Keeping ‘em Coming for a Refuel

They’ve been so busy with the Blessing of the Cars, they haven’t had time to work on their own hot rod. But Gabriel and Stephanie Baltierra, promoters of last Saturday’s event celebrating hot rods and custom classic cars, haven’t lost one bit of enthusiasm for the annual auto blessing, now in its sixth year.

Question: What prompted you to start the Blessing of the Cars?

Stephanie: The Catholics have a book of blessings. They’ll bless everything from strip malls to blenders! They read a little verse, put holy water on it, and it’s blessed. Being into cars our whole life, we thought it would be cool to have a show where we could have our cars blessed. Old cars need everything--whether it’s spit in the gas tank or blessing ‘em. You do whatever it takes to keep ‘em going, especially when you don’t have that $100,000-a-year mechanic.

Q: How has the show changed since it began in 1994?

Gabriel: I think the word has been spreading . . . the old timers who used to scoff at us now say it’s the coolest show.

Stephanie: We really stood by our vision for the show. We turned down money when it was offered to us because it would, in our opinion, damage the show. Even though the shows have gotten bigger, they haven’t been mainstreamed or commercialized. . . . Just good cars, good people and good music.

Q: Do you see the same cars coming back year after year?

Stephanie: There are a lot of people who have cars that started with us. They put something in it every year and bring them back.

Gabriel: . . . It doesn’t have to be a show car to be in our show. We’re open to works in progress.