Boomers finally can afford the car of their (teenage) dreams

— -- NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A growing number of baby boomers are finally able to afford the cars of their dreams, made possible by a boost in disposable income that comes from getting their kids educated and out of the house.

In many cases, their dreams are from their teenage and twentysomething years when most had to make do on a Ford Pinto budget.

"The collector-car hobby has really taken off in the past few years, with boomers flush with cash and a desire to recapture some part of their youth," says Jim Brandeau of Spring Hill, Tenn., whose online magazine, the Gearhead Gazzette, chronicles the hobby in Middle Tennessee.

He's also co-owner, along with Paul Shauck, of a car restoration and custom shop in College Grove, Tenn., called Hot Rods & Threads.

"The most popular thing right now is the muscle cars," he said, such as the Dodge Challenger and Charger, Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang and Pontiac GTO, among others. "People are really wanting those cars, trying to relive the days when horsepower was king. But trucks play a role, too. It really depends on what your flavor is."

Some people seek out specific cars, such as one their father or grandfather drove, or a vehicle they had to sell when they got married and settled down for a few decades.

"Back in the day, I never had any money, but I always wanted a car like that," said Rodger Klein, 64, of Franklin, Tenn., who now owns a bright orange 1970 Dodge Challenger.

Collector cars -- particularly the most-sought-after ones -- aren't cheap, and some people spend upwards of $100,000 to buy and restore them.

Klein found his Challenger -- in need of a complete restoration -- in 2009 at Team Witt Restorations & Customs in Nashville. The shop, owned by Kirby Witt, spent the next 2½ years bringing the muscle car back to mint condition.

Witt opened his shop four years ago after working several years in the body shops of new car dealers. He found car owners willing to spend the money to restore a classic vehicle to original factory specs, even though most such detailed projects "begin at around $100,000 and go up from there."

"To do it right, we have to strip a car completely down to where you can't take out another screw, and completely rebuild it to where everything is new again," he says.

The final tab can vary widely, depending on whether it's a 1968 Camaro "that I can still buy most of the parts for, or a 1948 Dodge pickup that I might have to make the parts for."

Parts can come from a variety of sources, including stores that cater to classic-car hobbyists or auto junkyards.

In 1999, Andy Holeman of Nashville bought a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T in California from John Schneider, who played Bo Duke on the TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard." He brought the car here, kept it tucked away in his garage for several years, then turned it over to Witt for a remake.

Finished about a year ago, Holeman's black Charger has already won several awards at classic car shows.

"I always knew that when I was older and had a little more money, I wanted one classic muscle car for my stable," Holeman said. "To me, nothing epitomized the height of the muscle-car era more than a Charger did."

Holeman, who at 43 joined the hobby a little earlier than most, acknowledges parting with "at least $70,000, maybe even more," on his Charger. "You kind of lose track after a while."

"It's kind of like an infectious disease that gets in your blood," Holeman said. "Maybe at some of the big auctions like Barrett-Jackson (which has four auctions out West), a car like mine could bring six figures. But you never do this because you want to make money. Most people spend more hours -- and more money -- than they'll ever get out of their cars."

Ray Jones, 55, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., builds "rat rods," a new rage among collectors that can best be described as the shabby chic of classic cars. In this twist on the hobby, people take the bodies of vintage cars or trucks and put them on the chassis of modern vehicles.

With a rat rod, the exterior is deliberately made to look like that of an old, run-down vehicle in need of serious restoration, but underneath, it's a fairly recent car that can "go down the highway at 90 miles an hour," Jones said.

"These end up being a lot less expensive than trying to completely restore an older vehicle," he said. "You can do one of these for just a few thousand dollars."

Jones, who says people call him "Rat Rod Ray," has built about 40 of the vehicles and sold them mostly to baby boomers

"People have bought them from all over, even as far away as California," he said.

Jones tries to learn the history of each vehicle to pass on to the buyer. A '37 Olds, he said, was allegedly used at one time to transport moonshine, and he keeps a couple of open boxes of Mason jars in the trunk that look as if they contain the illegal whiskey.

Jerry Glenn, 57, of Bethesda, Tenn., was on hand for a recent cruise night of the Murfreesboro Hot Rod Club. His own collector car, a 1938 Chevrolet, is still a work in progress, "but will be coming to the show as soon as it's restored."

"I'm out here just about every Friday night. It's amazing how many cars show up. I've liked old cars ever since I was a kid, and I think I just must have some gasoline in my blood.

"It's a very expensive hobby, though, so you really have to like it if you get involved. But these cars are a big part of history."