Film buffs sit snugly in cars watching a drive-in movie, munching popcorn on a lovely recent fall night.

Michelle Hutson, 52, has been coming to the Family Drive-In since childhood, enjoying what is now a dying form of quintessentially American entertainment.

With a sigh, she notes she might soon see the last picture show as the nearly 70-year-old outdoor theater — one of the few remaining drive-ins in the Washington area — is on its way out, too.

“I’m about to be a grandma again for the second time. And it’s heartbreaking to know that she may not be able to experience that,” Hutson said.

The owners of the land under the Family Drive-In announced a few months ago they want to sell it, asking $1.5 million, said theater owner Andrew Thomas.

If he bought the land at that price, it would mean a mortgage payment three times what he pays now in rent, Thomas told AFP.

“It’s just not feasible for the business.”

He launched a crowd-funding drive last month to save the theater and so far has raised around $30,000.

“It’s overwhelming, in such a good way, that people care that much. Even in times of economic uncertainty, it means that this is a thing for them that’s worth saving, and I agree with them,” he said.

“We have an opportunity to preserve a piece of history,” said the 40-year-old.

Drive-in theaters are a throwback to another era in a country where cars are king. In their heyday in the 1950s there were more than 4,000 in America — but now only 300 or so remain, said Gary Rhodes, a movie historian.

They have died off because more people watch television at home and urban development has made the land needed for a drive-in theater very expensive, Rhodes said.