FUN DAY FOR ALL
People flock to Clifton Park Elks Club car show
BALLSTON LAKE, N.Y. » The Clifton Park Elks Club hosted its 14th annual car show on Saturday, with protocols in place to make sure everyone could enjoy the day safely.
All monies collected from the registration fees, food and beverage sales, and the 50/50 raffles benefited the Elks Club and the local charities they support.
The Clifton Park Elks Club is an active part of their community, and provides support to many local activities and services, including veterans and Boy Scout Troop 246, who assisted with the running of this year’s car show.
The warm weather and clear skies provided a perfect opportunity for people to
get outside and enjoy the show. My husband, a car aficionado himself and eager to get out of the house for a few hours, tagged along with me and provided some insight into the technical aspects of what was on display.
Row upon row of cars and trucks from a variety of makes and models that spanned the decades were lined up with their hoods popped. Owners were happy to talk to admirers and answer questions.
Tom Bovino, the owner of a ‘78 Chevy Corvette that was an official pace car for the Indy 500, shared a bit about the car’s history.
“Only 6,000 of these were made - one for each dealership in the country,” he said. “I found this one in a barn in Sydney, N.Y., after about 4 or 5 years of hunting.”
Bovino said his interest in the vehicle came from its being a limited edition, and a make and model he could afford. When he found the car it was in very good condition. No restoration work was needed, though as he put it, he needed to “clean the snot out of it.”
“A Camero pace car would run $35-40,000,” Bovino explained. “This one was at a price range I thought I would be able to afford and enjoy.”
Each car at the show had a story as unique as the vehicle itself. Some, like Bovino’s Corvette, were purchased in good condition and just needed a cleaning. Some, like a ‘68 Pontiac GTO owned by Doug Farren, needed to be rebuilt and restored from the frame up - a process that, as my husband explained, was surprisingly common in the classic car world.
Rebuilds are labors of love that involve taking the time to find or machine all the necessary parts. It’s a process that will often take years to complete.
Doug Reynolds, the proud owner of a ‘28 Ford closed cab pickup truck, knows this well. “It took me six years to redo it, and there’s a lot of vintage parts,” he said.
Reynolds built some of the parts for his truck himself. He found the truck’s hubcaps at a garage sale and rescued the couchstyle seat from the side of the road.
“I always wanted an early Model A Ford pickup truck,” he said about the car’s history. “A guy I worked with told me ‘there’s this guy in Hoosick who has to take his garage down, and he’s got an old car you might want.’ I went down there and picked it up.”
It was Reynold’s son who provided the inspiration for the restoration, telling his father, “let’s make a hot rod, dad!”
Hot rods, as I later found out from my husband, are by definition custom builds. Each one is one of a kind, with parts that suit the owner’s wants for power, purpose, and aesthetics.
Six years later, Reynold’s hot rod was complete, sporting a pearlescent coat of Plymouth Prowler Orange and providing a very smooth ride.
“It’s like driving a roller skate,” Reynolds said, smiling behind his mask.
Some of the cars at the show were for sale by their owners, some were for display only, and some were so attractive they made spectators drool.
Keith Fuerst had brought his ‘81 Pontiac Trans Am to the show and was enjoying both the good weather and the compliments to his car.
“It’s a nice day, and we’re not working, you know?” he asked.
Fuerst’s car only had one owner, him, and had never needed restoration work of any kind. He had bought the car brand new and kept it in pristine condition over the years.
“I got it for the body it’s a cool-looking style,” he said.
Everyone at the car show seemed happy, none more so than show organizer Doug Simmons. This year was Simmons’s third involved with the car show, and his first as organizer.
“It’s a nice day, no rain, it’s a success,” he said. “I have a lot of people underneath me who are making me look good.”
Simmons and his team had been planning the show for five weeks. Normally, they would have been working on it for much longer, but then COVID-19 happened. They did everything possible to make sure the show could still take place. Regular announcements were made over the speaker system reminding people to wear masks and stay six feet apart.
“We want people to have fun, but we want them to be safe and come back next year,” Simmons said. “We put a lot of effort into this - organization is the key. A lot of other car shows canceled this year, but these guys like to get out and pop their hoods. It’s good to see this many people get out and stay social distanced.”
In addition to the food and drinks on sale through the Elks Club, a few vendors were present selling their own wares. One had a table full of model cars for sale that matched some of the vehicles at the show.
Selling jewelry and showing off her own 2012 Chevy SS Camaro was Kim Pasquariello. Her car was a work of art, featuring LED lights and wolf-themed airbrush artwork done by Jay Griffin from Quick Draw Customs in Troy.
At the end of the afternoon, trophies were given out to cars that had met the specifications of a panel of judges in a variety of categories. Some of the categories included Best Engine, Best Paint, and Best Muscle Car Pre-1975, among many others. Thirty trophies were given out this year, down from the show’s usual 100 due to a drop in funding because of COVID-19.
Each trophy handed out at the car show is sponsored by a different person or company. This year’s sponsors include Senator Jim Tedisco, Generations Auto Repair, the Clifton Park Elks Ladies’ Auxiliary, and Ensign Autobody, who sponsored the enormous trophy for Best in Show. Simmons hopes that next year, things will be back to normal, and the trophy count will be back to its usual 100. He also hopes to be able to do something special, since it will be the car show’s 15th year.
“We want to do something special next year,” he said. “I’d like to do a commemorative poster displaying all the past years’ Best in Show winners. We’ll figure something out.”