KINGWOOD — Queen Ceres LXXIX Keely Jo Gregory and Buckwheat Festival Chairman Tarrell Ries were among the visitors to the annual car show on the last day of the festival at Kingwood Civic Center.
Gregory said it was her first car show.
Ries said the car show is held Sunday afternoon as an extra attraction, as the Buckwheat Festival winds down.
“Not everyone likes buckwheat cakes, rides, or animals, so this is another attraction to bring people to the grounds,” he said.
Alex Robey was there showing his car. Robey said he and his friend Hank Judy bought the 1972 Plymouth Duster when they were 19. He said they planned to fix it up but sold it after five years.
“Ten years later when my friend (Judy) passed away, I bought it back,” Robey said. “He was my best friend. I decided to do what we had planned to do, fix it up. My friends spent hundreds of hours helping me repair it. It’s a project we worked on in Hank’s memory. The motor that’s in it belonged to him.”
Doyan Jenkins said he tries to bring his black 1962 Ford Fairlane Sports Coupe to the car show every year.
“I had it restored,” he said. “The body shop had it for about a year. It needed a lot of metal. They (body shop) brought me a painted shell. I polished up all of the trim. The aluminum around the lights was pitted, so I sanded it and polished it. I spent a lot of hours on this car.”
Bruce Swift, a member of the Mountain Top Cruisers, said he has been bringing his 1966 Chevrolet to the car show for three or four years. He said not many cars sport the light bluish-green color of his car.
“It was a standard color that year, but you don’t see it that often now,” he said.
Randy Rhodes said his aunt bought the 1939 DeSoto he brought to the show from a neighbor May 12, 1975.
“She put 207 miles on it and let it sit for 30 years,” he said. “She gave it to me nine years ago.”
Rhodes went to the trunk of his car and pulled out a June 5, 1939, Time magazine. About halfway through, he held up an ad for the 1939 DeSoto. On Nov. 30, 1960, DeSoto dealers were notified by telegram that Chrysler was ending DeSoto production in the United States.
“It doesn’t have regular back seats,” Rhodes said. “The seats fold down and two or three people can sit in back. It was considered a business car and the back was left for people to put their stuff in it.”
He said the boy pouting on the front fender was not happy about going to the car show.
“He laid in the back and pouted all the way here,” Rhodes said.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
