Cruisin’ for the love of cars

Young Chang

You know how sometimes you notice the coolest cars on the street?

The kind that look so vintage, so museum-piece, so toy-like that you

wonder how it even runs and why the owner ventures to be so risky as

to actually drive the thing?

The Orange County Fairgrounds courted 1,746 of them Saturday

during the Great Labor Day Car Cruise, put on by Orange County

Cruisin’ Assn. Parked, the cars looked like polished and waxed time

capsules. Blasts-to-the-pasts on wheels.

Each of the cars entered were pre-1972 American made, which meant

the fairgrounds became a haven for Fords, Chevys, Dodges and

Plymouths reminiscent of flat-top days. Volkswagens, Toyotas and

Hondas are not welcome at this three-day event, which ends Monday.

The vehicles were as old as a 1920s Model T Ford and as new as a

creation from the ‘70s. The average cost of each car was about

$70,000. Most were for show, though, and not for sale.

“These are big boys’ toys,” said Ruby Norris, a member of the

board of directors for the Cruisin’ Assn.

And like big boys --and big girls, as plenty of females made up

the populace of both those showing their cars and those just looking

-- the owners of the cars drove around the fairgrounds, hence the

“Cruisin” in the title.

Sometimes entire families sat in the back and front seats of their

fixed-up antiques and cruised at what seemed to be no faster than 20

miles per hour.

Rolling along to rock-and-roll from the ‘50s, the cars, in all

their metallic purple, periwinkle blue and fire-engine red glory,

resembled models on a runway.

Visitors and exhibitors came from around the country.

Bob and Terri Adams showed their indigo blue ’71 Nova. The car was

a high school graduation gift in 1971 for Terri Adams. Her husband

said they show their car and take care to fix it up because “it’s a

hobby” and because they like sharing with other car enthusiasts “all

the work you’ve done on it.”

Bob Stellrecht lounged in his folding chair while people regularly

peered into the engine of his 1936 Ford five-window coupe. The hood

opened the way bats lift their wings to reveal a Chevrolet motor and

Chevrolet transmission.

The top of his car was purple and the lower half was blue with

little flame designs near the front. The seats in this hot rod, which

Stellrecht explained was a car that had been modified and not kept in

its original state, were a lighter purple.

“It started life as a little 1936 Ford automobile,” he said of his

now very showy car. “Everyone tries to do something different.”

The car lover added that being at the show gives him the chance to

look at other cars, to share a camaraderie with perfect strangers who

happen to love what he loves, and to lounge the afternoon away while

“swapping stories and lying” with friends.

Lew and Jackie Storrer, who didn’t exhibit a car in the show but

who proudly boasted about Lew’s brother’s award-winning ’36 Ford

Cabriolet, said they plan to fix up a car at home.

“We’re trying to get inspired,” Jackie Storrer said.