10 minute read
Considering the Classics
Over a 10-month period, Sheffield’s Karl Wollerman impressively turned an ordinary Ford Torino into the famous ‘70’s law enforcement muscle car from the Starsky and Hutch television show.
Car shows let locals showcase their vehicles from another era
Story and photos by David Cook
Classic cars find their caretakers through a variety of ways, but one phrase heard repeatedly from owners during a recent show illuminated the most common origin — “Well, my dad…”.
That “dad” helped spark so many initial automotive journeys shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but fathers seem to play an important role in developing a lifelong interest in cool cars. If dad loved them, there’s a good chance his offspring will as well.
Hennepin’s Fourth of July car show, part of the village’s weekend-long celebration, was the perfect place to find a variety of cars and owners from the Illinois Valley. Vehicles on display included the classic and modern, the original and modified, the restored and unrestored, American and European, historic military, motorcycles, bicycles, and since we’re in the Midwest, a few tractors.
THE OWNERS
Some owners have been parking classics in their garage all their lives while others are chasing a memory, the feeling of being younger and behind the wheel of dad’s car, or maybe it was the first one they could call their own.
“It’s a time machine. It brings you back in time to the feeling of when you first saw one, and it makes you think of the people you were with back then,” Steve Thompson of Granville said.
Thompson was driving a brilliantly orange 1969 Pontiac GTO and added he had nine other classics at home in
Princeton’s Jim Rahn was more than happy to hop in his classic Jag at a recent car show and fire the engine for appreciative bystanders.
While some owners prefer to trailer their classics to a car show, many prefer to get there the way they were intended, by driving them, as this sign indicates. It’s not easy to keep an engine bay this spotless, and there are also the exterior, interior, and undercarriage to worry about. Cleaning is one challenge to owning a classic car to which all owners can relate.
what must surely be a colorful garage. His love of Pontiacs was inherited.
“My dad worked at Pontiac in Pontiac, Michigan, and I remember meeting John DeLorean,” he said.
Other owners parted ways with their special car when they started families, and there are also those who’ve wanted their dream car since seeing one somewhere as a kid.
“I’ve wanted this car since I was 16. I’m so happy to have it now and I absolutely love driving it whenever I can,” Jim Rahn of Princeton said about his black 1970 Jaguar E-type, a car that’s always in the discussion of most beautifully designed automobiles.
There’s no shortage of those who sold in their youth what was to later become a highly desirable collectible, but it’s just as likely to be a less distinctive and much more affordable model. Many times, they come to regret these decisions later in life, but once the kids are grown and gone and the mortgage is paid off, those decisions may be more easily reversed. Owners are as varied as the cars that filled the shady Hennepin park.
Magnolia’s Jim and Sharon Gallup arrived at the show in a gorgeous 1940 Ford Coupe that had recently undergone a six-year restoration. Owned for 25 years, Jim said he’d wanted one since grade school and that his dad had driven one.
After being asked what his ultimate fantasy car would be, Jim pointed to his Ford and said, “This one right here, you can’t get any better than a ‘40 Ford.”
All the owners spoken to at the show said they enjoyed gathering with other owners and agreed that everyone
See CARS page 17
Jim Winslow drove from Toulon for the Hennepin 4th of July car show in his 1965 Pontiac.
Steve Thompson’s ‘69 GTO is powered by a 496-cubic-inch Pontiac engine. Thompson’s resto-mod also has plenty of power available for cruising.
Rudy Svadbik of Princeton has been around old cars his whole life, and his dad owned a body shop and gas station. His first car was a 1951 Mercury, a highly desirable model now. “They were just cars then, nothing special,” he said. He’s currently driving a 1963 Plymouth Valiant and has plans to paint it after restoring the interior and making some mechanical repairs. “This is a peppy little car. It starts right up, there’s lots of room, and it feels like a big car,” he said.
Historic military vehicles are a common sight at car shows, but they still manage to stand out with their olive drab paint despite being parked amongst the many wildly colored classics. Vintage bicycles and motorcycles are also commonly seen at an average car show.
Cars
FROM PAGE 15
has their own tastes when it comes to cars. Most also acknowledged a challenge familiar to anyone who has ever owned a high-profile car – keeping them clean, a never-ending process.
“People always want to touch them,” Gallup said of the serious breach of etiquette in the car world as he polished the Ford’s shapely fender in preparation for the show.
He also offered advice for anyone looking to buy their first classic car.
“Buy one that’s already done and restored. Restoration is a lot of work, takes a lot of time, and you’ll never get the money you put into it back out of it,” he said.
It was a sentiment shared by a few other owners, but many advocated the “learn and do it yourself” approach. Regardless of which is chosen, owning and maintaining a classic car takes time and money; the effort involved truly has to be a labor of love for the car.
THE CARS
There are a seemingly endless number of ways to categorize collectible vehicles, but there are a few that stand out at any show and which may be easily overlooked when first considering buying a classic.
The first is military vehicles. Driving something like a WWII Jeep allows those with an appreciation of history to combine that with their love of old cars. These vehicles are common sights along parade routes.
The second would be the celebrity car, a recognizable vehicle featured in a movie or television show. While the actual vehicle that appeared in a movie or show can be had, they’re often in museums or terribly expensive. An example on the extreme end of this subject would be the original 1966 Batmobile, which sold at auction for $4.6 million in 2013.
There are businesses now specializing in recreating a number of the most popular movie cars, and there are also large fan groups that routinely organize meet-ups.,However, there are much more affordable ways to drive a celebrity car. Buying a regular version in another color and restoring it as an homage to the original can result in a vehicle that draws far more interest from spectators than it would otherwise.
Karl Wollerman of Sheffield arrived at the Hennepin car show in a 1976 Ford Gran Torino that had undergone a transformation to look like the famously red and white car featured in the popular ‘70’s detective show ‘Starsky and Hutch.’
“Ten months ago, it was blue, dented, and rusty, but I’ve always wanted the ‘Starsky and Hutch’ car. I did most of the work myself and was even able to track down the correct police equipment for it and managed to get it in one complete set,” Wollerman said as the vintage red police light slowly revolved on the roof.
If considering purchasing a classic car, most of the owners interviewed advised that it’s in your best interest to do your research and know as much about your dream car as possible. If you’re mechanically minded, another benefit is you might be able to do some, most, or even all of the work yourself. In a somewhat ironic twist of new car owners not being able to work on their cars themselves because of advancing technology, a few owners of classics mentioned difficulty in finding mechanics willing to work on their older cars.
“You can easily bite off more than you can chew. Pay as much as you can afford and know that nothing is cheap. But, find what you like, take it home and love it,” Rahn said.
He added that he hopes enough members of younger generations start to appreciate classic cars and become willing to care for them when it’s their time.
“I’m just the caretaker,” he said.
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