The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
ENTHUSIASTS SHARE THEIR CAR PASSION
Friday night gatherings continue through Sept. 28
Most people remember their first cars, but not too many people keep them over the years.
Concord Township resident Bernie Herman, who is a classic car enthusiast, said both his son and grandson still have their first cars.
“When my son was 15, I got him a car and we worked together on it,” he said. “Believe it or not, he still has that car. It’s a ‘67 Camaro and he was 15 when he got it, now he is 48. That’s something to still have your first car after all those years.”
Herman, who is 78 years old, said he kept the tradition with his grandson.
“He got a 1972 Chevelle when he was 15, and he still has his too,” he said.
Other car lover calls Herman, ‘The Legend’, because all of the remarkable cars he has restored and presented.
“I’ve put together at least 26 cars,” he said. “I built the frames and everything on it”
Herman showcased one of his favorite cars — a 1968 Camaro.
Similarly, Todd Leonard and Huck Cameron also share a passion for classic cars.
“As far back as I can remember, my father was into racing, so I naturally grew up with it and that’s all I’ve done all my life is messed with cars, bikes or something that had to do with racing,” said Cameron, who is 70. “It is my hobby. It never was baseball, basketball or football, it was always cars.”
Cameron, who is from Painesville, displayed his 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air at the Car Cruise in the city.
He said it has all aftermarket high performance parts.
“It runs on 110 octane racing fuel and it’s $8.60 a gallon and this thing gets about 8 miles to the gallon. It’s all synthetic and manmade fuel. So, it’s not like we’re burning up all of our natural resources. I’ve had that car 17 years and put in thousands of hours of work into it.”
Cameron said he has invested at least $70,000 in the car.
“The work is never-ending,”
It’s like a house, you always have to work on it. In fact I was just working on it before I came here. I’m always working on it. There are times when I just want to take an ax to it, but it’s still a lot of fun to work on them.” — Huck Cameron
he said. “It’s like a house, you always have to work on it. In fact I was just working on it before I came here. I’m always working on it. There are times when I just want to take an ax to it, but it’s still a lot of fun to work on them.”
Leonard, who is 47, also started working on cars at a young age. He lives in Leroy Township but grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania.
“At my age, because I’m younger, there were all muscle cars around,” he said. “So, that’s all I did was fixed up older cars. I really got into it and started wrenching on cars when I was a kid.”
He aims to get youth interested in classic cars.
“I hope to keep this going,” he said. “It’s all about getting out and showing people the cars. That’s what piques the kids’ interest. We would be more than happy to teach them and help them restore classic cars, if they are interested. You have to have a passion for it.”
Cameron agreed that it is important to educate the youth and try to spark an interest.
“Right now it’s a pretty big hobby,” he said. “There are still a lot of people into it, but our generation is dying off and many of the kids today are into computers not cars.”
Art Mason, who organizes the Painesville Car Cruise, which is a Downtown Painesville Organization event, also hopes to continue doing the shows.
“We get about 300 cars here on any given night,” he said. “I’ve been doing shows for over 30 years and I love it.”
The Painesville Car Cruise is from 5 to 9 p.m. in Veterans’ Park on Fridays during the summer through Sept. 28.