Where you can find those old cars is easy–simply call Pikes Peak Motor Co. in Penrose, ColoRODo and ask what their inventory consists of.  Some cars from the 30s and 40s are waiting and more from the 50s through the 70s are available as well. Some are drivers, others need some TLC, while still others would be better suited as street rods; all are for sale.

Pikes Peak Motor Co. held its grand opening/open house on Friday May 15^th  in Penrose, Colorado after enjoying several years in Colorado Springs. The open house was held in conjunction with the VMCCA/Canon City/Abbey car show.

The owner of Pikes Peak Motors, Mike DeVriendt, is known world-wide today, especially in Sweden (because Swede’s like big cars like Cadillacs and Mike deals in a lot of those), but he wasn’t always into buying and selling old cars.

In the early 70s he was an insurance adjuster for Farmer’s Insurance covering the southwestern portion of Colorado. His primary responsibility was taking care of those clients that had old cars and their claims. It got to the point that he really got interested in those old cars and decided he needed to buy a few while on his rounds. At that time, street rodding was just getting a good hold on car guys and 30s and 40s stuff was plentiful.

That of course led to what to do with them, where to put them, and how much of a price to put on them!  In 1978 he bought a body shop in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado, out back was a large fenced lot, perfect for all the “old cars” he was accumulating. He outgrew that spot and in 1989 he found a “better” property, complete with the kind of buildings that lent themselves to the old car hobby and a glassed-in “showroom” south of the downtown area.

It was in an industrial area so no worries about neighbors complaining about “old rusty cars” that filled the property. That was the beginning of Pike’s Peak Motors. Mike watched the classifieds and bought up just about every old car that came up for sale in and around town giving him a good inventory to peddle to potential street rodders. Most of his sales came via word-of-mouth.

A few years later, along came the internet and as has been said many times previous, “The rest is history.” Life, selling, and dealing in old cars and parts was good. The back lot was full and so was the south lot. Sales were brisk although 30s and 40s cars were getting scarce and harder to find.  Fifties and sixties cars were on the way to becoming hot items.

Three years ago, the Colorado State Highway Department came calling–they needed Mike’s property for a new highway interchange and they weren’t about to take a ‘no’ for a final answer. Time to find a new spot.

Thirty miles southwest of Colorado Springs, Mike found an out-of-business International Truck dealership complete with 20,000 square foot building and showroom. It was situated on the north side of Highway 50 and enjoyed a mile frontage on its 20 acres. Perfect, especially with the internet traffic on his new website. Mike purchased the property and set out to move his place–lock, stock and barrel. It took all of those three years to move 500,000 pieces of old car inventory and over 400 40s, 50s, and 60s vehicles.

Enter Richard Murr. Rich and Mike had been in business together many years ago, owning A-1 Auto Recyclers in the Springs. After the sale of the business in 2000, Rich moved to North Carolina for a few years, that is until Mike contacted him and asked if he’d come back to Colorado and get back into business with him. The draw?  Half of  those fenced 20 acres could be used as a ‘pick-a-part’ yard dealing in late model vehicles and trucks. Rich agreed and together they formed a partnership. Rich manages the late model inventory. Current inventory stands at about 500 vehicles.

The Grand Opening went off without a hitch and Mike and Rich played host to about 300 guests, feeding them hot dogs, burgers, chips, and sodas while a rolling in and out car show went on in the parking lot most of the day.  The 4,000 square foot showroom was filled with several 60s vehicles for sale (Camaros, GTOs, Chevelles, a ’32 Ford sedan and a ’33 Ford sedan) and outside, on the front apron, a couple of street rods sat, for sale as well. A vintage Kenz & Leslie dragster was on view in the loft area as were a lot of vintage porcelain signs. Up on shelves were several restored pedal cars, a few old bicycles and a couple of Indian motorcycles.

Later that evening, Canon City (8 miles west of  Pike’s Peak Motors) hosted a free street concert with the 50s group “Flash Cadillac.” A street dance was held at the same time and an impromptu car show was held on the Main Street downtown. All in preparation for the VMCCA  (Vintage Motor Car of Colorado Association) car show at the Abbey show grounds on Saturday. About 400 of southwest ColoRODo’s vehicles showed up for a relaxed day on the grass. Fortunately, the rain the rest of Colorado had been enjoying for the previous fifteen days stayed away and the day was partly cloudy, sunny, and near 70 degrees.

On Sunday, the town of Florence, just a short ten minute drive south of Canon City hosted their street car show and about 200 cars showed up to park on Main Street and enjoyed the camaraderie of their owners. All in all in was a great weekend.

To sum it all up, if you need a late model engine/transmission or body parts, contact Rich at 1 (719) 372-6588 and if you are interested in the old cars, parts of them, or the full-fledged fully restored vehicles for sale in the showroom or project vehicles from the 30s through the 70s contact Joel (or Rich) at 1 (719) 372-7762. If you need small pieces to complete your build, be sure to check out Pikes Peak Motors’ website. It’s estimated there are over half a million original parts in stock on the shelves in the warehouse.