(FORTUNE Magazine) – It's an investment, you tell yourself as you plop down $14,000 for a 1962 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. Not so, says S. Prestley Blake, the retired chairman of Friendly Ice Cream, who owns more than a dozen. ''By the time you fix the car up, it will sink you. You don't do this to make money.'' Indeed, the resale value of an old Rolls-Royce trails other collectible cars, such as Ferraris, which have brought in big profits on the auction block in the past few years. But in August, 1,200 enthusiasts turned out anyway for the largest Rolls-Royce Owners' Club annual convention ever. Rolls-Royce loyalists point out that while many classic cars are collecting dust in garages, theirs are on the road. Says Blake: ''You wouldn't take out your Ferrari to drive two miles to a shopping center.'' Then again, would you park your 1910 Silver Ghost at the drive-in?