Cruising Around North Canton in Classic Cars

Some people collect classic or vintage cars for the memories, the cars, the driving tours or for the show and competition. While Stark County is the home of one of the premier car shows in the country, Glenmoor Gathering, which brings hundreds of cars and collectors through the area, North Canton is the home of several car enthusiasts and collectors.

North Canton Patch met with two of the collectors. The first collector is Richard Pryce and he collects cars that hold a special memory or cars that he really likes. (Keep an eye out Thursday for our story about Dan Hanlon, who collects for the fun and likes to display his cars at car shows across the U.S.)

Pryce has four cars in his collection — a 1937 Cord, a 1962 Chrysler Imperial, a 1971 Jaguar and a 1985 Porsche. In past years, he’s owned a 1931 Packard, a 1963 Avanti by Studebaker and a 1941 Ford convertible.

“My wife called the Ford the friendly Ford because the grill made it look like it was smiling,” Pryce said.

“I’m a late starting collector. I started after I retired 10 years ago. And I really only collect cars that I like or that have a special meaning to me,” he said.

The Imperial Pryce owns is like the model his brother helped design when working for Chrysler in Detroit. There are several drawings of cars from his brother Arden hanging in his garage, including a drawing of a 1962 Imperial.

Pryce bought the Jaguar (which has a V12 engine) because he saw one like it in San Diego while in the U.S. Navy.

“When I first saw the Jag, I thought it was just a beautiful car and I still think it is a great looking car today. The Porsche is the car that my wife and I like to drive around town,” Pryce said.

Collecting cars has seen a slight increase in interest over the past few years. People collect for a number of reasons, including the reasons that Pryce likes to collect.

“A lot of people collect just for the collecting aspect, some collect for the camaraderie, some do it for the competition and many collect just so they can participate in driving tours,” said Norm Cangey, membership chairman of The Classic Car Club of America, Ohio region.

Cangey said that many of their members don’t even own a classic or vintage car but join so that they can participate in the driving tours. The club members will meet in an area and then take a one- or several-day driving tour around a selected area. The group will stop for lunch or dinner or stay in the same hotel for the overnight tours.

“Right now we have 158 members and 90 associate members from all over Ohio, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. For the driving tours, we usually get 10 to 20 cars that tour together,” Cangey said.

Pryce was the president of Aultman Hospital for 20 years and when he retired, he decided to start collecting cars. He also enjoys the camaraderie of the people who collect.

“I’ve just always liked cars and never had the time collect until after I retired. Car collectors are a very nice group of people and we all have a common interest in the cars,” Pryce said. “I consider myself a humble, novice collector.”

While Pryce only keeps a few cars at a time, some collectors have hundreds of cars.