From garages, from under tarps, from driveways across South
Valley they came. They put up barricades, shut down the main drag,
brought police patrols and volunteers for them. And then the people
flocked
– curious, judging, fawning over some of the hottest cars in the
region.
BY Perry Shirley staff writer
Gilroy – From garages, from under tarps, from driveways across South Valley they came. They put up barricades, shut down the main drag, brought police patrols and volunteers for them. And then the people flocked – curious, judging, fawning over some of the hottest cars in the region.
The Seventh Annual Garlic City Fun Run featured roughly 300 display cars and drew an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 car enthusiasts downtown, said Steve Ashford, a downtown Gilroy business owner who sits on the board of directors of the Gilroy Downtown Association, which sponsored the show, and one of the founders of the event.
Up to the task, the custom cars glimmered, shimmied and, if you were lucky, roared alive Saturday afternoon. There were hundreds of them, a consortium of the best in hot rods, lowriders, classics, roadsters and ultra-customized “frankencars” brought by private car owners for the biggest such show the year has to offer.
Of course, the show also kicked of Garlic festivities. A truck from Christopher Ranch – the largest local garlic grower – loomed large behind the music stage which rotated three bands. The giant metal Garlic Bulb was lit at dusk by Garlic Festival president Judy Lazarus. It won’t be extinguished until the close of festivities on July 29. Garlic fries – the biggest culinary novelty of the festival was also unveiled at a Gourmet Alley booth and Ashford said the baskets sold briskly.
“They’re happy with the formula and ready for the festival,” he said.
With the completion of a major streetscape project, adding wide sidewalks for pedestrians, merchants along the main drag benefited from the voluminous foot traffic. “The bowling alley was packed and Sue’s coffee shop was swamped,” Ashford said.
While cars were the main draw, enthusiasts were treated to the sounds of Elvis – not the original but good enough to gyrate more than a few hips – the “Four of Hearts” and the “Cocktail Monkeys,” a two-time winner of last-band-standing competition in Santa Cruz County.
“The music was good – it kind of reminded us of Hot August Nights in Reno,” said Carl Epolite, a long-time classic car enthusiast and former president of the Santa Clara Valley Thunderbird Club. “It was organized very well. It was their best show yet.”
Saturday Epolite showed his 1966 Ford Mustang, while last year he and his wife showed her 1955 T-bird. With the care and expense of restoring vintage automobiles, Epolite said he was particularly impressed with the reserved parking spots organizers provided car owners, making entering and leaving orchestrated and dent free.
About the only thing that outnumbered cars were people – lots of people.
“I went up on a scissor lift and looked down from Third Street to Sixth Street and it was packed,” Ashford said.
People doning 50s-era greased-back hair and thick sideburns meandered down the newly widened Monterey Street, while others were content to kick back in lawn chairs and take in a breezy summer day. There were heaps of young men ogling four-wheeled machinery while less-interested girlfriends followed behind.
The conversations were often cryptic to the untrained ear with numbers such as “58,” “46” and “72” thrown around. But to the car-savvy, these model dates deserved nods of approval, exclamations and sometime heated debates. One could see bonds being created over such talk – a father pointing to a ’68 Chevy Impala and sharing his excitement with his young son.
It was far and away an afternoon full of statements. Some vehicles screamed “badass,” a term often thrown around on Saturday. Few deserved this like Lynn Curtis’ fierce 1969 Pontiac Firebird decked out in a threatening matte-black finish to contrast the glistening silver-and-black oversized wheels. The car had few adornments and no pinstriping but all the gusto of a stunt driver’s ride.
“Proud to be American” was proudly displayed on Larry Tate’s 1923 Ford Bucket T Roadster, an understatement to be sure. The car was a mass of shiny machinery in front and, behind that, a cab painted with two waving American flags beneath a depiction of 9/11 firemen raising a flag post on one side of the car and on the other a depiction of Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima. Tate sat a few feet away in a folding chair upholstered with the stars and stripes.
Perry Shirley is a news intern and currently attending San Francisco State University. He can be reached at (408) 846-6452 or ps******@**********rs.com.
