Sawyer Car Show draws a big crowd
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. >> Thousands of spectators young and old on Sunday traveled back to a time when styling and horsepower were king to motorists and automakers, and gas mileage and emissions were mere afterthoughts.
In the village of Saugerties, Main and Partition streets, a portion of Market Street and nearby parking lots were filled with classic cars and muscle cars from the big three Detroit nameplates — GM, Ford and Chrysler — along with some exotic classic imports like Jaguars and retro-styled, high-tech modern muscle cars.
A massive red 1976 Cadillac El Dorado convertible, owned by Charlie Davis of West Shokan, was less about racing and more about style and status.
The land yacht is 24 feet long and features a massive 500-cubic-inch engine with a four-barrel carburetor and a then-revolutionary front-wheel drive layout when most cars were rearwheel drive, Davis said.
As for gas mileage, Davis said it averages about five or six miles per gallon.
Davis admitted he avoids taking it on a trip of any length because the gas would be just too expensive. “I drive it about 200 miles a year,” he said.
Davis said he entertained three or four offers for it, including one by an Uptown Kingston psychologist who offered to make Davis a trade involving a 1979 Corvette.
Tucked among the many high-horsepower muscle cars like Plymouth Roadrunners and Dodge Chargers and hot rods were cars from the infancy of the automobile age, developed by industry pioneers like Walter P. Chrysler and the Dodge brothers, who gave Fiat-Chrysler’s modern-day Dodge Division its name.
They include a 1924 Dodge Brothers Touring Car, owned by Ryan Arold, who said he has always loved cars and purchased the vintage Dodge at an estate auction.
The car, parked on Partition Street, featured black bench seats that resembled more those of a horse and buggy than of a modern car.
Perhaps enjoying the car even more than Arold himself were his sons, Ryan, 6, and Aiden, 2, who took turns honking the horn which made the “aaoogah!” sound reminiscent of old films and cartoons.
Arold estimated the car has 20-something horsepower and that its speed tops out at about 35 mph — pretty good for its day.
In the parking lot of a small convenience store at Market and Main streets was a 1926 Dodge race car owned by Rudy LaBounty, who lives just around the corner on Elm Street.
LaBounty said the race car featured a 12-volt electrical system that is standard today, but was then revolutionary.
But it lacked modern features, like a fuel pump. It also lacks other features drivers take for granted, like hydraulic brakes on all four wheels, LaBounty added. And it lacks even the kind of safety restraints found on a go-kart at a miniature golf course.
The driver’s only protection was a leather helmet and goggles, LaBounty said.
Instead, it features simpler mechanical brakes only on the rear wheels. The brake pedal is only for light braking; a lever on the driver’s left side takes care of heavier braking during a race, LaBounty said.
But the car’s four-cylinder engine generates around 35 horsepower, enough to take it up to just over 40 mph, although LaBounty has no plans to ever drive it that fast.
Horace and John Dodge were true automotive pioneers, helping to build engines and transmissions for Henry Ford before they struck out on their own, LaBounty said.