The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
ANNUAL CRUISE-IN BRINGS A CROWD
Automotive aficionados gather to share love of classic cars
Over the last two decades, Mentor’s been giving motorheads and their families a place to participate in one of the holiest rites of automotive enthusiasm: the car show.
On Aug. 11, the city continued its tradition with what’s now known as the Mentor Cruise-In.
It has certainly grown over the years, according to its organizers. And it seems as though both organizers and participants couldn’t be happier about it.
“Yeah — we’ve been coming to this as long as I can remember,” said Mentor resident Burton Emig, who had his 1955 Ford Thunderbird on display during the event at Civic Center Park Aug. 11.
Emig said he’s got a few classic cars besides his TBird — a Chevrolet Corvette from 1965 and a 1975 Corvette — and he likes to mix it up each year, as far as what he brings to the show.
“I have the Thunderbird here this year,” he said. “But I like to change what I bring to different shows every year.”
Emig and his friends — those he’s known for years and those he meets at different car shows — enjoy an event like the one that played out in Mentor Aug. 11 because it’s not about having pristine machine that have never been driven.
Rather, he said, it’s about sharing a common
“It’s just a chance for everyone to get out, see something that’s maybe a little out of the ordinary...” — Mentor resident Burton Emig
interest, camaraderie and meeting friends, new and old, from all over Ohio and beyond.
“This is a really nice show,” he said. “It’s just a chance for everyone to get out, see something that’s maybe a little out of the ordinary and, also, if you’re looking to buy (a classic car), this is a really good place to do that. As you may have seen, many of them have “for sale” signs on them.”
Event Organizer Nick Standering, who normally wear’s Mentor’s Wildwood Cultural Center’s manager hat but enjoys helping at the helm of Mentor’s Cruise-In, said the camaraderie Emig described is a big part of what makes the event work so well and what keeps it growing year after year.
“Folks can come out and kind of reminisce,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for, maybe, grandfathers who can look at cars from the ‘30s and ‘40s that they may have had, themselves; dads, who had cars from the ‘50s and 60s and even their sons who — if they’re old enough — have maybe gotten into the newer-production-model muscle cars that are out now.”
So, he said, it’s a great place for automotive enthusiasts from various generations to gather and enjoy what they’re into, together.
Standering said the feedback he’s heard about the event has been pretty positive and he’d call it energetic, exciting and a great place for folks to see some of the muscle cars that have grown popular over the years.
Plus, he said, it’s a great place to introduce people of all generations to classic-car appreciation.
“It’s been a good event for all ages,” he said.
But don’t just take organizers’ words for it. Visitors and exhibitors love the show, as well.
Take Gina and Tom Reddy, for example.
Tom is a Chevrolet Corvair owner from Westlake who made a connection with one from Mentor-onthe-Lake who was looking for a part he had to sell — a common occurrence at a show like this.
Both he and wife, Gina, who said Aug. 11 was their first time visiting the Mentor Cruise-In, agreed it’s a worthwhile event.
“Oh, it’s great,” Tom said. “I think it’s a really nice crowd and a really nice atmosphere - and I like the cross-section (of cars) here.”
Both Cindy and Doug Daugherty from Mentoron-the Lake agreed.
The Daughertys wound up striking a deal with Tom on some Corvair parts he has to spare and said they like meeting people, at car shows like Mentor’s, who have a common interest.
“We meet all kinds of people,” Doug said. “It’s nice.”