While peoples’ tastes vary greatly with cars and trucks, most would agree that some vehicles are easily recognizable as being nicer than others.
For most of his life, Bud Evans has had a special appreciation for the finer “rides” and enjoys sharing that feeling at Evans Classic Cars on Mill Street in downtown Houston.
In the past, Evans has worked at or owned many local businesses, including Flowerland Florist, Evans Funeral Home, Evans Sports, Oakwood Golf Club and others. After running the golf course for about nine years, he sold it late last year and in January made the classic car business his primary focus.
Evans Classic Cars was actually launched in the early 1990s by Evans and his father, Clydie. It was originally located just south of Houston and more or less came and went in various forms until early this year.
“I just decided ‘if we’re going to do it, let’s do it,’” Evans said.
Early on, the business focused on older cars. It moved to its current downtown location in the early 2000s, and now Evans buys and sells anything he finds worthy of being labeled “classic.”
Preferably ready to roll.
“We used to buy lots of cars that needed a lot of work,” he said, “but now it’s mainly true cars that are saleable without having to go through a lot of time and money to get them ready. The quality of cars we have here is pretty good.”
Most of the vehicles Evans buys are found online or at specialized auctions, usually in states in the lower part of the country where salt isn’t used on roadways during winter months.
“But you still really have to stay on top of it because of hurricanes, floods and all the things that can affect a car,” he said. “I go through all the information I can about a car. And I don’t buy salvage vehicles.”
Most of the vehicles Evans sells are purchased through online sources or auctions, primarily by people who live outside Texas County.
“I think a lot of people don’t know I sell cars to anybody, but I do,” he said. “And most of what we have is not crazily priced, and if you want something, I’ll find it for you. But the best thing for us to do is go where there are people with disposable money looking for these cars. So I’ll do things like take six cars to Branson and bring back three.”
Evans’ passion for the classics was born when his grandfather, “Shorty,” opened a Ford dealership in Mountain Grove in the early 1950s.
“My dad and grandfather and I always loved cars,” he said, “but we never really got into it in a big way until about 2001.”
Evans recalls having several nice cars during his youth, including a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette T-top with a 300 horsepower 427 V-8 engine. His dealership currently has close to 25 vehicles in its inventory, many of which can often be seen lining the edge of Mill Street in front of the showroom.
“You buy and you sell them because you don’t want them to get stale,” Evans said. “But there are some nice cars out there in the world; you just have to look for them. And I love that.”
Over the years, Evans said, people have grown to like a new form of “classic.”
“Fifteen years ago, a ‘numbers matching’ car was a big deal, but now it means nothing,” he said. “Now they’d rather have an older car with new components. It’s changed a lot.”
Preparing a vehicle to look its best for sale at an auction is crucial. Evans employs Gary Heiney for that purpose.
“He knows how to detail cars, and that’s key,” Evans said. “When we take them to these big auctions, they have to look really nice.”
When Evans acquires a vehicle that does need some bodywork, the job is done by Rob Haney.
“Yep – Haney and Heiney,” Evans said. “They do well for me.”
Evans has some favorites, including a 2010 Roush Stage 3 Ford Mustang that arrived from Texas last week and a 1970 Oldsmobile 442 W-30 model he found online in Florida.
The Olds is worth a whopping $98,000. How Evans got it is quite a story.
“I had just gotten started at the first of this year, and I saw it on eBay,” he said. “I talked to the guy and he had spent $60,000 on restoration and was going to sell it for $30,000 – which didn’t make a lot of sense, but he was hard up for money.”
Evans bought it and he and Heiney went through it with a fine-tooth comb, part by part, front to back, top to bottom. When Evans looked the car up in his National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) pricing book, he was amazed to find that it “numbered out” as a 2 – with 1 being the best score and 5 the worst – and was worth about $100,000.
“It’s a special car,” he said. “You just don’t find them very often.”
Evans knows he was pretty lucky.
“Sometimes you just fall into those,” he said. “Growing up, I had a ’70 442 and I never knew they could be worth that much.”
Realistically, Evans feels lucky every time he goes to work these days.
“This is just a lot of fun for me,” he said. “And we’ve got some very nice cars.”
For more information about Evans Classic Cars, drop by the dealership (at 115 Mill St.) during business hours on weekdays or call 417-967-7777. Owner Bud Evans said the business’ website – www.evansclassiccars.com – will soon be up and running and be complete with comprehensive details about available vehicles.