Ron Ananian, The Car Dr Talks Classic Cars on Mendte In The Morning, WOR Radio 710, December 1, 2025

Larry Mendte of “Mendte in the Morning” on WOR 710 AM New York sits down with Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor to talk about a surprising new twist in the collector world: the growing demand for cars of the 1980s.

It’s a fast, fun, and nostalgic 10-minute romp through the cars you grew up with—Cadillac Eldorados, and the boxy, big-shouldered cruisers that are suddenly hot again. And how about a 1981 Dodge Aries!? As always, Ron keeps it spirited and informative, explaining why these cars are gaining attention and what makes them worth a second look.

Catch Ron every other week on WOR 710 AM at 9:39 AM on Mendte in the Morning.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Minty in the morning, rolls on You're.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Fast Lane for the ride.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Ino. Well, a whole new decade of cars has joined
the ranks of the classic cars. Here to talk about
that is Ron and Nanyan host of The Car Doctor,
which is available weekly on the iHeartRadio app. He's also
owner of R Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. Hey, Ron,

(00:28):
hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
We did, Larry the same to you.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
When people think about classic cars, they think about like
the cars they saw in the movie Dazed and Confused.
They're from the fifties, sixties, the muscle cars from the seventies. Yeah,
exactly why are the eighties models now involved?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, you know, they've officially become classics. They've aged into it.
They're like you and me, Larry, they're old.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Hey, speak to yourself.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Cars from the eighties or thirty five to forty years
old now, right, and we all have memories, you know, Natalie.
Although I don't think this hope for Natalie Saturn. We
were talking before the interview today, you know about she
wants to know her Saturnys that were going to become
a classic. It was in.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Nineteen ninety two, red and silver two tone coop. It
was adorable.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, I'm sure you looking to sell it?

Speaker 1 (01:19):
What was that all about?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
I don't know. It's way gone. I was wondering if
I held on to it, it wouldn't have been worth
any money one day. That wouldn't have been running by now,
you know, as I got out of that car by
the way, like, do you know, for example, what's a
really hot car? Probably the number one hot car from
the eighties, Larry, that people are looking for to buy
a No, no, what do you remember the eighty one

(01:42):
aries K car? No, Leiah Coca. If you can find
a better car, buy it. When Chrysler was making their
big comeback when they went bankrupt in the late seventies,
and Leiah Coca used to say, the aries K car
was a great car. That car is so hot right
now you can't find.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Any Well why is that because it was less product?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Or well it's forty years ago and they all rusted away,
and now all of a sudden we want them. We didn't,
you know, we didn't. We didn't think any of this
stuff was going to be valuable. I've gotten called. I
got a call last week on the show. Somebody wants
to go buy an eighty one Cadillac Fleetwood Brome with
the forty one hundred, the HT forty one hundred engine.
Nobody remembers this, but that was the engine that General

(02:21):
Motors suffered so much abuse from because if the engine
lasted thirty thousand miles, it was extraordinary. The engines just
did not last. And you know, in his case, is
concern was what I do if the engine fails. And
here's the beauty of an eighties car. The engine baser
so big. You can slide a modern day powertrain into
that if the engine failed and have the look of

(02:43):
the eighties with the reliability of a present day automobile.
Isn't that crazy?

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Hold on the look of the eighties? That is? I mean,
it's not like the cars in the fifties that are
so wild to look at, Andy, they're beautiful and they're elegant. No,
the eighties kind of were boxy and wu you grow
into these things. I mean, were they really that beautiful
back then? I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Think about how big those cars were, think about think
about how sexy a two door El Dorado convertible nineteen
eighty two was. Wire wheels, I can see I can
see the one my mother in law had yellow with
the brown boot, black top. You go driving around. It
was just it was just a gorgeous, sexy car. And
those cars are making a comeback, they really are.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
In the seventies, my dad bought one of those Cadillac Fleetwoods.
It was red convertible and at the time it was
the longest car ever made.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yep, yeah it was. You couldn't get it into a garage.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Kings been difficult.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, the last three feet would stick out of the garage.
I know people that owned them because right, yeah it was,
it was. And you'd cover it with a raincoat because
you didn't know what to do when you don't want
your car to get wet, and you were just goofy
about it. But these cars are making a comeback, right,
you know El Dorado's, Riviera's Lincoln Town Car. Who didn't

(04:06):
rent a Lincoln Town Cart of go want vacation in
the eighties? Right, big four door tank, Right, the Mustang,
the Fox body, Mustangs, iraq Z Camaros. Ringing any bells
for those kids that were in high school in the eighties. Right,
used cars, early Toyota Supers and the Aris K car
the number one classic, you know, car in demand, and

(04:27):
the reason is they're still affordable.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well right, yeah, let's talk about that. What are the
prices as compared to some of the other classic cars.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, you know a nineteen seventy Chevelle Big Block, right, yeah,
any anywhere from seventy five to hundred thousand dollars. Stuff o, God,
all right, the guy was going to buy this eighty
one Cadillac with the forty one hundred engine forty nine
hundred bucks. You know, how can you go wrong if

(04:56):
the body's in good shape and the rest of the
drive train is there and the engine and fails, stick
another engine in it. You've got a car for under
fifteen grand. It's a classic, It looks cool and you
can kind of hang out. They're taking them to car shows, Larry.
That's the sign that they're being accepted.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Have you seen this yourself? That demand for these What
are people coming to you and asking for these cars
or where they can.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Say they want to know, can I still work on them?
Can I get parts? And that's the other thing. It's easier.
There's still a lot of parts out there for eighties cars,
certain models, there's still a lot of parts available, because
that's a problem with a collectible. Look, somebody wants to
restore a fifty five Chevrolet. Okay, you can buy a

(05:38):
fifty five Chevrolet brand new. There are companies out there
reproducing it from the frame on up.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
But an eighty one Cadillac. Yeah, not so much because
the demand isn't there yet. But there's still a lot
of OE original parts from GM in warehouses and back
alleys and basements that people never used. So it's still
readil relatively affordable, and it's still relatively easy to get
parts for cars that aren't so easy to find part.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Now, you're saying all that as if they're not going
to be affordable soon. So you see the price on
these going up?

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, I do. Any once something hits a collectible, it's
kind of like the housing boom in New Jersey. As
soon as everybody wants one, nobody can get it. You know.
It's all tied to that, Larry.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
So you're looking at early demand. You're like reading a
stock market. You're looking at early demand on these things
and realizing that they're a great investment right now.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, I think so. Well, I don't know if a
car is an investment per se if I do it
over the stock market. But yeah, there are a couple
of cars I take a gamble on. I think everybody's
gonna want. I think everybody's gonna want an eighty eight
Lincoln town Car. Listen, I purchased an O two Ford
Thunderbird little ahead, right, Yeah, I purchased an O two

(06:50):
Ford Thunderbird two years ago. Now paid a couple of
grand for it. The car goes up in value every day.
It's going to be the next classic if it isn't already.
There are just some car out there that catch your
rye that you know we're going to go in the
right direction.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
I love the idea of investing in cars because you
can drive around on it, keep it nice, and then
you can resell it. And if you get something that's
going to be a classic, I mean, how much could
they go up in value?

Speaker 2 (07:16):
You can see some cars go anywhere from six to
eight percent. You can see some cars double I purchased
a seventy two Monte Carlo in twenty sixteen. I'll tell
you right here, I paid eight grand for the car.
That car today is selling all day long for between
twenty six and thirty grand Man.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
That's great advice, Ronananian. We'll be back with us in
two weeks at nine thirty five with more investment help.
It's it's, it's investing with Ronananian.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Thanks Larry.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
All right, thanks Ron. When we come back, my final thoughts,
a recap of today's show and the talk back of
the morning. Here's your wo R traffic. What morning