On the road again: vintage auto restoration preserves more than metal.

• Author: Haraldsen, Tom
• Position: Executive Living

Let's face it--we love our families, our homes, our favorite vacation spots and fishing holes, but we really, really love our cars. Why else would Americans have more cars per capita than nearly any other country on the globe?

And once we love something, it's hard to let it go. That's probably the reason so many Americans are increasingly passionate about restoring their cars.

Antique and classic car restoration is not just one of the nation's largest hobbies--it's also one of the most profitable, though it can also be very costly. To restore an older vehicle to its original condition often costs several times the original purchase price. That hasn't seemed to deter thousands of Utahns from making everything about their old vehicles new again.

"You get attached to a vehicle and it almost becomes a family member," says Trent Richardson, a Utah County resident who is a second-generation owner of a 1957 Chevy. "My parents used to drive us to church in this car every Sunday, and so when I was older and my father first talked about selling it or junking it, I stepped in."

The white - and salmon-colored sedan didn't look quite the way Richardson remembered it as a child when he look ownership in the late 1970s, but it does now. He researched its original look and equipment, and began restoring it.

"I worked on restoring it a little at a time," he says. "Like any good experience, hobby or not, I wanted to savor the moments. So I was very patient about working on it."

Behind the Wheel

By the hobby's definition, there is a difference between the terms antique and classic cars. According to the Classic Car Club of America, claiming to have trademarked the term "classic" as it pertains to older vehicles, only cars made between 1925 and 1941, or models made after World War II exactly as they were made before the war, fit into the "classic" designation. A vehicle with a limited production and/or longer wheel base would also qualify by the club's definition. Antique refers to vehicles more than 100 years old, and there aren't many of those left. But for everyone else, the semantics don't matter as much as the memories and iconic value.

Tom LaPoint has always loved cars--of all varieties. He owns two vintage cars: a 1929 Model A and a 1936 Ford. Whether he's restoring, repairing or retailing them, automobiles fascinate him.

"My fascination with cars started when I was young," he recalls. "As with many different things, there's a feeling of nostalgia that...