Are classic cars dead as history repeats itself?

Denise McCluggage drives the Porsche 550 RS 60 at the car company's 50th anniversary in Monterey, California, in 1998.

McCluggage said she sold it for $6,000 and a Mini Moke in 1962, long before the model commanded $1 million and Motor Trend Classic named it the fifth-greatest Ferrari ever.

"Timing is everything," she joked.

McCluggage and Allen might appear to have similar tastes, but McCluggage said she thinks classics might one day include distinct designs, such as the Mazda Miata and Chrysler PT Cruiser.

At the same time, McCluggage said American muscle cars "were great in a straight line" but didn't appeal to her as a racer.

"It will be surprising what people consider classics," she said, adding that when she isn't driving a car from the AutoWeek press fleet, she is tootling around Santa Fe, New Mexico, in her 1993 Suzuki Sidekick.

"I always like the car I'm in. I'm very fickle that way," she said.

Allen also is fickle. He modifies almost every car, a cardinal sin for collectors who believe original parts must be preserved.

"They're never like I like them," he said. "The look isn't right. The sound isn't right. The performance isn't where I'd have it."

The Detroit, Michigan, native said cars are for driving, and he recalls how he used to drive a 1932 Ford more often than he should have.

"It was like using a Rembrandt for a placemat," Allen said. "But I can't let it sit there and not drive it."

McCluggage chuckled when she called collectors who tow their prized automobiles to shows "trailer queens."

Classics or not, Jackson believes the days of the re-introduced muscle car might be numbered. Government ownership of GM and tighter fuel standards (taking effect in 2016) could bring a lull in manufacturing high-performance vehicles.

In the 1970s and 1980s, public demand for safety and better mileage yielded cookie-cutter cars that Jackson said he couldn't differentiate on the freeway at night. Similarly, today, car companies might think twice before building 612-horsepower ZR1s that could skew a fleet's fuel standards.

Experts agree technology advances more quickly today than it did in the 1970s, and Jackson has faith form can keep pace with function. Allen said he'll keep taking performance into his own hands, even if cars go electric.

"I don't need the government telling me what to drive," he said.