Crowd comes out for day of auto erotica

LIMA - To the uninitiated, they are big chunks of steel and rubber designed to get one from point A to point B. But to Frank Padillo and the hundreds of others attending Saturday's Real Wheels Cruise-In, the classic cars they came out to see are high art with a chrome finish.

"They're jut beautiful, that's all there is to it. Each one is different and beautiful in its own way," said Padillo, sounding a touch too much like a father describing his kids.

To the 200 or so owners who brought their cars out for the annual show, the cars are their babies. And just like babies, they require hours of love and attention if they're going to eventually amount to anything.

"I brought her home in a basket. It took about two years to get it like this," said Gary Allen, standing beside his immaculate '66 Corvette Roadster, complete with a 300-horsepower, 327 engine, factory side exhaust, teak wood steering wheel and, perhaps most importantly, white leather interior.

"They made just 612 with the white interior," Allen said, proudly.

Allen bought his baby from an Elida man back in 1999, He and his wife now drive it a couple hundred miles a year, mostly to car shows where they can sit and swap stories with the other drivers.

Saturday's event had its share of stories. Like the tale of Phillip Compton's 1971 Cadillac Deville. As the story goes, then-New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller had always been a loyal Ford man until the day he got into a quarrel with the Ford family. He contacted Cadillac to custom-build a four-door convertible Deville. Eventually, it wound up in Compton's possession.

Not all the stories feature historic figures. In fact, the best of them tend to be about friends and neighbors brought together by a mutual love of classics. Al Willis's 1952 MG-TD kit car has one of those stories. He and his neighbor, Steve Hampton, spent one and a half years customizing the car, complete with a 200-horsepower Volkswagen engine. They dreamed of getting it ready to show, but Hampton, suffering from terminal kidney disease, didn't live long enough to see it happen.

"I'd come home at night and see the lights on in his garage. He'd say he couldn't sleep, so he'd go out and work on it," Willis said. "I told him we'd show it, but he died in April. But here it is. We're showing it."

This year's show drew larger crowds than in past years, said Bill Clinger, marketing director for The Lima News, which, along with Happy Daz, Rays, Tom Ahl and Superior Federal Credit Union, sponsored the cruise-in.

"I think we had a lot of new people this year. I know we only had about 10 spaces left for cars, and the crowd is certainly bigger," Clinger said.

The event doubles as a photo shoot for the Reel Wheels feature that appears every Friday in The Lima News. Pictures and information about the cars will appear weekly in the feature.

"We love to showcase the cars, and this also gives us the chance to take pictures for the Real Wheels feature. It's a nice community service, and it gives us a chance to keep featuring the cars all year," Clinger said.

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Best of Show

Kevin Clark, Delphos - 1969 Chevy Camaro SS 396

People's Choice

Denny Mault, Elida - 1970 SS Camaro

Mustang Division

Gerald Picker, Lima - 1966 Mustang Convertible

Jamie Park, Ada - 1972 Mustang Mach 1

Bob Tarr, Ada - 1967 Mustang Fastback

Corvette Division

Dennis and Ruth Ann Shaw, Lima - 1966 Corvette Stingray

Vicky Allen, Lima - 1965 Corvette Roaster

Shelby and Karen Jordan, Lima - 1998 Corvette Convertible

Open Division

1970 and newer

1. Troy Malsam, Columbus Grove - 1970 Olds 442

2. Randy Shroyer, Lima - 1971 Ford Ranchero

3. Dave McCray, Lima - 1987 Buick Grand National

1969 and older

1. Kevin Clark, Delphos - 1969 Chevy Camaro SS 396

2. Gary Allen, Elida - 1969 Chevy Camaro SS 396

3. Ron and Mary Lou Niemeyer, Fort Jennings - 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air