Rick Crawford is a member of the ’57 Fords International and a former drag racer who raced at Lions, Orange County Raceway and Irwindale in the 1960’s. Courtney Hansen was another displayer and member of the ’57 Fords. He told me that the club shows their cars at the Seal Beach, Knotts Berry Farm, Belmont Shores and La Palma Park car shows. On October 19-21, 2007 they will be at the California Speedway Car Show in Fontana, California. This show wasn’t all Fords though. Eugene Bamsay exhibited a nice ’37 Chevy Sedan. Billy George brought his ’56 Olds Rocket 88. Bill and Sandi Nemecek drove their ’41 Willys to the show. William Hufnagel came in his ’65 Cobra replica car. Richard Balty showed up in his ’68 Dodge Dart convertible. Robert Grim was there with his ’56 Chevy stationwagon with a deep cherry red paint job. Ken Nefroney exhibited his ’57 Chevy Bel Air with a near original lime yellow ‘Colonial Cr�me’ paint job. “It’s all stock and yes there is a tinge of green in the color,” he said. Nefroney and his friends did four car shows in one weekend. They were at the Huntington Beach Concourse, Bellflower, Newport Harbor High School and Featherly Park car shows. "I get my schedule of car shows from DRIVE Magazine, Automotive Calendar of Events and flyers that people leave in my car,” Nefroney added. Mike Ryan brought his ’63 Chevy Nova and it was apparent that Fords were not the only cars on display. Robert Pendleton drove in with his ’62 Rambler American 400 and a 3-foot toy car, both painted cherry red. Jack Beers displayed his ’29 Ford Coupe with the standard Ford green body and black fenders. Josef Czikmantory came in his 1975 Trabant P-601. This was a European car built by the Communists to compete with cheaper Asian and American models. The car looked extremely fragile and you don’t see a lot of them in circulation.
Antonio Villasenor brought his ’63 Ford Econoline, painted cobalt blue with the back removed to create a flatbed. Geoff McKay came in his right-hand drive ’32 Ford Cabriolet with a rumble seat constructed in South America. Jordan Cavanaugh exhibited his ’66 Austin Cooper, painted slate blue with a #2 painted on the doors. This car seemed half the size of the diminutive Trabant, but it still had 4 seats. Robert Miner drove his ’53 MGTD roadster painted black cherry pearl. Borje Forslund, a local resident with a strong Scandinavian accent, displayed his ’58 Olds 98. “The car just came from Sweden a few days ago,” he said. “Someone on the boat hit the kill switch and tossed my keys. I had to hot-wire my car to get it here,” Forslund added. The car was a golden brown with chrome trim and stock, just the way 50’s cars were built. The previous owner had kept it in excellent condition but it was no easy matter to get it out of the country. “Europeans don’t like to sell their American cars to outsiders once they get these gems into their countries,” said Forslund. It probably helped that his accent was strong and so was his desire for beautiful cars. He had been searching for a model like this for 15 years to add to his car collection of 6 other choice automobiles. Forslund attends about 30 car shows a year, driving one of his special cars. The Fountain Valley Classic Car & Truck Show may be a one-time affair, or the volunteers and the city may make this an annual affair. As car shows go, this one was smaller but cozier and the background scenery of the park and the large variety of cars, made this show special.
Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].
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