Jim Wagoner was trying to keep to the shade, but people kept asking about his searing yellow 1932 Sedan Delivery on Saturday at the Durango Old Car Club’s Motor Expo downtown.
Wagoner, of Dolores, bought it from an old friend, and before that, the car sat in a garage for nearly 25 years. Working on old cars and motorcycles, he said, gives him a sense of accomplishment.
The quintessential hot rod, the Delivery got attention.
“You have fun doing it,” he said. “I made it over here this morning – and that’s the adventure – you never know what the heck is going to happen.”
Teresa Probst of the DOCC said they expected 300 entries, some from as far away as Florida.
Proceeds of the Expo will go to Hospice of Mercy. Probst said last year the event raised $10,000.
There were Ford Mustangs, Mercedes Benzes, Jaguars and a Lamborghini. There was a 1961 Cadillac Sedan and a 1972 Dodge Dart. A 1956 Thunderbird and a 1947 Ford Coupe.
The Durango Police Department offered a look inside two new high-tech cruisers, and people surrounded a 1963 Volkswagen bus.
Bill and Debora Dowdy of Farmington showed their nearly original 1968 Chevrolet Camaro. They said old cars bring back a part of history.
“I grew up with these kind of cars,” Bill Dowdy said. “They ride differently and handle differently. They’re just fun to drive.”
Debra Dowdy sees people drive down memory lane.
“We sit and watch them say, ‘I had one of these,’ or ‘I drove one of these in high school,’” she said. “So we’re kind of relieving our teenage years.”
Across from the Dowdys, Amber Box of Ignacio was flexing the muscle of her 580 horsepower 2013 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The modern car fit well with surrounding classics.
Greg Tallant from Honobia, Oklahoma, said restoring his 1934 Pierce-Arrow 836a was a family project. The hand-built, luxury cars were driven in presidential motorcades, and later, some became five of the seven Galloping Goose rail cars that were used by the Rio Grande Southern Railroad.
Thousands of people roamed the four-block show, as generations of families shared nearly a century of automotive engineering.
“Well, there’s just a little bit of hot-rodder in all of us,” Wagoner said.
bmathis@durangoherald.com
