Some of Robert E. Fisher’s earliest memories are from the final months of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, when big and powerful cars were at his father’s body shop in Broadalbin.
“That was our thing,” Fisher, now 58, said recently. “We’d see a brand-new hot rod wreck. I was born and raised around it.”
Next month, he will open Fisher Hot Rods & Classics. It will operate from a new building at 4223 state Highway 30, near his existing body shop and towing business, near his home, and down the road from his detailing shop.
“I have a love for old, classic cars,” Fisher said. “It’s either in your blood or it’s not. You either have a love for it or you don’t.”
An inventory of 50 cars has been assembled ahead of the opening, and most were built between 1965 and 1973 by the “Big Three” automakers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
Three Chevrolet Camaros were inside the two-bay garage on a recent Saturday morning. Two were 1969 models and the other was from 1968.
Top: When Fisher Hot Rods & Classics opens for business next month, owner Robert E. Fisher expects buyers will take delivery of their cars from this shop, next door to his body shop and towing business. Above: Five of the 50 classic motor vehicles and hot rods in the inventory of Fisher Hot Rods & Classics sit under cover in Perth.
Fisher said he delayed the opening — the shop was built a few years ago — because he wanted to have a true inventory of different makes and models. He thought a few cars on a big lot would not look right.
“We’re going to have a wide selection,” he said. “Variety is what we’re going to have.”
The selling price of a collectible car is shaped by several factors. There is the condition of the automobile, of course, but the price can also be impacted by the number of components that are original from when it was manufactured. Options are another determinant of price. How did a car leave the factory? Was it a relative oddity?
A novelty sign on Robert E. Fisher’s desk reads “Fast Lane,” but his decision to open Fisher Hot Rods & Classics was made years ago when he started accumulating cars.
General Motors built 243,085 Chevrolet Camaros for the model year 1969, according to an online article from Hemmings Motor News, a national collectible car publication based in Bennington, Vermont. More than 190,000 of the Camaros were sport coupes having V-8 engines. Just 1,707 of that year’s production were for convertibles having V-6 engines. Only 20,302 of the 243,085 Camaros for ’69 were Z/28 models, and one is in Fisher’s inventory.
Prices at Fisher Hot Rods & Classics will run from about $10,000 to $70,000.
“There’s going to be something for everybody,” Fisher said. “For the lower-cost cars, it may be one that needs a paint job, but that’s what a person can afford to start out with.”
Some older automobiles have significantly appreciated in value since they left the assembly plant, and Fisher said the cars he sells could be classified as investments. But in the same way a person’s house should be viewed primarily as their home more than an investment, Fisher said the cars should be enjoyed — should be driven — and not kept hidden under a tarp in a garage.
Top: When Fisher Hot Rods & Classics opens for business next month, owner Robert E. Fisher expects buyers will take delivery of their cars from this shop, next door to his body shop and towing business. Above: Five of the 50 classic motor vehicles and hot rods in the inventory of Fisher Hot Rods & Classics sit under cover in Perth.
Fisher’s late father operated Bob’s Auto Body Shop in Broadalbin for 20 years from 1966. The son worked for his dad when he was younger but later was on the payrolls of different body shops around the area. In 1992, in a little building down the highway, Fisher opened his own body shop. He soon added another bay to the garage, and then another garage.
In 2009, he moved Fisher Automotive to 4217 state Highway 30. The body shop sits behind the new hot rod garage, and the repair and towing work are what financed the launch of the enterprise’s newest division.
“Our main thing is collision,” Fisher said. “But that background supports what these cars need.”
Gladys Griffith sits buckled into a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro RS convertible at Fisher Hot Rods & Classics in Perth. The car, which will go on sale when the classic car seller opens next month, was purchased in New Jersey.
As they do for contemporary cars that have been wrecked, the Perth shops can be used for repainting classic cars or repairing damage to their sheet-metal bodies. Fisher can swap engines, but also send engine and interior work out for fulfillment by subcontractors.
Instead of commissioning the rejuvenation of an old car, Fisher recommends that people consider one that does not require an expensive rebuild. Economic inflation has pushed up the prices of many things, and Fisher said this includes the new parts used on old automobiles.
“We could restore a car from the ground up,” he said, “but the consumer is better off buying a car that’s already been done. Otherwise, you’ll put way too much money into it.”
The workforce is three: Fisher, another body shop employee and Gladys Griffith, Fisher’s girlfriend and the resident automotive detailer. She works in the shop at 4193 state Highway 30, where more of the classic car inventory is being kept.
“I have people nonstop coming in to look at the cars,” she said. “They take pictures.”
“There’s a lot of interest,” Fisher said. “This new business is going to be fun. This is going to be really good.”
While Fisher and Griffith were talking to a visitor in the shop, an older man with a beard came inside.
“I saw the lights were on,” he said. “And I saw the Z/28.”