A Roll Down Memory Lane : Vintage Car Lovers Showcase Classic Chevys, From Corvettes to Nomads
Flames 20 feet high spewed from a 1955 Chevrolet in a Northridge parking lot Sunday, sending a crowd into a frenzy. It was a blast from the past.
At the 13th annual Car Show for the Classic Chevys of Southern California, the flame-belching hot rod was but one of 215 souped-up and pampered autos on display. Among them: a 1933 black Chevy coupe with red rims, a green-and-white 1956 Chevy Nomad, and a 1976 magenta Chevrolet Corvette.
For many, the cars parked with great care outside the Price Club and Cruisers Car Wash on Tampa Avenue brought back fond memories.
“All the moms and dads can relate to this,” said car owner George (Hollywood) Tuers, 50. “We can remember when we had our first dates in cars like these.”
Chatsworth resident Bob DeLeo, one of several hundred who attended the show, agreed. “I’ve had my share of Chevys,” said DeLeo, 47. “I don’t think they’ll ever make classics like these again.”
But the cost of such memories is not cheap. Tuers, a movie prop manager from Simi Valley, displayed a 1955 Nomad he rescued from a friend’s back yard before it could be chopped up.
Three years and nearly $200,000 later, it is a supercharged, alcohol-burning, 427-cubic-inch rear-engine machine that does more than just sit on display. “It can reach 140 m.p.h. doing a quarter-mile on its rear wheels,” Tuers said. “In Bakersfield and other local racetracks, they call it the weed abatement crew because the sparks and flames can start fires all the way down the track.”
Part of being in a car club like the Classic Chevys of Southern California is putting your money where your mouth is. Tuers is no exception. So as a crowd of onlookers covered their ears, Tuers cranked up the engine and flames burst forth like a back-yard barbecue gone awry.
Moments later, a fire engine drove by and Tuers smiled at the firefighters on board.
Other cars didn’t rely on flames, but ignited passions nonetheless. Velvet-coated rumble seats were everywhere, but none outdid Vito Pace’s 1966 Cobra stretch limousine with four custom bucket back seats and a 24-speaker sound system that could make Dolby designers blush.
Even its length--21 feet, 10 inches--is no obstacle to finding a spot to smooch.
“We have no problem with parking,” said Isaac Goren of Woodland Hills, the sound system’s designer. “We went to park it at the Burbank Airport recently and the police moved all the cars so we could put it in front of the terminal. Then the cops had one guy who stood there and watched it for us while we went inside.”
At least one visitor thought that investing so much in a car was a bit of a stretch. “Boy, this is a sign of somebody having too much money, “ said the man as he sized up the Cobra limo.
Pace’s efforts were rewarded, however, with a first-place trophy for best special interest car. Another trophy went posthumously to David Israel, the owner of Cruisers Car Wash, who helped bring the car show to the San Fernando Valley for the first time this decade, organizers said. Israel died last week in an off-road-vehicle accident.
“He gave us a place to go in the Valley when no one wanted us,” said Vicki Silverman, 34, of Chatsworth.
If Sunday was any indication, it won’t be the last classic car show in the Valley, either. Some used the day to pass their appreciation for the classics on to a new generation.
Fred Witherspoon of Northridge ran home to pick up his 10-year-old daughter, Courtney. “I came here to get my car washed and saw all these cars,” said Witherspoon. “Now that she’s here, she’s ready to pick one out and go home.”
