With 212 cars pre-registered and another 60-plus brought in the day of the show, members of the Escalon Lions Club reported a very successful Autumn Cruise on Saturday, Sept. 12.
It was the 30th anniversary edition of the show, with all proceeds going to the Lions Club high school scholarship program for graduating Escalon High School seniors.
Co-chairing the show were John Salvin and Mike Powers, with Salvin noting that they ended up with about 275 total vehicles on display.
“We gave 54 trophies,” Salvin said, with a number of businesses and individuals sponsoring the trophies. There was also a unique ‘pearl’ trophy and the big Best of Show award, both presented to top honorees Ruben and Katrina Tellez of Modesto.
“It is a 1957 Thunderbird, dusk rose colored and they have owned the car for 15 years,” Salvin explained of the prize-winning couple. “They bought the car from her (Katrina’s) aunt and he (Ruben) did a lot of the work on the car himself; he did the front-end work, transmission work, even some of the upholstery.”
Receiving the Best of Show award means the Tellez’s Thunderbird will be featured on the T-shirt for next year’s show.
“He’s been coming to our show for a number of years,” Salvin noted of Tellez, adding that he is also a member of the Modesto Area Classic Thunderbird Club.
The show featured the cars displayed throughout the Main Street Park area, along with multiple vendors, the popular ‘Treasure Chest’ with prizes, music, raffle drawings and more.
The Lions Club put on a lunch and breakfast was also available, a pancake breakfast fundraiser hosted at the Escalon American Legion Post in the morning.
“Chuck Sawyer did the lunch and did a great job with that,” Salvin said.
Also earning kudos were Salvin’s co-chair, Powers, for handling the details of the show, and Lions Club member Megan McNinch, who lined up the vendors that came in for the day and were set up along a portion of Main Street.
Powers and Lions Club President Jeff Miller took center stage around 11 a.m. for a special presentation, receiving a Certificate of Recognition from the office of State Senator Jerry McNerney, given to them by representative Sophie Wiseman from McNerney’s office. It highlighted the 30 years and honored the Lions Club for “dedication to bringing together classic cars, community fellowship, and regional traditions that preserve the small-town charm and rural mystique of communities within the Golden State.”
There were plenty of vehicles to look at and enjoy, groups of car club members setting up the lawn chairs to sit and visit, and many displays showing the history of a particular vehicle’s transformation.
Manteca resident Raquel Azevedo was shining up the 1955 Ford Thunderbird that her father had entered in the show.
“It was my mom’s car; she passed away nine years ago,” Raquel shared. “I love the cars and we’ve been coming to this show since I was a little girl.”
Dad Richard Azevedo is a member of the Early Iron Car Club in Manteca.
“I like the cars, of course, I like to look at other people’s cars,” Azevedo said, adding that he attends about 15 classic car shows a year to display the Thunderbird. “I come to this show quite often, I’ve probably been to about 20 of them.”
And with a show that just marked 30 years, that’s a good track record for the Manteca classic car enthusiast.
Salvin said they anticipate having a total of the funds raised soon; again, all proceeds will benefit scholarships for graduating Escalon High School seniors. The car show has raised nearly a half million dollars for scholarships through the years.
