The Fifth Annual Knights of Columbus Newport Beach Exotic Classic Car Show and Music Festival held on October 26 had its share of skeletons sitting in back seats, but they paled next to the 160-odd classic and contemporary cars in the parking lot next to Balboa Pier.
There were Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, and McLarens with million dollar price tags, but more important was the car owners’ pride and pleasure in their exotic and classic wheels and the stories they told about how they spread joy with their cars.
Volkswagen buff Gary Humphreys was talking about his 1958 Skyline VW bus with a model replica parked beside it.
“What’s the pleasure of being a VW guy?” he said. “Stories! Everyone has a VW story. When people see this, they say things like ‘I once went to Idaho for skiing in one of those.’ Sometimes, they give me too much information, like ‘I had my first kiss in one,’ and a lot of other things. There are always stories; it’s a people’s car. People look at it and it makes them happy. I get to spread joy with my car – it’s mine, and I drive it every day.”
And the model? “Kids love to play with it. They don’t mess around with the big car.”
Another VW was a strange, boxy-looking customized contraption sporting a windshield banner, saying “I’m Gorgeous Inside” with a row of aging tassels decorating the gull wing passenger door and calling itself a Boonie Bug.
“It was originally for camping,” explained owner Dave Meurs. “Plans were purchased from Popular Mechanics. It was their 1974 ‘cover car.’ The idea was that you off-roaded to the boonies in your bug for a good time, taking all the camping gear you wanted.”
Apart from pleasure, there was also owners’ pride in classics that included a bevy of ’57 T-Birds, a lineup of mid-century British sports cars (MG, Austin-Healey, Triumph), dozens of trucks, and several Cobras, that classic 1960s mating of a Ford V-8 and a British body, resulting in one of the all-time great street legal performance cars.
Dennis Ashbury’s pride and joy was his Cobra in mint condition. Interested? He’s offering it for $75,000 because “I want someone else to enjoy the pleasure of a Factory 5 Cobra. It’ll go 120 mph and gets six miles to the gallon, but if you can afford a Cobra, you can afford the gas.”
Frank Baney’s Yeakel Special Plymouth optimal dragster doesn’t look like a car at all, with its long frame nose and 2,500 hp 1957 Chrysler mill that burns micro methane fuel a gallon a minute. That’s just fine since it only has to cover a quarter mile, which it did in seven seconds in 1964 at 214 mph.
“It ran at all the racetracks in Southern California and once held seven records at a time,” Frank explained.
Then there was Mark Jovik’s 1958 Ford Fairlane Skyliner. With its articulated metal top, it wasn’t just one more Ford. “It’s one of the first hardtop convertibles ever built,” explained Jovik. “The top folds into the trunk; you press one button — it activates 10 relays and servos and the top goes up.”
Luggage space? Just a small compartment in the back but Ford considerately offered dedicated luggage to fit it, including that stylish 1950s icon, a hat box.
“I paid $28,000 eleven years ago,” said Mart. “They’re worth much more now.” A ’58 Skyliner is currently listed for $79,995 on the Internet.
Bob Minty’s 1929 Oldsmobile woody included two classic plates on the bumper: Hoover For President and Keep And Enforce Prohibition.
“It was originally a limousine ordered by a hotel near Pike’s Peak,” he explains. “They wanted something special, so they took off the metal frame and put in a wooden one. It was called a train station wagon. Later they were just called station wagons.”
Some long-ago details stood out: “You look inside the car, and you see the ash trays. These have a woman with outstretched arms on a green cross with the words ‘Prevent Forest Fires.’ They predate Smokey the Bear!”
He pointed to a prism-like gadget on the dashboard. “It’s called a traffic light finder. The sunshade blocks your view, so you see the sky, the ground and in the middle, the traffic light.”
Ralph Larison relaxed in the red upholstery of his white 1959 Cadillac, the one with the penultimate soaring tail fins. “I’ve owned it two years,” he said. “We also have a 1948 Ford woody and an all-original 1954 Corvette.”
His pleasure was “The joy of driving around, going to car shows, and meeting people.”
