin wrote on Mar 5, 2007 8:29 PM:
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