Perrysburg Township artist Ted McLaren is that luckiest of beings: He's able to combine two of the things he loves most and get paid for the finished product.

In his case, the love objects are painting and classic American cars.

Mr. McLaren makes a specialty of classic car art, and his work is attracting attention. He's had showings in Sylvania and Detroit.

His works have sold for $3,000 to $4,000 apiece.

"There are a lot of artists who paint automobiles, but some are photo-realistic. What I like about Ted's work is the painterly quality. He's not an illustrator," explained Scott Hudson, the owner of Hudson Gallery in Sylvania, where Mr. McLaren had a show last summer.

Mr. McLaren, 67, loves the chrome, fins, and flamboyance of the automotive icons of the 1950s and '60s and has done so since he was a boy growing up in Ontario, Canada.

Some of the favorites he has put on canvas, in no particular order, are the:

•1966 GTO.

•1965 Mustang.

•1957 Bel Air.

•1957 Chevy.

•1960 Corvette.

•1963 Galaxie.

•1958 Chevy.

•1969 GTO.

•1957 Cadillac.

•1958 Impala.

•1958 Fury known as "Christine," after the Stephen King novel and movie of the same title.

Mr. McLaren's technique is not to show the whole car but to capture enough of it so "if you're a car guy you'll see what you need to identify the model and year," he said.

This means his paintings depict a tail or grille. He works from a library of several hundred photos.

"He shows the part of the car that speaks to him," Mr. Hudson explained.

"He really brings out the nostalgia of the car. I've had people say it reminds them of their first date."

Mr. McLaren is a packaging design engineer by training and trade and is the holder of more than 40 packaging-related patents.

His packaging designs have been used by Pillsbury, Totino's, Tonka, and General Mills, to name a few.

While living in Minneapolis, he also did a stint as a designer and developer of homes.

He came to northwest Ohio to save a Toledo packaging company, Oracle Packaging, which made butter cartons.

In a 10-year process of turning it around, he became the owner, and sold the firm in 2000.

He stayed on as president of Oracle for five years, then retired.

"I was looking for something else to do, because my health was good," Mr. McLaren recalled.

He turned to painting, which he had been doing since age 10. An avid boater and sailor, he began turning out works with nautical themes. He also did Southwest scenes.

Then he turned to painting classic cars, developing his technique of rendering a part of the car on canvas.

He's done assignments for car dealers who put his paintings in their showrooms.

Mr. McLaren also had an exhibit this year at the Whitney Hotel in Detroit for the North American International Auto Show.

He also has juried shows coming up at the Pleiades Gallery in Manhattan and the Toledo Art Museum.

"I'm luckier than the average artist. I can afford to do this," he said. "But my hobby has turned into another career."

First Published May 7, 2008, 1:26 p.m.