Elburn car show attracts enthusiasts, collectors
Phil Wilson doesn’t drive his black 1968 Pontiac Firebird 400 very often, but when he does, it usually draws a crowd.
“If I stop for gas, people come running,” Wilson said. “They want to see the car up close, ask questions about it. There’s something about these older cars, the way they look, the way they sound. There’s nothing else quite like it.”
Wilson, a DeKalb resident, was one of hundreds of vintage-car owners who displayed their prized possessions Sunday at the 20th annual Elburn Fall Classic, a car show organized by the Elburn Lions Club. Organizers estimated that at least 400 cars were on display Sunday in what is generally one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for the Lions Club.
Just about every make, model and era was represented. There were pre-World War II cars, plenty of “muscle cars” from the 1950s and 1960s — one 1968 AMC AMX had a Cheap Trick 8-track tape inserted in the car’s stereo — and even cars from the not-as-recent-as-you-might-think 1980s.
Jim and Mary Goodart of Hampshire brought their gleaming white 1968 Pontiac Bonneville to the show. The car has less than 42,000 miles on it, and just about everything on it is original.
“All I added was new tires and shocks,” Jim Goodart said.
Goodart said the comfort provided by the roughly 18-foot-long car is unlike anything he’s experienced.
“I like today’s cars, too, but they don’t feel anything like this one,” he said. “You drive over some bumpy road in this, and you don’t feel a thing.”
“It floats,” Mary Goodart added.
The Fall Classic was held at Lions Park. In addition to seeing all the cars, spectators got a chance to enjoy some food, visit a craft show and listen to classic rock ‘n’ roll hits. There were multiple awards handed out, including the Best of the Best, a contest open only to cars that had won Best in Show awards at other shows.
“The success of this show is very dependent on the weather, but it looks like a great one today,” Lions Club member Dan Purcell said Sunday.
Proceeds from the event will go to the Lions Club’s charitable efforts. The club offers a number of services to help identify and treat vision problems for residents of the community.