Powerful nostalgia drives Autofest attendance Automobile

afficionados

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- For a while Sunday morning, it looked like the Fourth Annual New Ulm Autofest might be a wash-out, but it wasn't long before the rain stopped and a mass of people inspected -- and admired -- the 335 assembled antique vehicles.

With less than an hour remaining of the show, Dennis Maday, one of the Autofest organizers, was awed by the number of spectators who showed up to walk the lines of cars and generally "ooh" and "ahh."

"There has got to be a lot more spectators than we've had in the past, isn't there, John?" Maday exclaimed.

"It sure looks like it," John Vorwerk, another of the 14 organizing committee members, affirmed.

The number of cars also seemed to be a record to Maday.

"I don't have the numbers on the cars that were checked in today, but it sure looks like we've got more lined up out there than in the past," Maday said, quickly surveying his Jeep dealership lot and the adjoining Joe's Camper Sales lot, which have served as the display area from the fest's very beginning.

Maday credits the show's success to the fact that it's non-judgmental.

"We started this show four years ago to bring these cars out of their garages. People weren't bringing their cars out of their garages because the shows that were available were all about judging," Maday explained.

"The cars would be checked for this and that and had to meet this and that so people weren't bringing their cars out. People like a venue where their cars aren't judged; they're there to be seen and admired. So, that's what we tried to do with this show."

There are no specifications to be met. Owners can even offer their vehicle for sale. And it's all free -- no admission, no entry fee.

"We're a non-profit operation, and we exist entirely on donations," Maday explained.

A large sign near the concessions area listed 30 or more sponsors.

"The New Ulm Convention/Visitors Bureau is our big one because they recognize that we bring people to New Ulm with this event. We booked 40 hotel rooms, and it would have been more but that was all the room there was. It's not only people with cars to show, but people wanting to see the cars."

Maday was particularly pleased to have members of the St. Cloud Antique Car Club, with their 35 cars, show up this year.

"We've after them for the past three years, hoping they would come to this event," Maday said.

The group that came were members of a summer touring group started 25 years ago by Elmer Dahl and Roy Bernick, both of St. Cloud.

"We decided that it would be fun to just pick a town and go there in our cars so that's what we've been doing every year," said Dahl. "So, there we go all in a line. We've gone to places in other states, and we were here in New Ulm in 1988 so we're back again."

Dahl pulls a small trailer behind his '47 Plymouth Coupe because, as leader of the pack, so to speak, there is need for refreshments when the group stops for a break.

The caravan arrived in New Ulm on Friday Local car club members Lyle and Dori Turbes, who joined the club when they lived in St. Cloud, hosted the tour members for dinner Saturday at their rural New Ulm home.

Because the tour group needed to return to St. Cloud, it departed early. But for a short while, at least, the Autofest could boast displaying its first ever 1958 Edsel.

The event also featured a Dynotune demonstration where cars were tested on the basis of horsepower, torque and speed. As a fund-raiser for the Shop-With-A-Cop program, spectators could buy chances on guessing the horsepower of a New Ulm Police Department cruiser. The vehicle tested out at 194 hp; the winning guess was 192.