Car show transforms Oakbrook Center into memory lane
Don Juday considers himself a Studebaker man.
Not only does he show off his 1964 Studebaker Daytona two-door hard top to auto shows in the region, but, as a teenager, the 68-year-old LaGrange Park resident learned how to drive in a 1953 Studebaker.
As he sat next to his show car at the 42nd Father's Day Classic Car Show at Oakbrook Center Sunday, he said his favorite part of bringing out his ride is chatting with complete strangers about stories of their past.
"You have a lot of people who will stop and will begin to share all kinds of memories that seeing the car has sparked in their mind," he said. "It's fun just sharing those memories. And some of those memories you can live with them, because you've experienced them, too."
The Bordeaux red classic car, which Juday said has 52,000 original miles on it, was one of four Studebakers at the show, which featured cars from as far back as the 1930s to the 1970s.
Oakbrook resident Frank Serafino said the show was a nice reminder of the past on Father's Day.
"You can remember what car your father rode or your father's car," he said.
Although Serafino's partner, Phil Brown, has a show car of his own, he said
"I like the original ones that are now restored," Brown said. "It's just a good day to look at them and check them out. It brings a lot of people out for Father's Day."
The stars of the show were definitely the cars. From 1960s Oldsmobiles to 1970s Lincolns and a 1968 Czechoslovakian Velorex car with a hood made of leather, the show had something for everybody.
It's a fact not lost on Chicago resident John Dales, who said the Oakbrook show stands out because of it.
"Most car shows are attended by other car-crazy people," said Dales, who co-owns a 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser with Elmhurst resident John Eggert. "This one is also attended by those people but it's also, the daughter brings their dad out here, so they have something in common to do or father-son, or something like that. It's interesting to hear some of their back stories of how they may have had a similar car. You can see a lot of bonding so this show is kind of unique from that standpoint."
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