Antiques and classics are beautiful sights. Cars from the 40s on tend to be much more driveable on today's roadways than anything built much earlier. It's so nice to hear about even older ones still being driven. It always makes me smile to have one on the road or to see others enjoying them.
In response to your surprise about the car care aspect:
Most people who have a great deal of money wrapped into an antique or classic don't necessarily subscribe to the same processes that many of us do as far as car care. Those who can afford them usually work(ed) long hours, dedicated to a career or a business that affords them a luxury item. They didn't usually have a career working on cars and having copious amounts of time to spend trying to keep them showroom.
Increasingly, the people who show such vehicles have someone else do the care for them (often, the restorations are done by someone else as well).
Also, many are afraid to do anything aggressive to the finish or other areas on such a vehicle for fear of ruining the originality.
Older finishes were much softer. Older generations of automobiles and their owners had different standards for care as well. People tended to see an older "survivor" vehicle as one that was lucky to have made it through without being rusted, crashed, or just dumped for something newer.
People, even if they did have the luxury of keeping an older vehicle, didn't because of the costs involved.
As a society, we have more wealth than we did in those days. Older generations who collected and kept such vehicles often did it out of respect or in the memory of a family member or close friend. The name of the game was usually frugality rather than for showing off or for a financial investment.
Even car care professionals of old had limited resources to do much to paint finishes. It was compound and glaze...in later years, car wax was developed and started to add some protection.
These people aren't the internet generation, either. They tend to spend their free time with spouses and families as well as business associates. A good hand wash and a loving coat of wax with hours spent hand polishing chrome usually completes the owner's work on such vehicles.
