2022 GRAFFITI
Once a Faro, Always a Faro Editor’s Note: This story originally ran in 2018.
A
car club, fraternity, or just a group of guys who wanted to hang out, whatever way you want to remember them, they will always be known as Faros. Cruising, dragging, looking for girls, beer, parties, community activities all were part of the experience of being a Faro back in the day. Although the “American Graffiti” movie gave the club some fame and was based on the actual Faros club in Modesto, the name of the club in the movie was Pharaohs. They were depicted as bad boys in the movie and some members believe the movie to be spot on with a few others not so much. Club member Joe Wylie said that there were two beginnings of the Faros. In 1957, Modesto High School students John Husband, Chuck Billington and a few others discussed the idea of a car club, creating the name Faros, the FRS crest and membership cards. Lasting about two weeks, the Dean of Boys at the school heard about this plan and nullified it with the warning that if they
James, Larry Baker, brothers Chris and Wayne Ludvickson, and Ron Goncalves. Billington informed the group that he had the 1957 membership cards with the name Faros on them so they decided to stay with that name and save a few
continued they would be expelled. Three years later in August 1960, seven guys collaborated on Edgebrook Drive in Modesto to make the original idea of the Faros a reality. The seven guys were: Wylie, Dennis Billington, Harry
By VIRGINIA STILL bucks. They had weekly meetings with about 20 to 25 guys in attendance in the early days. The club grew quickly with members added like Darrell Bailey, Daryl Weitl, Larry Landis, Larry Williams, Al Schaeffer, Harold Bowen, Jerry Jackman, Don Podesto, John VanNostrand, Jay Salter, Don Bradley, Rick Hudson, Adolf Mauksch, Steve Roberts, Johnny Mercer, Ron Pippin, Steve Martin, Bill Fliflet, and Bruce Schafer. To become a Faro, members had to vote you in and they had to go through an initiation that varied over the years. “Several early members soon went off to honor our country in Vietnam, some went away to college, and others married and started families,” said Wylie. “Membership required a 100 percent vote and on occasion, someone was not allowed membership by just one ‘no’ vote of a current Faro.” “In 1961 we had ‘FAROS MODESTO’ car plaques made and that started our transition from a fraternity to a car club,” added Bailey. “Most of us had cars and we didn’t do anything different but the plaques gave us a lot of notoriety.” “Cruising was a fun evening activity enjoyed by many when gasoline was less than 50 cents a
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