AUTO SHOW
Car enthusiasts admire the classics
Corvettes, Mustangs, Chargers and Chevelles — classic vehicles were lined up Sunday at the Western New York Events Centre in Clarence for owners to show off their antiques.
And rising gas prices were the furthest thing from their minds.
More than 550 classics filled the lot for the 34th annual Tri-Five Western New York Car Club show. Most of the cars aren’t capable of reaching highway speed limits anymore, and many passersby called them “gas guzzlers.”
“But boy, don’t they look good. Of course these cars aren’t going to get anywhere near the gas mileage a Toyota Prius will these days, but that’s not why you buy them,” said Michael Landel, a 27-year-old classic car enthusiast. “The thing is, you don’t drive these cars for the gas mileage, not anyone I know here would be that stupid. We all buy these to repair them, to show them off.”
Gerry Hockin, 62, of Ontario, drove his 1950 Packard Station Sedan from his home in Canada, a 90-mile trek, he said, and could only carry a top speed of 55 mph.
Others were speeding by him at 75 to 80 mph , he said, and they would stare — not because of his slow speed, but because of the upkeep of his car.
He said he filled his tank before he left Ontario, but because of what he laughed off as “the worst gas mileage ratio,” he would refill before heading back.
“It’s awful on gas, maybe eight or nine miles to every gallon,” Hockin said. “It’s just brutal. The car’s probably about 5,500 pounds weight-wise, so it’s just a really heavy car. When it comes to an accident, I don’t even want to think of my beautiful car in that mess, but if it happened, it would win. That’s for sure.”
But as car enthusiasts gazed under hoods and snapped photos of their favorite models, there was one car everybody asked about: Diane Stauder’s 1926 black Ford Model T Coupe.
The 55-year-old Lockport resident set up a silent movie and ’20s music atop the passenger seat, but that, she said, is just to help visitors imagine what it was like in the car’s heyday.
She said car lovers really enjoy the design of the car and its wooden- spoke wheels, the last model made with such tires. The vehicle, Stauder said, is a challenge to drive with no gas gauge and a gravity-flow gas tank, which presents problems when driving uphill.
The one fact that turns most heads at car shows, she said, is not that she and the car are on the cover of a brochure for the Model Ford Club of America. It’s not even that she purchased it on eBay only three years ago.
It’s when she tells people what she wants to do with the car when she dies.
“I told my daughter that I don’t want to sell it, not even when I die,” Stauder whispered. “I want to be buried in it. They’ll have to buy me a double wide plot, but I’ve heard of this being done. I just couldn’t stand to part with this car. It’s a part of me.”
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