{"id":386642,"date":"2026-10-29T14:38:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T14:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/386642\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T14:38:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T14:38:49","slug":"cartopia-selling-classic-cars-in-queens-around-the-world-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/386642\/","title":{"rendered":"Cartopia: Selling classic cars in Queens around the world \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ashish Talwar, one of the owners of Merit Cars<\/a> in College Point<\/a>, doesn\u2019t buy classic cars at auctions, because you can\u2019t really get to know much about the vehicles. Merit Cars, however, specializes in providing information and images and inspecting its cars to sell to buyers nationwide and worldwide who often never see the actual vehicle \u2013 before it\u2019s theirs.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old company sells classic cars to buyers locally and worldwide, including some who hire inspectors to evaluate.
\n\"\"<\/a>Photo by Claude Solnik\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t do too much work on the cars,\u201d Talwar said. \u201cWe buy the cars and sell them. Our aim is to provide the best and most comprehensive information about a car that we give to the purchaser.\u201d<\/p>\n

They buy from private owners, inspect and give information to reach an international audience.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a fantastic mechanic and good staff,\u201d he said. \u201cWe go through the whole car, put it on a lift. We check everything and give a better packet of information.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

They have 45 vehicles in their inventory now, parked and on lifts in a kind of classic car paradise.\n<\/p>\n

Virtual viewings<\/p>\n

They typically provide 150 pictures of cars from every angle: outside, inside, closeups, showing numbers, with videos of cars running, driving and pictures of cars\u2019 undersides, as well as hard and cloth tops.<\/p>\n

\u201cNinety-five percent of our cars are bought sight unseen. We provide so much information on our website.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

They buy nationwide, with a little more than 1% from nearby, selling less than 1% in New York State, as well as nationwide and in nearly 45 countries.
\n\"\"<\/a>Photo by Claude Solnik\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have bought so many cars from Queens,\u201d he added. \u201cWe advertise we want to buy cars. That means people have these cars in their garage.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 90% of their customers are male, and as many as half are collectors, with three or more cars.\n<\/p>\n

Classic cars often go for much less than new because many have serious mileage. A 1989 Mercedes 560S with 77,000 miles and two owners, for instance, goes for $16,950.\n<\/p>\n

Car categories<\/p>\n

Those who want to spend less can buy cars billed as projects, which can have broken windshields and other problems.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe car has been sitting in somebody\u2019s garage for 30 years,\u201d Talwar said. \u201cIt was his grandfather\u2019s car. Nobody wants it in the family or the family doesn\u2019t know much about the car, so they sell it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n

Talwar walks past dozens of classic cars, such as a \u201cproject\u201d version of a Lotus Europa made in England that could easily sell for $40,000 in good shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re selling a project. This has been standing for more than 20 years,\u201d he said. \u201cThe windshield has been broken, but it\u2019s complete and intact. We\u2019re selling it for $10,000. If the engine has been swapped, we don\u2019t touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driver quality vehicles, their most popular segment, are better, running and driving, but not meant for daily use.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are people who want to buy a weekend car,\u201d he said. \u201cThey want to grab a coffee, take it to a show, go out for ice cream or cruise side roads or backroads.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The top segment, including show winners and expensive or rare cars, is also known as trailer queens.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThose people have put so much money in the car, they can\u2019t even drive it,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody should put a scratch on it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Trending<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when I go to see the car, such a nice-looking car is in a parking garage,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen cars in garages so beautiful and expensive that it boggles the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n

Long Island is full of expensive cars, with some beauties also in Queens. People call him up, saying there\u2019s a Porsche. \u201cI\u2019ll go to an ordinary-looking garage,\u201d Talwar continued. \u201cThere\u2019s a beautiful Porsche standing there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He gestures to a board where he has listed what he considers hot, trending cars, such as a Mazda Miata 1990-1999; Mustangs 1964-1972; Corvette C2 and C3; Alfa Romeo GTV 1969\u20141972, Porsche 911 and others. He said sometimes designs in particular years are more popular.<\/p>\n

\u201cMustangs after 1972, the body style changed,\u201d he said. \u201cThe demand for that cratered.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The Volvo P1800 is a \u201cvery sporty-looking Volvo\u201d that was featured in the TV series \u201cThe Saint\u201d with Roger Moore. It\u2019s also the car in the Guinness Book of World Records lists for the highest mileage ever for a single car, at 3 million miles.<\/p>\n

Trending cars<\/p>\n

While many things motivate buyers, Talwar believes one thing drives most sales and the desire to own classics.
\n\"\"<\/a>Photo by Claude Solnik\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNostalgia is the number one thing,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the top segment, it can be an investment. People can buy a Ferrari. You know it\u2019s going to appreciate in value. Rare Ferraris prices shoot up so fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cars in the driver segment typically relate to cars people remember from when they were younger.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they were growing up, these are the cars they saw other people driving,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I grow up and have some money, I\u2019ll buy this car.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Maintenance<\/p>\n

They try to sell and buy one to two cars daily, finding them all over, including people responding to their marketing as buyers.\n<\/p>\n

More than half of these cars use carburetors, while fuel injection is the norm today, so you need specialized mechanics.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a good mechanic who knows about old cars,\u201d he said. \u201cNot every mechanic can work on these cars.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

You might think \u201cupgrades\u201d would be good, but collectors like an authentic engine and look.
\n\"\"<\/a>Photo by Claude Solnik\n<\/p>\n

\u2018The value of the car remains only if it is kept original,\u201d he said. \u201cThe moment you try to modify it too much, the value will tank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Movie star cars<\/p>\n

Some of the hottest cars were used in movies, such as the Mercedes 450SL, featured in movies in the 1970s and 1980s, such as \u201cAmerican Gigolo.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The movie \u201cCorvette Summer\u201d further boosted interest in Corvettes. \u201cWhen I saw the movie when I was young, I thought I\u2019m going to go to America and drive a red Corvette,\u201d Talwar said.\n<\/p>\n

When Dustin Hoffman drove an Alfa Romeo in \u201cThe Graduate,\u201d that boosted sales of Alfa Romeo sales, which released a model called The Graduate.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same model he drove in the movie. They made it slightly cheaper and put an emblem on the back, calling it The Graduate.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The Fast and the Furious movie franchise also boosts particular cars, but movie cars dating back to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate are still hot.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is one of the Graduates, the black one Dustin Hoffman drove,\u201d Talwar said. \u201cWe have two of them right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ashish Talwar, one of the owners of Merit Cars in College Point, doesn\u2019t buy classic cars at auctions,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[8141,140765,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-386642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-cars","tag-merit-cars","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}