October 12, 2010 – dmJuice (Des Moines Register) – Cover Story

‘My whole life is cars’
Ames collector owns a fleet of 40+ cars he drives regularly
By Joe Lawler, Juice Magazine — Photo: Eric Rowley/Juice

Steve Myers’ garage looks like a British car museum. Sunbeams, Austin-Healeys, Jaguars and MGs are parked neatly in his garage near the Ames Airport. Fourteen cars are neatly lined in two rows, most in immaculate shape, but a few in various states of restoration and repair.

The difference between Myers’ garage and a museum is he actually drives each car. And with around 40 cars, this is less a collection than a fleet.

Myers, 30, is a second-generation collector whose father collects British cars. But Myers considers himself more of a driver than collector. He drives a different car each day until the roads get their first salting in the winter, at which point he switches to his truck.

Myers never set out to collect, but bought his first car, an Austin-Healy Sprite, while he was attending Iowa State University. An MG convertible followed six months later, and a year after that his dad bought Myers two Sunbeam Alpines.

After that, “It seemed like confirmation, or at least a nudge from him, that I should have a collection of my own,” Myers said.

Cars have a way of finding him. Friends regularly send e-mails pointing him towards cars for sale. British cars, especially, appeal to him. His favorite is the Sunbeam, a slick, compact sports car in both coupe and convertible varieties. He owns 10, as well as one Sunbeam motorcycle.

“In part, it’s the handling. They’re extremely fun to drive no matter what speed you’re going,” he said. “They’ve got classy styles. Sunbeams, to me, look similar to an Aston Martin.” (Maxwell Smart drove a Sunbeam in “Get Smart,” and James Bond drove one in “Dr. No.”)

A 1966 Sunbeam Tiger is his favorite car, though he thinks that his 1959 “Bugeye” Sprite is the most fun to drive.

A Sunbeam Alpine will run around $10,000, while rarer Alpines like Tigers can go for $50,000. (If you can find one, that is. Myers has three.) Myers says the true cost for many of the vehicles isn’t so much the purchase price, but the upkeep. For instance, everything is unique on a Rolls Royce, even the break fluid. Changing the fluids, pads, hoses, fluid and filters runs about $2,000. Put the wrong brake fluid in and you’re looking at $20,000 in repairs. (Myers doesn’t like to talk specifics when it comes to his collection’s worth.)

Myers attends about 35 car shows and events a year, not just to display his cars but also to race them. He competes in SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) Autocross events in his Panoz Esperante GTS Supercar.

He’s also taken part in the 24 Hours of LeMons and ChumpCar races at speedways around the country, in which all competing cars must cost $500 or less.

The biggest factor limiting his collection is maintenance. His garage is a functional one, and he does all the work on the cars himself. Once he can’t keep up with the repairs, he’ll know it’s time to cut back.

A Web designer by trade, Myers has created sites for the Salisbury Concours de’Elegance, the Iowa British Car Club and Road Rally Charities – and he sits on the boards for all three. Myers works as a Web designer for his family’s business and highlights his restoration work on passthespanner.com, and also builds websites for cars like the Innocenti Spyder (innocentispyder.com), of which there are only 13 in the United States. (Myers owns four of them.) And that’s not even his rarest car. He owns an Arkley SS, one of two known to exist worldwide. You could spend hours looking at the cars, and Myers could spend hours discussing little details and trivia about each one. It’s a little window into the past.

“I like to know what it was like to drive these cars in their original form,” Myers said. “My whole life is cars.”