Collecting: Driven on Sundays, but Never in Competition

It was a polished head-turner, and the Nascar driver Denny Hamlin, in town that early March weekend for a Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway, could not help noticing. He took a picture and posted it on Twitter.

“I knew it was the car that was the same body type and everything of the car in ‘Entourage,’ ” Hamlin said, referring to the suicide-door Continental used in the HBO television series. “I always liked that car.”

A few days — and about $50,000 — later, he owned it, having wrapped up a quick negotiation with the owner. Hamlin then piled in some friends for an impromptu 300-mile road trip to Las Vegas for the next race in the Sprint Cup series. Top-down all the way.

All of which suggests that Nascar drivers aren’t driven by speed alone. They’re car people, too. With his spur-of-the-moment purchase, Hamlin joined a select group of current drivers who also own classic cars.

Among the stalwart members of that group are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman. It’s not only the veteran drivers who own vintage models, though — even 23-year-old Joey Logano has caught the bug.

Newman might be the leader among this pack of current Cup drivers.

He said that his collection was around 17 or 18 cars, including a ’31 Ford woody, a ’39 Hudson and breakthrough models like a 1949 Jaguar XK 120. He also has a 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible that was a gift from his wife on his 30th birthday in 2007.

A standout among his holdings is a 1957 Dodge Super D 500, powered by a 325-cubic-inch Hemi V-8 with dual four-barrel carburetors, “which is pretty rare, because it’s a stick shift,” Newman said. “They were all push-button automatics back then.”

Unlike some of the other drivers who own classic cars, Newman likes to restore them, too.

“There are cars that I have that are 100 percent restored that I bought like that,” he said. “There are cars that I’ve bought that needed to be restored, and there’s cars that I have that need to be restored, and there’s cars that I have that never will be and they’re just originals.

“I just like ‘em because they’re cool and I can work on them,” Newman said.

Johnson, on the other hand, laughed when asked if he got under the hood of the 1949 Chevrolet pickup that he drives around Charlotte, N.C., where most of the drivers live during the season.

“It’s a ’49, still-original cab — it has the five windows,” Johnson said of the truck he uses most days.“I love that truck.

“Work on it? Come on, are you crazy? I put gas in it, put air in the tires.”

Logano said he didn’t do much work on his vehicles, either. He owns a 1972 Chevrolet Suburban, but he especially prizes his 1959 Cadillac convertible, white with a red interior.

“I just love ‘em, I love ‘em,” Logano said. “Huge wings on them. I feel like it’s an icon-type car.

“Everyone kind of recognizes that car,” he continued. “Late ’50s — it’s a boat. It’s heavy, it’s huge. You drive the thing, it’s rolling all over the place. It’s so much fun to drive.”

Logano said he learned to appreciate classic cars growing up in Connecticut. His father, Tom Logano, owned a 1962 Corvette that he let Joey drive when he was only 9 years old.

That turned out to be a mistake when Joey asked to move the car to the front of the house before they went out for ice cream one day.

“I’d driven it a million times — which was funny, I was 9 — but around the neighborhood,” Logano recalled. “And so I just parked it in front of the house, went and started shooting hoops. Came back like a half an hour later, the car’s gone. Where’s the car?”

The car had rolled off the side of the driveway, into a tree. “Totally destroyed, killed it,” Logano said, before reconsidering. “Well, I didn’t kill it, but it was pretty bad.

“I thought I had it in gear. But it wasn’t, like, actually in the gear. To this day, every time I park, the brake’s coming on, that thing’s definitely in gear. I learned my lesson that day.”

Logano’s collection is limited compared with some others. Stewart owns numerous cars, including several that were posted on Facebook as part of a promotion with Mobil 1 oil, one of his sponsors. Among them is a bright orange 1955 Chevrolet Nomad station wagon.

Earnhardt Jr. recently added a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 to an extensive collection dominated by Chevrolets from as far back as 1948. It’s not just history that draws Earnhardt to classic cars; it’s personal history, too.

“I think I’m just really nostalgic about certain times,” Earnhardt said. “Certain cars remind me about a time in the sport or a time in my life. I thought it was unique to me that the first stock car that I drove was a street stock that was a ’79 Monte Carlo. That car meant a lot to me, because I remember when I lived with my mother, when I was about 5 or 6 years old, riding in the back seat of her ’79 Monte Carlo.

“You just sort of take a car,” he said, “and it puts you back in a place in time or reminds you of something.”

International: The Biggest Car Show You May Never Have Heard Of

But the Techno Classica show, held each spring at the Messe Essen exposition center here, is a relative secret. Though vast, it is little known in the United States.

Techno Classica, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, combines dealer exhibits with car-club displays and a classic-car auction by Coys, along with hundreds of vendors selling new and used parts, accessories, clothing, die-cast model cars, literature and manuals.

Techno Classica may be the closest thing the classic car world has to an all-encompassing trade show. Consider the numbers: 2,500 cars on display, 234 participating clubs, 1,250 vendors and 1.3 million square feet of display space. Nearly 200,000 people attended over five days in mid-April.

Essen is in northwest Germany just 30 minutes by cab or train from the Düsseldorf airport. And while it’s not Paris, Essen has its charms even though little of the old city survived Allied bombing in World War II. (The next Techno Classica is scheduled for March 26-30, 2014.)

Some of the larger American shows, like the concours at Pebble Beach in California and Amelia Island in Florida, feature enthusiastic participation by new car manufacturers. But at Techno Classica, automakers’ involvement is positively off the charts, with a strong presence by Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Citroën, Ferrari, Ford, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Opel, Peugeot, Porsche, Volkswagen and Volvo. The companies’ lavish displays suggested that they were all aware of the equity in their heritage.

BMW’s display was particularly impressive, celebrating the history of the “M” cars from its Motorsports division and the 90th anniversary of BMW motorcycles. And just to remind everyone of what country they were in, a giant beer tap was set up in the trunk of a BMW 502 sedan from the 1950s. The tap seemed to be in service nonstop from the 9 a.m. opening until the 6 p.m. close.

Club displays ranged from the Spartan — a few cars with owners and club members sitting nearby — to the elaborate and often incomprehensible — like a Borgward Isabella sitting in a large makeshift bathtub. The more humble displays tended to showcase autos, like the Trabant and Wartburg, from the former East Germany.

A great deal of what was on display would have been wholly unfamiliar to all but the most knowledgeable American enthusiasts, including the Borgward — along with its companion Lloyd and Hansa marques — and the cars of Glas and Bitter. The profusion of never-seen-in-America models from familiar marques like BMW, Volkswagen and Opel would hold the attention of a curious American enthusiast nearly indefinitely — or at least as long as one could stare at a display of tiny Volkswagen Polo GTis and unfamiliar versions of the BMW 2002, like the Turbo and the Touring hatchback.

The number of vendors was remarkable even if some of the wares were rather standard swap meet fare. Every car show on the planet seems to have a guy selling a miracle metal polish that will make an empty soda can shine like a mirror.

As one might imagine, given the location, Techno Classica was short on ’57 Chevy grilles and long on Karmann Ghia bumpers and taillamps. One could pass the time staring into seas of red and amber taillamp lenses and puzzling over what cars they fit.

One vendor specializing in rebuilt vintage radios claimed to have virtually every type of postwar Blaupunkt unit, with prices starting at a lofty $392 for a basic unit that appeared to have come from an old VW Beetle. Steering wheels, carburetors, interior fabrics and leathers were common. Aside from wares for popular German marques, quite a few British vendors offered parts and accessories for MGs, Triumphs and Austin-Healeys.