Thursday, June 19, 2008 - Dearborn, Michigan -- John Nagel takes pride in the half-dozen awards his car has won at classic-car exhibitions. Adding to his pleasure: He doesn't have a coveted, and costly, Corvette or Mustang, but a 1975 AMC Gremlin that he bought three years ago for just $2,000. "People always smile at my car and tell me their own Gremlin stories," says Mr. Nagle of Sylvania, Ohio. "One woman proudly told me she was conceived in the back seat of a Gremlin."

Welcome to the world of classic car shows, where vehicles that once carried people from Point A to Point B now transport their owners and avid onlookers back in time. There are thousands of such shows around America this summer, ranging from small gatherings at local drive-in restaurants to far more elaborate and formal events.

Ford Model T owners and admirers will gather in Richmond, Ind., July 21 to 26 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the car that put the country on wheels. The Cadillac & LaSalle Club will hold its 50th annual Grand National Meet in Cherry Hill, N.J., on Aug. 12 to 16. (LaSalle was once a popular companion brand to Cadillac.)

Some events have an element of whimsy, such as the annual Orphan Car Show in Ypsilanti, Mich., held in early June. Deceased brands such as Powell, Davis, Nash and Studebaker have their day, and General Motors' now-departed Oldsmobile division should be admitted a few years hence. Other shows are model-specific and regional, such as Vettes on the Rockies, an annual Corvette conclave in Frisco, Colo. (this year's is July 31 to Aug. 3). Still others are way upscale, notably the annual Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach, Calif. (Aug. 13 to 17), where classic cars in pristine condition can fetch seven figures at auction, and the drink of choice is champagne, not beer.

Classic American cars, basically those built before 1976, are celebrated overseas as well. Scandinavia, in particular, has dozens of American car clubs. The annual Power Big Meet in Vasteras, Sweden, draws 10,000 vehicles and bills itself as the largest display of classic American cars outside the U.S. Among the prizes is the annual Jay Leno award, sponsored by the comedian and car collector.

For Scandinavians, the allure of collecting classic American cars is a chance to experience their vision of America. "We were always told as children that the U.S. is the country where dreams come true and where all things are possible," says Leif Kongso, a member of the Cadillac Club of Denmark and owner of a 1951 Caddy convertible. "Everybody has a dream of listening to great music while driving with the top down through the wide open spaces towards the setting sun."

For Americans who collect classic cars or simply attend the shows, a major motive is nostalgia. At the recent Motor Muster show at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, the crowd roared with laughter when curator Bob Casey explained the downside of the bucket-seat craze that began in the 1960s. "If you were a teenager on a date with your girl," he said, "that console between the seats was like the Great Wall of China."

Ironically, classic-car shows seem to be gaining popularity even as gasoline prices are soaring and Detroit's car companies are fighting for their lives. Attendance at Motor Muster, which invites all models of cars from the 1930s through 1976, rose 10% from a year ago. The number of cars on display increased too, to about 850 from about 500. Among them was Mr. Nagel's 1975 reddish-orange Gremlin.

He purchased it from a man who had bought it for his son -- who refused to drive it. The young man's reluctance was understandable. The ungainly Gremlin, produced from 1970 to 1978, had first been sketched by an American Motors designer on the back of an air-sickness bag, and perhaps no other car so perfectly captured the Jimmy Carter malaise of the 1970s. Because of the Gremlin's chopped-off tail, owners often were asked, "What happened to the back of your car?"

To the 47-year-old Mr. Nagel, however, the car's looks are part of its charm. "You see lots of Mustangs, Camaros and Corvettes at these shows," he says, "but my car kind of stands out." He bought it in such good condition that he hasn't spent a penny to restore it. He concedes, however, that the ride is so harsh that he hates driving it to shows more than a couple of hours from his home.

At the other end of the spectrum at Motor Muster was Richard Pinke's 1958 Corvette, which might fetch $175,000 on the classic-car market today. Mr. Pinke, of Allen Park, Mich., was bird-hunting when he spotted the car, sitting in a barn and filled with debris. Restoration took four years and cost him $50,000. The original two-tone paint -- soft yellow with a white "cove" scoop in the side -- is faithfully re-created.

The smallest car on display was a 1958 BMW Isetta 300 coupe. The Italian-designed, German-made car had just one door, in the front, which opened forward -- steering wheel and all -- so the driver and passenger could get in and out. A sunroof was standard; it provided the only escape route in a head-on accident. The car had a 13-horsepower, one- cylinder engine. Fuel economy: an impressive 62 miles per gallon.

The largest cars were the 1950s Cadillacs, highly stylized and replete with sexual imagery. Those of the early- to late-1950s had chrome cones that protuded from the front bumpers and were nicknamed "Dagmars," referring to the ample endowment of a television starlet of the day. She was said to be pleased with the imagery.

Dagmars disappeared in 1959, when Cadillacs instead got the biggest tail fins ever appended to a vehicle that didn't fly. The bulbous twin tail lights on each fin were nicknamed after a certain part of the male anatomy. Car designers of the day, it seems, were equal-opportunity offenders.

Mr. Ingrassia, a former Detroit bureau chief for this newspaper, is researching a book on the cars that helped shape American culture, to be published by HarperCollins.