Car Show

Remember when kids stood on the running board of the family car to have their picture taken? Remember riding in the back of your dad’s pickup on a trip to the lumber yard? Remember your grandparents’ car, your family car, your first very own car? For a trip down memory lane, you are cordially invited to the fourth Port Costa Car Show & BBQ.

PORT COSTA CAR SHOW & BBQ

Sunday, July 19, 2009, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Port Costa School

Canyon Lake Drive and Reservoir Street

GREAT CARS, GREAT FOOD

GREAT RAFFLE PRIZES!

510-787-2254

www.portcosta.com

A fundraiser sponsored by the Port Costa Conservation Society

to restore the Port Costa School building

with support from the Crockett Community Foundation

SHIP SHAPE

When not tending to his classic 1930 Ford Model A Deluxe Coupe, Jack Nolan of El Sobrante can often be found aboard the SS Red Oak Victory in Richmond, where he volunteers thousands of hours, welding torch in hand, restoring the World War II ammunition ship for public tours. The Red Oak served also in the Korean and Vietnam wars. Nolan, a former tugboat captain, brings his award-winning Model A (license plate: AOOOGAH) to the Port Costa Car Show and BBQ on Sunday, July 19.

DAILY DRIVER

When Susie Somers of Walnut Creek acquired her 1946 Chevy pickup back in 1978, it was primer brown and needed lots of work. "It was either junk it or fix it up," she said. "A couple of people wanted to chop it and drop a big block engine in it, but we didn’t want to do that. Everything we’ve done to it has been in the vein of keeping it original. There’s a long list of people who want it." Susie drives the half-ton pickup ("I had to learn to double clutch it.") to her job in Concord where she works for the County Department of Agriculture.

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS

Armand Annereau, proprietor of Annereau Auto Upholstery Inc. in Walnut Creek, restored this immaculate 1956 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop "Nostalgia Custom" back in 1989 for his 30-year Pleasant Hill High School class reunion. "I did everything but the paint," said Armand. "I replaced the whole interior and a whole bunch of chrome. I added two spotlights for extra ornamentation. It was something we did back then."

INTREPID BUG

Dr. Robert Hamilton Jr. of Kentfield bought this 1961 VW Bug in 1968 for driving to his job at UCSF Medical Center, where he conducted electron microscope research on blood cholesterol transport. After eight years of daily 32-mile round trip commutes across the Golden Gate Bridge ("sometimes the wind would knock you from one lane to the other"), the Bug carried on as primary transportation for Hamilton daughters Karen, Susan and Beth. Since then, the Bug has been restored from top to bottom. "Even the radio is the same," says Dr. Hamilton, shown here with his grandson Grayson, who is standing in the sunroof.

CLASSIC UPGRADE

Thanks to a tip from a friend, David George of Rodeo found this beautiful silver and blue1948 Chevy Fleetline last year in Valley Springs, Calaveras County. "It’s got a nice stance and the color and everything about it attracted me to it," he said. The car has been upgraded with a 350 Chevy engine, power steering, power brakes, power windows, air conditioning and a 12-CD player.

A BEAUTIFUL WORK IN PROGRESS

Johnny Simmons, Jr. of Martinez said that ever since he was a kid he wanted to buy an old car and restore it. So when he was in high school back in 1981 he bought this 1941 Chevy Coupe Master Deluxe and has been working on it ever since. The handsome car was once favored by commercial deliverymen and traveling salesmen. Behind the front seat is a six-foot mahogany shelf, accessible from the trunk door, for transporting equipment, boxes and supplies. Johnny’s car is the first entry in the 2009 Port Costa Car Show scheduled for Sunday, July 19^th.

AWARD WINNER

While Alex and Teri Rodarte’s 1936 Ford pickup is easy on the eyes, it wasn’t always so. "It was real bad," said Alex. "It was all rusted up, full of bullet holes and the frame was gone." Since then, Alex’s labor on the truck, after work and on weekends, has paid off, with a picture-perfect beige and white finish and two awards (out of 5,000 cars!) at Reno’s Hot August Nights. Teri’s contribution to the restoration process was "steady encouragement, moral support, and food and drink."

RETIREMENT PROJECT

After retiring from his job as a commercial baker, Barry Jackson took on the project of restoring this 1955 Oldsmobile two-door Ninety-Eight Deluxe Holiday Coupe. Barry rebuilt the motor and transmission and installed new brakes and new radiator and even repainted the original license plate. "They wouldn’t give me a new one," he said. The bright red and white beauty has power brakes, four-way power seats, power windows and power steering, power antenna and a foot button to turn on the radio. "I’ve always liked cars since I was a kid," he said.

READY TO RUN

Mick and Elaine Coyne of Walnut Creek had a bit of bad luck when they got ready to drive to the 2007 Port Costa Car Show – the Willys wouldn’t start, so they had to stay home. They’ve got it fixed now and their 1941 Willys Coupe will be in the lineup at the 2009 show. Mick put the car together with parts from all over the country. The powerful all-steel Willys, a popular race car in the ‘60s, is equipped with a parachute brake.

HYDRO POWERED

Doug Hartelt of Clayton bought this 1926 Model T Ford truck in 1951 when he was 15 years old. He spotted it behind a barn in Los Molinas and paid $12.50 for it from money saved up from mowing lawns. Since then he has replaced a couple of burnt valves, put in new coils and spark plugs and painted it with a coat of primer. The cooking pot on top of the cab holds two gallons of water. The driver reaches through the roof to turn on a spigot attached to the pot. The water then runs through a Gravity-Fed Transporter Tube to the radiator. Estimated mileage: Two blocks per gallon H₂O.

SCHOLARLY RESEARCH FINDS LITTLE KNOWN HISTORY OF CAR SHOWS

Many people know when the world’s first car was invented, but historical research suggests that nobody knows for sure when the first car show was held.

The world’s first gasoline powered car, featuring electric ignition, carburetor, steering wheel and a water-cooled radiator, was invented in Germany by Karl Benz on January 29, 1886. Using innovative technology, Benz produced three more vehicles by 1888. His wife, Bertha, drove one of the cars a distance of 85 kilometers from Mannheim to Pforzheim, thus becoming the world’s first woman driver.

Such are the facts regarding the invention of the automobile. Little is known, however, about the origin of the car show. One account reveals the first auto show to be the Exposition Internationale de Velocipidie et de Locomotion Automobile in Paris, France, held on December 11, 1894. Four makes of automobiles were on display in that pioneering event whose date foreshadowed the emergence of the 20^th Century. Another source claims Madison Square Garden in New York City to be the locale of the first car show, around 1900, five years after the first "horseless carriage" race on Thanksgiving Day, 1895. The winner of the race, Frank Duryea, beat his brother, Charles, averaging 7.3 miles per hour over 54 miles from downtown Chicago to Evanston, Illinois.

John Nolan's Model A

Still another historical reference dates the first car show as February 16-21, 1915 in Jackson, Michigan. A total of 21 stately vehicles were on display, among them Argo, Chevrolet, Monroe, Briscoe, Overland (Willys), Hudson, Dodge, Buick, Rio, and King Eight Cylinder. A far-seeing entrepreneur, J.P. Fleming, brought the only alternative energy vehicle – the Detroit Electric. Worth a special footnote is the first Endurance Run held in California in 1908, a grueling challenge for drivers who piloted their machines over the Hayward-San Leandro Road until the cars either burned up or the wheels fell off. The car that traveled the farthest without mishap was the winner.

Those bygone days, when motorists were advised to carry two extra gallons of gasoline and a gallon of oil, are past. Nevertheless, car shows proliferated through the years as Detroit’s inventive stylists elevated automobile design to the status of high art. The 1950s tail fin by GM’s Harley Earl, it is said, was inspired by a WW II fighter plane, the P38 Lightning. The futuristic lines of the 1934 LaSalle, the 1948 Cadillac, and the 1953 Corvette attest to the stable of imaginative designers in the employ of Detroit automakers.

Today, car shows abound. The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and Reno’s Hot August Nights contrast with small hometown car shows at county fairs and neighborhood fund-raisers. One example of the latter, now in its fourth year, is the Port Costa Car Show & BBQ, a rural venue for Bay Area car buffs who reside in communities along the Carquinez Strait – Port Costa, Crockett, Vallejo, Benicia, Martinez and other towns as far away as Santa Cruz, Kentfield, Napa and Sacramento.

This year’s Port Costa show will be held on Sunday, July 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Port Costa School, Canyon Lake Drive and Reservoir Street (the playground is newly paved). The show is open to all makes and models, from pristine Model T’s and street rods to daily drivers and classic restorations. Entry fee is $25. The event is a fund-raiser sponsored by the Port Costa Conservation Society to restore the 1911 Port Costa School. Delicious barbecue and ice cold drinks will be sold. Trophies will be awarded. A raffle will be held for numerous unique prizes, along with a special free raffle for drivers only.

SWELL RAFFLE PRIZES

Portola Hotel & Spa at Monterey Bay

A $250.00 gift certificate to be used for a number of Package Specials at the Portola Hotel & Spa, including Monterey Bay Aquarium, Breakfast Buffet, Golf, Whale Watching, etc. courtesy of Lewis and Dee Stewart.

More prizes include handmade quilts by Monica Greene and Kathleen Thomas, Pottery by Kathy Kearns, Oakland A's tickets from R.G.M. and Associates, dinner for two at the Warehouse Cafe and Bull Valley Restaurants in Port Costa and the Dead Fish in Crockett, Port Costa book from Veronica Crane, "Strawberry Soda" clock and Coca Cola Thermometer from Sparky's Garage in Port Costa and a $25 Starbuck gift certificate.

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OUR CLASSIC BARBEQUE MENU

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