Ames man keeps busy with collection of classic cars

An 85-year-old Ames man’s collection of 60 classic cars includes some of the rarest vehicles in the country. Ames resident Grant Quam’s been interested in cars since he was a boy, when he used to watch the cars go by his family’s Roland farm. Quam says he became an avid collector late in life. Since his first car, a Model T Ford, he has added a 1925 Kissel Gold Bug, a 1911 Overland, a 1920 Detroit Electric, a ’57 Golden Hawk, a Studebaker Darrin, and many others. He says it’s hard to to keep track sometimes.Quam stores his cars in two garages in Ames, and one garage in Roland. His prize car is a 1936 Pierce Arrow. Only five were manufactured that year.