GARDINER, Maine — Peter Prescott has loved cars since he was old enough to drive them.
"I had a brand new ’59," he recalled as we drove in a restored 1959 Ford Galaxie retractable convertible.
"It was black with red leather, really cool," Prescott said.
As Prescott achieved success with his industrial pipe business, he began to buy a few old Fords, with a special focus on very particular cars: convertibles with flathead V8 engines, which were built from 1932 to 1953. Those cars and engines launched the V8 power era and were early favorites for hot rods and racers.
What gave him the passion for these cars, we ask?
"I think growing up in the ’50s, because these are all the years 32 to 53 Fords, Ford was a big thing when I was a kid, that’s what everybody had."
Those V8 convertibles are the centerpiece of Prescott’s collection. He said he now has one of every model of flathead V8 convertible Ford ever built—45 cars in all.
Those cars, parked in sequence, fill most of the ground floor of Prescott’s huge new display building, which he calls "The Barn." But they are, in fact, only part of his remarkable collection. They share the building with some trucks, woodies, some old-time muscle cars, such as a supercharged ’37 Auburn, mid-50s Fords with big engines, mid-50s Chevys with large factory engines made for racing, and about a dozen modern muscle cars, including a Challenger that was bought from the showroom with an engine claiming more than 1,000 horsepower.
Prescott said his collection now has 200 cars, making it bigger than some museums.
Every car, he said, is restored and ready to drive.
"It’s a disease," he joked, referring to the collecting.
It's also one that grew and grew over the years, eventually filling four buildings around the city of Gardiner.
"It wasn’t buying the cars," he said of the challenge of building the collection. "It was storing the cars. You get two in the garage, then you get six and it gets tight in there. Then you get eight and you need another garage!"
That prompted another joke:
"When I come back in the next life, I’m going to collect stamps."
For now, Prescott is doing all he can to enhance the collection. That’s a big reason he built the new display building, which is open and bright, and equipped with special LED lights that show the cars at their best. He’s hoping to have all of the cars under one roof, for the first time.
The building is also big enough to hold other pieces of his collection, including old gas pumps and other equipment to set up a 1940s-era service station display. There are even motorized bicycles that were used around 1900 as board track racers, zooming around mile-long wooden tracks without brakes or throttles.
And there are toys; antique pedal cars and “dime rides” motorized trucks and cars and even a spaceship, which would let kids sit in them and have a bumpy ride for a dime.
Other old car enthusiasts have known about Prescott’s collection, but only a limited number have seen it. Now more will have the chance. He plans to let people see it by appointment, to control the numbers. Prescott also said he thinks he will try to drive the cars more often.
"It’s a lot of fun to go riding because most people have never seen one of these old cars," he said while motoring down the road in the ’59 Galaxie 500.
"So we used to do a lot of riding. Guess we have to start it again."
He may need to set aside a fair amount of time to drive. There is a lot in this collection people will want to see.
Those wanting to visit should contact PEP Classic Cars in Gardiner, Maine.