Memory Lane : Simi Valley Days: More than 80 vehicles, some classics, are displayed for car buffs. Chili cook-off is also part of the fun.

For Richard and Linda Meister, the car show kicking off the annual Simi Valley Days festival Saturday was a chance to journey back in time.

Gazing at a majestic 1955 Chevy two-door hardtop, the middle-aged couple reminisced about cruising through town during their late teens and early 20s in Richard’s first ride ever--a red-and-cream version of the same car.

“That was a good little car,” recalled Richard, peering inside the exposed engine of the shiny turquoise classic. “I used to have one. . . . We used to go out riding around.”

Said Linda, with a hint of pride: “I was the first girl to drive in his car.”

Visitors gawked at, rubbed and even sat in some of the more than 80 vehicles displayed in the open car show, held along with a chili cook-off and crafts show on the lot of the Simi Valley Drive-In.

Simi Valley Days also offered a horse show, train depot tours and a barn dance Saturday. The events, held at various sites throughout Simi Valley, end next Sunday with the close of a carnival and rodeo.

Proceeds from the chili cook-off and car show--sponsored by the Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise--will be donated to local charities, especially to those helping children, cook-off spokeswoman Michelle Foster said. Last year, she said, the event raised $5,200 for charities. This year, she said, with added corporate sponsorship, the group is hoping for $7,000.

Organizers estimated that the turnout for the cook-off and car show Saturday surpassed last year’s attendance of 4,000.

With their reflections visible in the smooth curves of the 1955 Chevy, the Meisters talked about Richard’s loud, rumbling Chevy and the Illinois town where they lived.

“That car sat out in 25 below zero (weather) and it would start,” Richard said. “Those are good little engines.”

The Simi Valley couple said Richard, now 53, installed a glass-pack muffler in his used ’55 Chevy. The special fiberglass muffler helped the sizable car belt out a vicious roar whenever Richard wanted one.

“They made a little bit louder noise in those days,” Richard said. “It sounded like a backfire.”

Ivan Delman, the car show’s chairman as well as a car aficionado and onetime professional racer, said Saturday’s show was open to all types of vehicles.

Vehicles ranged from classics such as a 1926 Ford T-Bucket--which Delman said “looks like a bathtub with four wheels and a big Chevy engine”--to a 1957 Seagrave Fire Engine to the Quick Silver team of modern-day motorcycles that can reach 170 m.p.h. and are used for drag-racing.

The cars are not judged by professionals but by the audience, he said. The purpose of the 4-year-old show is to entertain and educate, he added.

“This is different than the normal classic car show because there are so many different types of cars here and there are no limits,” Delman said. “This is a show judged by chili-eaters and car buffs.”

Car owners said they just enjoyed the chance to talk about and show off their spiffy mechanical wonders.

“They want to touch,” said Lillie Fischer, 52, as she and her husband, Gary, stood near their 1926 Ford Model T. “Basically, I think a lot of them want to ride.”

Beside the humongous Fire Truck 41, displayed by the Ventura County Fire Department, 13-year-old Kin Bates gawked upward.

“I like looking at the designs and different ways the engines are put together,” the Simi Valley boy said.