The colour and texture of a small Tibetan shrine prompted me to dig out and restore a model tower I made from detritus on my kitchen table in 1983.
As for the antique car, she and a friend, Monroe DeMott, restored a 1929 Model A Ford, which is kept in Ms. Megaro's three-car garage and driven near and far.
The entire job cost $10,000 -- about what it would cost to buy a restored Model A today.
Mr. Hagerty said that half the owners who received guaranteed-value payouts for their ruined cars also exercised their right to buy them back for the salvage value, either to repair or use as a parts source for restoring a similar model.
Radiohead asked Streetly Electronics to restore and repair a model for them in 1997, and recorded with it on several tracks for their album OK Computer.
In 1991, Mr. DeMott, who is in the construction business and has his own restored Model A, convinced Ms. Megaro that it was time to restore the dormant car.
Ms. Faust described the cost of restoring an older model as "very high".
At first, it was only a few guys who were actually putting cars together, and then mid-90s there were more people taking the time out to restore an old model and put it back out on the road as a slab.
Highlights include a 1956 Sonett Super Sport, one of six made, and a restored 1952 model 92 sedan, which evolved from the so-called Ursaab prototype of 1947.
THE RIDE OF YOUR LIFE Driven Only to Church (and the Cemetery) USED hearses offered for sale are typically at least 10 years old and can go for as little as a few hundred dollars or as much as $35,000 for a restored vintage model.
