John Gutermuth of New Brighton has it bad, too. But his thing is for Ford Model A's.
They were among hundreds of classic car owners displaying their four-wheeled babies Sunday at the world headquarters of the Society of Automotive Engineers in the Thorn Hill Industrial Park in Warrendale.
SAE held its sixth annual 'Best Weekend on Wheels' this weekend, which included a car cruise on Saturday and a car show yesterday.
'This is probably my twelfth one,' Fritz said, looking with adoring eyes on the engine of a turquoise-and-white '55 so clean you could eat lunch off it.
Except Fritz would never let you.
Gutermuth, who used to restore horse-drawn carriages, said people asked him why he moved on to Model A's.
'Culture shock,' Gutermuth replies. 'I didn't want to move up too fast.'
Gutermuth is on his seventh Model A and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Neither are the Model A's.
Glenn Beck, of Freedom, Beaver County, who had his 1930 Model A parked next to Gutermuth's, said of the 4.5 million Model A's that were manufactured in the late 1920s and early 1930s, 1 million are still on the road.
'The popularity with Model A's is that they're old, but they can still run with a modern-day car,' Beck said.
Beck said he is on his second Model A, but already senses that he is in trouble.
'It's a sickness,' Beck said. 'We're ill.'
Gutermuth said Model A's go for between $10,000 and $15,000 if they are restored properly.
The 80,000-member SAE was originally formed by car designers and manufacturers to provide quality standards for the automotive industry, according to Mike Schindel, a staff member at SAE and the organizer of this weekend's event.
'We've expanded it to a two-day event for the first time,' said Schindel of Bradford Woods, who said this year saw the first car cruise, which had about 600 to 700 participants.
The event's organizers hope to make the SAE show a national event someday.
'We're trying to give all the automotive enthusiasts something they can enjoy and talk about,' Schindel said.
Daniel Reynolds can be reached at dreynolds@tribweb.com or (412) 380-8533.
