Motoring nostalgia

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Autofest might have resembled a really decked out used car lot on Sunday if the year was, say, 1972.

The annual car show brought in about 300 cars from around the area and state, Car buffs from all over came to gaze at the chrome and hear the revving of classic engines such as 409s, 440s and 392s.

Autofest started about four years ago when a few local auto enthusiasts got together with local dealers to organize a classic car show.

Last year's fest was hampered by rain and heat -- two things collectors of classic wheels are cautious about. But lots of sun, mild temperatures, clear skies and even a light breeze brought people out to Maday Motors Jeep en masse, causing parking shortages and the inevitable gawker slowdowns on State Highway 15.

The show featured aisles and aisles of shiny classic cars with their owners parked leisurely behind them in folding lawn chairs. And members of generations young and old came out to examine the collection.

Among the many sedans, coupes and convertibles were a few street rods built from early 1930s Fords and Chevys. There was even a 1937 Packard Businessman coupe sporting a two-tone white and cream paint job.

The oldest example was Phil Stuve's 1928 Ford Model A roadster pickup, which he bought in St. James from its original owner. Stuve said he just drives it for parades and shows and takes it to breakfast when the weather warms up. His Model A doesn't require much maintenance, just gas and antifreeze. His favorite part of the car is the klaxon horn that goes Ahoooooga when he hits the button.

"It actually causes a lot of commotion," said friend Diane Olson. "You stop at stop signs and perfect strangers will roll down their windows and start talking to you."

Chevelles, Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers, Chargers and Barracudas seemed to dominate the display. Chevys from in between 1955 and 1957 were a little less common. And yeah, there were a couple GTOs there, too.

Even more rare were the AMC Javelins, a 1970 AMC Rebel Machine, a 1962 Chevrolet Corvair, a couple Studebakers, a 1969 Cadillac convertible, a couple Merc Cougars and a 1970 Dodge Super Bee that was as orange as a bottle of soda.

The whole thing brought back memories for Terry Sveine, who strolled along the rows of cars, eyeing a gumball yellow 1968 Dodge Charger -- his dream car in high school. He even recognized the car he actually drove in high school, the Corvair, which Ralph Nader famously dubbed "unsafe at any speed."

"I remember we used to sit on that flag stand at the armory and watch the drag races from Third North Street to Center," he recalled.

Around the same time, Dennis Maday started working at his father's car dealership. The year he graduated from high school, 1968, was the year Plymouth introduced the Roadrunner, an affordable yet powerful answer to what Ford and General Motors had started a couple years earlier.

"Back then, it was fun because they were new on the showroom floor," he said. "For $3-4,000 you could have a great car."

Autofest committee member John Vorwerk was first bitten by the car bug when he was 16 years old. He too remembers the muscle car heyday of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He sees some of the same people who raced back then driving classics today.

Many of the those people came to New Ulm Sunday to show off their green and black 1974 Dodge Challenger 340 or metallic blue 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner with a "Coyote Duster" decal on the carburetor cover. Many of those same people drove in from Sioux Falls, S.D., Iowa and the Twin Cities on Friday and stayed the night.

Maday said that's part of the idea behind Autofest, which is funded by local sponsors and private donations.

"We're trying to promote the hobby and we're also trying to promote New Ulm as a destination," Maday said.

Classic

car buffs

gather at

Autofest