To help kick off summer and to recognize Father’s Day weekend, the Downtown Naperville Alliance held a classic car show.
Over 80 cars made from between the 1920s and 1980s were on display on Jackson Street in Downtown Naperville.
Anyone could walk up and check out the classics, many of which could have once been seen cruising the streets of town when they were new.
“As you can see there are a lot of people who enjoy these cars, there are a lot of people that own them and enjoy them obviously, and they’re a labor of love,” said Jim Boyajian, a Former Naperville City Councilman who brought his 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle to the show. “Anybody that’s owned a classic car knows that there’s always something you’re doing or repairing or fixing but it’s part of the fun of having it, it’s a hobby.”
“If people did not varnish them twice a year, which was the recommendation from the factory,” said Steve Grobl, pointing to the wooden body panels on his 1948 Chrysler Town and Country, “if they didn’t varnish them twice a year then the wood rots away and you have nothing. So what we call the survival rate of these vehicles is quite poor.”
In addition to the wood-paneled Town and Country, some especially interesting cars on display included a 1934 Pierce-Arrow with a V12 engine, a rear-engined Fiat 850, whose owner drives her every day he can, and a whole bunch of Ford Model As from members of the Naper As Model A Ford Club.
Naperville News 17’s Blane Erwin reports.
