ARMA, Kan. — Today marks the end of an era — at least for the vehicles that have gleamed for a decade behind the spotless glass windows of Scotty’s Classic Cars museum on Highway 69 in Arma.

Today, Scotty and Phyllis Bitner will be the hosts for an open house for those who want to take one last peak at their shiny blue 1966 Chevy truck or admire a soft-green LeMans convertible from 1972, the last year Pontiac produced the model, or have a picture taken next to a 1956 pink Ford Thunderbird with whitewall tires.

Then, the Bitners will get down to the business of packing up a large collection of classic car memorabilia that spans most of Scotty’s adult life.

The cars have held center court for 11 years on the museum’s red and white-checkered floor, surrounded by walls of small-car models displayed in glass cases and neon signs from days gone by. Standing at attention around the room are vintage gas pumps, lubesters, antique bicycles and children’s pedal cars.

Earlier this week, they sold everything but the classic cars themselves to Dick Burdick, a native of Webb City, who in 1980 founded the 40,000-square-foot Central Texas Museum of Automotive History southeast of Austin.

Parting with the collection is bittersweet: To Scotty, each piece is special and comes with fond memories. But he’s happy they were purchased as a group and will be on display in a museum setting.

“It’s time to quit while everything is intact and everything is good,” he said. “You pour your whole life into something and you want to know it’s going somewhere where someone will take care of it.”

Remaining in their possession for now are the Chevy, the LeMans, and the Thunderbird, as well as a black 1930 Model A, a creamy yellow 1951 Ford hard-top two-door sedan, a 1962 Ford Galaxie convertible, a blue and white 1957 Ford Fairlane with retractable hard top, and a red replica Bugatti race car made from a kit.

But the Bitners intend to sell even the cars, their house, and the 4,800-square-foot building in coming months.

Scotty’s fascination with cars began when he was young: His dad, Joe, was a mechanic who built and raced cars, and Scotty grew up learning the craft. As a teen, Scotty worked after school cleaning cars for Bill Lemon at his shop at Fourth and Locust.

In 1973, Scotty began his own car business at 804 E. Fourth, then moved to 1018 N. Broadway a year later. When he retired in 1998, he handed over the keys to his son, Mike, who still owns the business today.

But Scotty couldn’t give up cars completely, and in 1999 opened his classic car museum free and open to the public.

“I’ve been around cars all my life; it’s all I know,” he said. “I love the colors, the chrome.”

Phyllis’ fascination was with the museum’s memorabilia, the mannequins in period clothing — like the one that wears Scotty’s old racing uniform from his days at the old 69 Speedway — and the archives of historic photographs and clippings documenting the items in the collection.

She also has enjoyed traveling with Scotty to look for new items.

But Scotty had a stroke in August, and the museum has been closed while the couple discussed what to do.

“I decided to send out a story about it to some national car magazines, and the phone started ringing off the wall. We hadn’t anticipated that, but we got an immediate offer,” said Phyllis.

Earlier this week, an e-mail and photo exchange between the Bitners and the curator of the Texas museum resulted in a quick deal.

The first car Burdick walked in and spotted was Scotty’s pride and joy: A 1938 red Ford convertible that’s one of just five in existence, according to the Bitners.

Scotty was born in 1938, and had a special affection for the car he spent 30-some years driving and 10 years restoring. “It was hard to let go.”

Burdick hadn’t anticipated buying a car on the visit, so he bought the Bitner’s car hauler in order to take the Ford home.

“It happened so quickly, we didn’t have time to think,” Phyllis said. “They want to have our collection installed in time for a big car show in March, so I guess that made it much easier for us.”  

Burdick is interested not just in the couple’s items, but those car stories, too, including photos and written records of where the items came from, who owned them, and anecdotes involving them.

Phyllis is planning on documenting them for him, like one of their favorite’s, the story of that shiny blue 1966 Chevy:

“Scott restored it, then one year we went out to eat in Joplin for Father’s Day, and we came back and the truck was stolen. He carried that truck key in his wallet for 10 years thinking we’d see it one day and that would prove he owned it,” recalled Phyllis.

Ten years and two weeks later, Scotty got his chance.

“Mike was on his way somewhere and saw it parked at a house, and just knew that was it,” she said. “It was 20 miles outside Pittsburg, and looked awful. They had driven it 33,000 miles and it was beat up. They even welded over the ID number. We should have just trashed it,” Phyllis said. “But Scott restored it again. It was a matter of principle.”

The Bitners said they will miss the collection, and Scotty admitted to the possibility of shedding a tear when it rolls down the road soon to Texas.

But now, said Phyllis, “we can take a trip to Texas every year to see it.”