Charity car show about more than flash

AJC Creepers Club Cup goes to Cornelia man with 1933 Ford coupe.

Mike Garrett drove home to Cornelia with the first AJC Creepers Club Cup riding shotgun Saturday.

That made his black 1933 Ford coupe different from the 300 classic cars in the parking lot of Jim R. Miller Park in Marietta for the Creepers Car Club’s Fun Run event, which benefits children’s charities.

Garrett strolled up to get his award as Todd Duncan, a senior editor with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, explained that the newspaper was giving the award to not the flashiest or oldest car, but the most solid.

”It is a total shock . ... I never suspected I’d win something like this,” said Garrett, 75. Car restoration became his main hobby 28 years ago after retiring as Clarksville’s postmaster general.

The Creepers Car Club started in August 1960 in Smyrna for folks to gather around their shared interest of show cars and drag racing, said Greg Grier, chairman of the show.

“Creepers” are those sliding devices used to get underneath a car and as instruments of comedic timing in road trip movies.

Grier said Saturday’s event was the club’s 27th Fun Run show, all proceeds of which will benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Children’s Miracle Network and Special Olympics Cobb County.

Grier said the day was more about old friends chatting and catching up than pistons and gears.

“The cars are an accent to what’s going on,” he said.

There were vehicles almost twice as old as the 55-yearold Canton man and then there were Lamborghinis.

”This is tops ... one of the better shows the Creepers ever had,” said Doug Moore, 60.

He described himself as an automotive fan since he was a kid — “carring from the get-go.”

Moore drove from Dalton to check out the cars, which sat side-by-side and in no particular order, different shades of rust next to freshly waxed paint jobs that blinded in the afternoon sun.

Tracy Moss has seen both sides of that equation with his 1971 Chevrolet K10 pickup truck. The 53-year-old Austell native described his truck as a “rolling basket case” when he got it 10 years ago. He proudly described the five years of work it took to get that truck to the event Saturday. And he has no intention of slowing down.

”I’ll be working on something when I die,” he said.

CHAD RHYM / CHAD.RHYM@AJC.COM Mike Garrett won the first AJC Creepers Club Cup on Saturday. His 1933 Ford coupe was honored as the most solid car at the Marietta event. Hundreds of car lovers and 300 classic cars were on hand for the children’s charity benefit.

CHAD RHYM / CHAD.RHYM@AJC.COM Hundreds of classic cars and trucks were on display at the Creepers Car Club’s Fun Run at Jim R. Miller Park in Marietta. The Saturday event included music, food and a swap meet. Creepers are the rolling devices that allow car enthusiasts to slide...