April 2025 will mark the 16th anniversary of MyStarCollectorCar.com, so I thought I’d jot down some random thoughts about how it’s gone so far.
These are things I learned over the years.
Jerry Sutherland
The first one is simple—it’s all about the stories.

That “because every Great car has a Great story!” motto under the MyStar logo was picked for a reason. It’s always about the story, but I’ve learned the story behind the car goes deeper in some cars more than others.

In other words, if there’s a choice between a Superbird story and a Pontiac 4-door sedan story, I’ll take the sedan story every time—especially if the Superbird was bought last week at Barrett-Jackson.

The Mopar guys will burn me at the stake for that, but no matter how cool a Superbird is, it will never match a story with a great-uncle’s long-lost Poncho more-door in the biography. If the Superbird was a lost and found Richard Petty story, I’ll jump over a barbwire fence and a pissed-off German Shepherd to get the story.
A subsection of the story is when the owner is young and/or female. That makes for a great plot because old guys are a big part of the car hobby demographic—young dudes and dudettes aren’t.

If I find a 25-year-old female who rebuilt her old IHC pickup in high school, I’ll grab that story every single time because it’s a story that seems like it writes itself. In reality, no story ever writes itself—I have to put in some time too.

Another thing I’ve learned is new tech. I had to do that because a website is complicated on its own, but a massive website is Starship level complicated. It’s nothing like the two-pager you put together for your resume. That’s like comparing a kite to a space shuttle in terms of similarity and cost.

I knew next to nothing about websites in 2009, but the school of hard knocks is a firm, but fair teacher—far more firm than fair. All it took were two or three site crashes to put me on a massive learning curve.
Another thing I learned was small town friendly is a reality, not a concept.
The big city car shows are great for variety, and they bring a good organizational game, but there’s nothing a like a two-lane road trip to a small-town show.

The trip is even better in old iron because a ‘63 Plymouth or ’60 Dodge thrives on secondary highways. Plus, the organizers know you have some blood in the game when you show up in a 65-year-old car instead of a Saturn.

Old cars are the best way to travel because you absorb the cool factor. In other words, they graft a personality on the most unlikely people—I know because I’m one of them.

Every gas stop turns you into a rock star, but the downside is you’re going to meet a lot of guys with no knowledge—just opinions.
I’ll end this with some thoughts on the fun factor. Yes, it’s just as much fun now as it was back in 2009—like a never-ending Disneyland.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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