Cars that we have known and loved:...

Cars that we have known and loved: the ’65 Chevy Biscayne that we were allowed to drive when we were 8 while sitting on our father’s lap. Deserted road, not an intersection in sight, pine trees slowly going by in twilight. We did a top speed of 15.

A ’58 Dodge, yellow with black door panels, that belonged to an uncle. He had a compass, the kind that floated in water, attached to the front dashboard.

Our friend Elmore’s black, ’59 Cadillac convertible, which he named Sir Roger. He kept a bottle of wax in the glove compartment, and we would go off together and find a shady spot and burn some elbow grease. Elmore thought that the physical act of waxing a car was the supreme moment in existence.

“It’s sorta like life,” he used to say. “Sometimes you don’t know what you want or where you wanna go. You’re in a haze. See the way that wax dries and leaves that white stuff? It’s hazy, get it? You can’t see the p’tential beauty underneath.”

We were surprised when he used the word potential. Elmore was full of surprises.

“But then,” he continued, “you put a lot of hard work and sweat into it and all your problems disappear. Life is smooth, clean.”

Elmore was more memorable than his Caddie, actually. His favorite TV show was “My Mother the Car.”

“Cars can’t talk,” we told him.

“Mine does,” he said.

What would Elmore make of the 11th annual Beverly Hills Car Show? He would take in the Rolls-Royces, the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Jaguars and Bentleys. And oooh and ahhh over silent-screen legend Rudolph Valentino’s 1923 Voisin, as well as the cars once driven by Bing Crosby, Joan Crawford and Roy Orbison.

And then he would say: “Nice. Don’t got nothing on Rog’, though.”

The car show will be held today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Beverly Hills High School, 241 Moreno Drive. Admission is $10 adults, $5 children under 12. For information, call (213) 657-4800.