Fire Co. car show is a gas, gas, gas

HUNLOCK TWP. – You could be forgiven for thinking nothing good came out of the 1990s as you wandered around the Hunlock Creek Volunteer Fire Company’s inaugural car show Sunday.

Whereas there were cars in all the decades from 1920 through 1980, and a half dozen covering the years 2000 through the present, the section set aside for 1990s cars was empty.

That was the only break the judges of the show, the three Hunlock Township supervisors, were going to get.

The bulk of the cars were from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and for Dennis and Leanne Grace of Shickshinny, it was a chance to walk among a lot of memories, from the 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne similar to the one they once owned to the mid-50s Chevys they both learned to drive and went out on dates in.

The Adamses of Benton, Terry and Terri, had one of those cars in the show, an elegant 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air in crocus yellow and black.

The gleaming Bel Air comes out for special occasions and does about 900 miles a year, Terry Adams said. When it’s not out, it lives in a heated bubble in the garage.

The Adamses aren’t alone, as a lot of the owners treat their rides with special care.

“We seem to spend a lot of time polishing,” Jim Famulare said, sitting beside his shining 1969 Plymouth Road Runner, complete with the cartoon bird logo alongside the name. The jade metallic green muscle car replaced the one he bought, and reluctantly sold, in his younger days.

Bob and Cathy Berkey run their 1925 Ford Model T Depot Hack, a sort of cross between a minibus and a station wagon, on a regular basis for family events and the odd parade and show, but only when the weather is dry.

The Ford is heavy with wood, and takes some effort to stop, and Bob remembered a time when the car was caught in a brief rain shower, making things tricky. It was an experience he said he wouldn’t be willing to repeat.

“The Model A (made from 1929-31) is really the first car as we know them,” Bob Berkey said. “There’s a whole world of difference between the Model T and the Model A when it comes to driving.”

The 1980s seemed to have provided the bulk of the drivable modern classics, and two Corvette owners seemed to sum up the fun of the era.

Matthew Epright had driven his 1982 Corvette up from Cape Coral, Fla., about 3,000 miles, whereas his parking neighbors, 1985 Corvette owners Max and Richard Emel, had driven in from “three miles up the road.”

Sitting around, they compared notes on the strengths and limitations of their vehicles, pondering which would have been better in a side-to-side comparison, and marveling in the delight of motoring on a bright, sunny day.