Bug out

Downtown Surf City took on a vintage look Saturday.

Anywhere you looked down blocked-off Main Street or at a busy Pier Plaza, there, on display, were beauties of every sort, as classic beach-cruising cars gathered for the sixth annual Wavecrest Beachcruiser Meet.

There were Woodies and station wagons, sedans and Nomads, pickups and VW bugs, all types of beach vehicles manufactured through 1967. Their presence Saturday harkened back to how the pier area must have looked in the 1960s and ‘70s.

The vehicles, in fact, looked a little out of place, appearing against a backdrop of high-rise buildings and restaurants that were not common in Huntington Beach when the city was developing its image as Surf City nearly 40 years ago.

“This is how it looked down here back in the day,” said Bill Morehouse, a teacher at Huntington Beach High School for 31 years who has been associated with the meet for the past four years.

Morehouse, who also served as master of ceremonies for the event, brought along his turquoise 1974 VW bug, the one he drives to school every day.

He left his other classic car, a turquoise 1957 Nomad, at home, but he did bring along some students from the photography class he teaches to serve as volunteers for the day.

“This was a way of life around here,” Morehouse said, motioning toward poised and polished beach cruisers lined up at Pier Plaza. “The younger people who are out here checking out these classics today are getting an appreciation for the cruisers you used to see here at the beach all the time.”

Tom Long, who organizes the meet along with Morehouse, Bobby Jimenez and Joseph Alphabet, said that 320 cars were showcased Saturday ? 86 were parked on the thoroughfare down Main Street ? making it the largest beach-cruisers event yet in Surf City.

The first, six years ago, featured 105 cars, Long said.

Among the classics on display Saturday were 100 Woodies and, as Long noted, a rare gathering of a dozen or so Chevelle two-door wagons made in 1964 and 1965.

Cars entered in the meet came from as far as Arizona and Nevada, and 32 of the classics were awarded prizes at the end of the day. One enthusiast flew in from Rhode Island to take in the meet, Long said.

“Cars started lining up here by 5 a.m., looking to get a good spot on display,” Long said. “By 6:30 a.m., Main Street was solid with these cars.

“There’s a pretty broad range of classics here. You have the Woodies and wagons, but there also are Corvettes and T-Birds. It’s a real nice mix.”

Sitting first in line at the entrance to Pier Plaza was a 1947 Ford owned by Mark Lambooy of Ontario. Lambooy is the third owner of the car and possesses the original pink slip. He didn’t like the way the car handled when he purchased it four years ago, so he worked to keep the car’s “stock feel but incorporate modern conveniences.”

“It was an exercise in patience,” he said of retooling his first beach cruiser, which is painted a “homemade” shade of maroon with wood side-paneling and leather interior. “I have surfed most of my life, and when I’d come down here to the pier when I was younger, I’d see these classic beach cruisers, and fell in love. The hunt was on to find one someday.

“I let the people who come out to these shows touch it and sit in it. We take it out three or four times a month. I have a wife and three kids, and we enjoy the ride.”

A 1959 Ford Skyliner with retractable hard top, painted Colonial White, sat with a loaded food tray on the driver’s window, as though the car was enjoying a day out at the local drive-in malt shop. Wayne McCartney, 69, of Irvine, has owned the car for 16 years. It was a birthday gift from his wife, Shirley, in 1990.

McCartney said he had built a model of a Skyliner in the 1970s, and that getting the “real thing” as a gift came as a surprise.

The car holds particular sentimental value for him because it was manufactured on his wife’s birthday in the year that his son was born.

“I never asked her what she paid for it, but it sure was a beautiful birthday surprise,” said McCartney, who also owns such classic cars as a Bentley, Mercedes and two Mustangs, including a 1966 model of which he is the original owner.

“There are a lot of great stories behind a lot of these classic beach cruisers,” Long said. “These owners take great pride in keeping the tradition of these cars alive. It’s awesome to see so many of them lined up like this.”

One such classic, a 1950 Ford Woodie owned by Dan Arriola of Westminster, is getting a new lease on life or, as Arriola put it, is an “ongoing project.”

The wagon is an original Ford export to Mexico, where the car spent most of its life until Arriola found it on the Internet four years ago.

It sold for 29,000 pesos ? about $2,000, Arriola said. He purchased the car from the children of the car’s original owner.

“Since I have purchased the car, I’ve restored it part by part,” said Arriola, who also owns a 1951 Ford Woodie. He said that today, each car would sell for about $50,000.

“When I got this, the steering wheel was broken and I had to replace the door handles,” he said of the 1950 Ford, which was originally maroon but is now painted a pale yellow. “It had parts, but they were for the wrong car. The engine has been rebuilt, and I’ve replaced a few of the accessories, like the radio and clock.

“But it’s a fun hobby. One of these days, it’s going to look like the rest of the cars out here.”hbi.13-happs-1-CPhotoInfoUF1PST8N20060413ixmdm3ncPHOTOS BY DOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Jim Carter of Sacramento looks at a ’49 Mercury Woody owned by Pete Engel during the sixth Annual Wavecrest Huntington Beachcruiser Meet downtown. hbi.13-happs-screen-CPhotoInfoUF1PT17420060413ixmgtpncDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Passers-by view a line up of vintage vehicles during the 6th Annual Wavecrest Huntington Beachcruiser Meet in downtown Huntington Beach. hbi.13-happs-3-BPhotoInfoUF1PST5920060413ixmdmtncDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Brian Magnuson of Lake Forest looks at Chevrolet Chavelles. The meet open to all beach-cruising vehicles manufactured through 1967.