Your Mom鈥檚 Old Honda Civic Is A Millennial鈥檚 New Classic Car
In typical fashion, Yvette VanDerBrink is busy fussing with a car when I call her. 鈥淚鈥檓 hooking up a trailer right now,鈥?she tells me. 鈥淐an I ring you back? VanDerBrink is an auctioneer in South Dakota, focused primarily on finding and flipping beautiful classic cars, many of them American in origin. The 54-year-old鈥檚 life has been defined by these big-bored muscle cars, ever since she went out riding with her grandfather and dad as a young girl, hunting down 1957 Chevrolets in yards and alleyways by identifying their fin-like tail lights. 鈥淢y dad was always buying cars. He was always at the area race tracks. That was Friday, Saturday and Sunday for my whole life,鈥?VanDerBrink tells me. 鈥淎ll summer, we went to the race tracks. It wasn鈥檛 an activity for the entire family 鈥?her sister never got behind this obsession with cars. But for VanDerBrink, the craving for an impressive ride never faded as she matured into adulthood.
Her first car was a 1979 Monte Carlo, gifted by her dad and graced with a mean-looking front end, a long hood and swooping lines around the body. In 1985, she bought her first collector car, a Chevelle. A few years later, she flipped it for a Camaro. 鈥淒riving fast was awesome. Spinnin鈥?cookies, sliding that Camaro into a parking spot by tugging the e-brake like you see in the movies,鈥?she recalls, laughing quietly. 鈥淚t was an outlaw thing. VanDerBrink kept on flipping classic cars through the 1990s, treating it as a side gig to her main job as a medical lab technician at a hospital. In 2001, however, she decided to take a shot at becoming a licensed auctioneer. It鈥檚 been a winding path to her reputation and success today. She still remembers how many men scoffed at negotiating with a woman, and outright refused to work with her. Car collecting, especially of American classics, has always been a world dominated by men. That doesn鈥檛 mean that things haven鈥檛 changed, though.
Millennials have been blamed for killing all sorts of things, ranging from diamonds to avocados to the nuclear family unit and beyond, but if there鈥檚 one thing the 18 to 35 set loves, it鈥檚 cars. That might seem unbelievable for those who have been paying attention to the waves of young people who advocate for green energy, lobby for reforms and investment in public transit and want urban environments designed for people, not vehicles. This seems, on its face, like a bit of a paradox. But the sustained desire for cars in the U.S. 鈥檛 mean that car culture hasn鈥檛 warped and waned in the last few decades. 鈥淚 grew up with it. When I went to high school, all we drove were Chevelles and Camaros. But when you lose those stories, and the connection to those memories, you lose the connection to tangible things,鈥?VanDerBrink says. 鈥淵ounger people, they鈥檒l sell classic cars because they want the money but not the stuff. And they don鈥檛 have an interest in the mechanics and working on a car.
Many millennials who are invested in classic cars see a similar landscape as VanDerBrink. Haden Cory, a 27-year-old engineer at X in Northern California, fell in love with cars at a young age, and eventually got his hands on his father鈥檚 1972 BMW 3.0 CS. His father had already made major modifications to the engine in the 1990s, and these days it鈥檚 Cory鈥檚 getaway car, a treat for weekends and scenic drives where he can let the straight-six engine gallop. His daily driver is a stock Audi A4 wagon, but he鈥檚 spent far more time and money on tuning up the BMW in the last half-decade, and remains a member of the BMW Car Club of America. 鈥淏ut I鈥檝e noticed that there aren鈥檛 people my age in that club. I have coworkers and some friends who are quote-unquote 鈥榠nto cars,鈥?but there鈥檚 just not as many people now who take care of their cars in a personal way. Cars are less and less a passion.
