NEW YORK, NY.- Acting on a tip from an acquaintance, Cameron Luther uncovered a butterscotch yellow 1966 Porsche in a garage in Monterey, California. It was dusty and up on jack stands with the wheels off. It clearly hadn’t run in a long time.

The owner was a retired pilot, who is now 94, who had started a brake job a decade ago. Not restored, but beautifully preserved, it was exactly the kind of car that Luther had always wanted. The owner, however, was not keen on selling, but said that if Luther could get the car running and give him one last ride, he would sell it to him.

Luther spent the next two months commuting up to Monterey, five hours from his job in Santa Monica, to fix the Porsche. True to his word, the retired pilot consummated the deal, and late last year, at 23 years old, Luther became the owner of a 1966 Porsche 911.

In general, collectors are often attracted to the cars of their youth, the ones they wanted but could not afford. Cars from the “Fast & Furious” movies, video games like Forza and Gran Turismo and even dorm room posters appeal to many young car enthusiasts.

But a subset of millennial and Gen-Z car collectors have eschewed their own nostalgia and have aimed for the cars of their parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents. Citing the vehicles’ inherent simplicity, quality and charm, these collectors are acquiring the skills to keep these cars on the road and use them as their daily drivers.

Kyle Blake, 40, who works in the health care industry in Cumberland, Maryland, said he grew up in the back of a rumble seat of antique automobiles, going on tours and playing with old cars with his grandfather. But his fascination with vintage vehicles predates even his grandfather’s era.

Blake’s garage resembles a near century-old used-car lot. He owns a 1910 Hupmobile, 1914 Buick, 1920 Dodge Brothers, 1927 Ford Model TT pickup, two Ford Model A’s and a 1932 Dodge Brothers. His “new” cars are a 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450SE and a 1973 MGB.

The Ford pickup had not run in over 45 years when he bought it, in 2015, but he made a cheeky bet with his friends that he could get it running in an hour. It took an hour and a half, but it speaks to the simplicity and serviceability of these old cars.

“I’m fascinated by all of the diverse approaches to what was a developing technology,” he said. “Pedal functions and gear patterns had yet to be standardized, and there were so many different attempts at it before the manufacturers agreed on a standard. The excitement of driving, which includes wind, vibrations and in the case of my 1920 Dodge Brothers, the creaking of the wooden wheel spokes and body frame, gives you a horse-and-buggy sensation at a top speed of less than 50 mph.”

He said 1973 was a pivotal year for cars.

“After 1973, emission controls became very complex, and cars became far more difficult to work on with lots of vacuum lines and computers,” he said. “I prefer the simplicity of prewar cars.”

Blake is also doing his best to draw other young people to the old car hobby. In 2015, he organized a tour with about 30 people of the Lincoln Highway, an early transcontinental road, by an under-45 chapter of the Antique Automobile Club of America that he founded.

Tabetha Kanter, 36, an innkeeper in Arlington, Vermont, acquired her interest in vintage automobiles from her parents and grandparents when she was growing up in rural Colorado. She owns a 1973 Mini Cooper S, and a 1928 Packard convertible coupe, which is not restored and was bought from the daughter of the man who had owned it since the early 1960s.

“I find cars of the 1980s and 1990s are the beginning of the era when cars had just too much tech, and the driver was getting pushed more and more out of the equation,” Kanter said. “The totally analog driving experience of old cars is wonderful, everything from the feel of old-style bias-ply tires on the road, to shifting a transmission without synchromesh for the gears, is unique.”

Kanter said that she bought the Mini Cooper sight unseen in San Diego and then drove it back to Colorado, a trip of some 1,100 miles on mainly back roads, an impressive feat in a 50-year-old car that weighs about 1,450 pounds (featherweight, compared with the average contemporary car, which weighs around 4,000 pounds) and rolls on diminutive 10-inch wheels.

Like Kanter and Blake, Luther, who is a car specialist for the classic-car auction house Gooding & Co., also uses his vintage Porsche much as one would a modern car, for tours, rallies, errands and pleasure drives.

“While it’s not really fast by today’s standards, it’s more than powerful enough to keep up with modern traffic, and the brakes are safe and effective,” he said. “In addition to the mechanical simplicity and quality engineering,” its jewel-like gauges and wood steering wheel are gorgeous. “Unlike modern performance cars, you can experience most of the car’s capabilities at legal speeds, going through most of the gears and shifting at high revs, without endangering yourself or others.”

He has no intention of selling his prized car, which is worth about $100,000. The previous owner was well into his 40s when he began his 50-year journey with the car. Given that Luther acquired it young, his time behind the wheel could last up to the dawn of the next century, or at least past the vintage Porsche’s 100th birthday.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.