Well, I guess it's official, the troubled economy has finally hit the old car hobby. In an LA Times article last week, Glenn Patch announced that he is selling his '57 Heaven museum that is located in the **** Clark American Bandstand Theater and all of its classics from 1957.

The museum, with it's 66 cars, opened to the public less than three years ago, and includes an example of every convertible built in the U.S. during that year.

The asking price, a mere $17 million.

According to the article, (click here for entire article) ticket sales have fallen off by more than 50 percent over the last year.

Patch says that while he would prefer to sell of the entire museum rather than parting out his unbelievable collection, the reality is that the cars will most likely be sold at auction.

According to the LA Times, back in September, Patch, a wealthy car collector and real estate developer, gave employees the bad news.

Like Detroit itself, he says, "I'm looking for a bailout."

Ken Gross is quoted in the article as saying that finding a single buyer is highly unlikely.

"The fun of these cars is in the collecting and restoring," Gross says. "What can you do with these cars? You can't drive them. You can just look at them."

As for the $17-million price tag, Gross says Patch is "dreaming."

You can take a virtual tour of the museum HERE.

I, for one, kick myself for not stopping by and viewing the collection when I was down that way last year. And, despite the fact that the musuem is still open to the public (and potential buyers), I'm afraid that I won't be able to make it anytime soon.

In light of the current economic crunch, do any of you think that this collection will bring anywhere near the asking price?