|
|
|
The Signal Newspaper, (Santa
Clarita, CA) Kristyn
Kennedy, Signal
Contributing Writer A mess of muscle cars, hot rods, foreign imports and the occasional
motorcycle stole the show Saturday evening at the Route 66 Restaurant in Canyon
Country. The cars were all participants in the monthly Route 66 and
Safe-Rides Car Show, a nonprofit show run jointly by the Santa Clarita
Contemporary Car Club and Safe-Rides. Dick Lagrasta, a member of the Contemporary Car Club, said that
each month about 100 to 150 cars and their owners brave the 100-degree weather
to enter their cars in the show. "These cars are like little pieces of history. Everyone has a
reason behind why they do this," Lagrasta said. Saugus resident, Car Club member and Chevy enthusiast Rich Soto is
one such participant with a story. "My brother-in-law won the car in 1972 at the game show 'Let's
Make a Deal,'" Soto said of his orange 1973 Rally Sport Camaro. "He
didn't want it so I bought it off of him and became its original owner." Seven years ago, the Camaro underwent a ground-up restoration.
Since then, it has won numerous awards and will be featured in Chevy High
Performance magazine in September. "I've always loved that car," Soto said. "That's the
only reason I've kept it up all these years." Saugus resident Jay Triche, who entered his 1972 Ford Ranchero GT
into the show, agreed. "It was more expensive to fix (the Ranchero) up than I would make if I sold it. But I don't want to sell it. I like showing off the car and I like the camaraderie of the other people who do the same," Triche said. Rikki Kirchner, a 44-year-old Newhall resident, entered a 1970
Chevrolet Chevelle named "Erma" in the show. Erma is dedicated to Kirchner's father, Ron, who died of cancer two
and a half years ago. "The car is like his legacy," Kirchner said, and added
that the personalized license plate and sticker on the back window are both odes
to her father. When she was 17, Kirchner started building old cars and entering
them in shows with her father. She's been doing it ever since. "The cars are like members of the family. That's why they all
have names," she said. "I'm never going to sell (the Chevelle)." Many of the cars seem to have big father-child appeal. Tony DiMonte, 35, brought his 3-year-old daughter Charley to eat at
Route 66 and check out the old cars. Both were intrigued by a bright yellow
Dodge Charger. "I have a special passion for cars of the late '60s and
'70s," DiMonte said. "I love them." Canyon Country resident Bill Gage, 42, and his 12-year-old son
Easton are regulars at the Route 66 car show. "I have an old car at home, and we both like to see what other
people have done with their cars," Gage said. Even Saugus residents Chuck and Ryan Hendrickson, who just stopped
by the center to see a movie, hit the show while they were waiting. "We just appreciate the old cars," Chuck Hendrickson
said. "Families really relate to cars," Lagrasta said.
"Someone somewhere in their life probably owned a classic car once, and
they've grown up with a love and appreciation for all the hard work that these
people put into these vehicles."
The Signal Newspaper, (Santa
Clarita, CA) Stephen
K. Peeples, Signal
Contributing Writer
"We have people from 20 to into their 70s with all kinds and years of cars," said LaGrasta, 58, a retired General Motors quality control tech. "You meet and make a lot of friends here. We're all just enjoying the moment." So are the
restaurant's patrons. "People come here for burgers, but as they walk in or out, they'll stop and look at every car," LaGrasta said. "I'm surprised their food doesn't get cold. It's a great draw, so Americana." No wonder In-N-Out's management didn't call the cops when Saugus resident Rick Rose and several partners in grime started showing up there informally a few years ago. "About six or seven guys in my neighborhood all had hot rods, and I said, "We oughta start a car cruise, just go down to In-N-Out Burger on Wednesday night and let's see what happens,'" Rose recalled. "The very first night, I asked the manager if he had a problem with it, and he never responded, so it was the old, "Well, no news is good news!'" said Rose. He's a lifelong car nut who caught the bug from his father and older brother, worked for Ferrari for 13 years, and presently owns 10 classic American cars ranging from a Model T to a Shelby Mustang. "It's kind of my sickness; a lot of guys collect knives and guns and whatever, I collect cars," Rose said. "I owe that to my father, Charlie Rose, who recently passed away. He was a car nut for 75 years. I inherited his "62 Thunderbird Roadster, so that's now my newest thing." The CCC has about 25 active members who own nearly 50 cars, LaGrasta said. Most of them are weekend cars, but they're all street legal. Membership dues are just $25 a year. CCC's members appreciate classic style and workmanship, regardless of make or model. "You don't have to be a Ford or Chevy or Pontiac or Plymouth guy to look at a car and say, "They did this part well, they did that part well,'" Rose said. "You can look at any car on this lot and find something really cool about it." That's
precisely what the restaurant's customers were doing as LaGrasta and Rose
watched as several people stopped, marveled at the cars, asked questions, and
heard some fascinating backstories. Like LaGrasta's. He drives a rockin' red '72 Chevelle Super Sport, which is cool right off the line. Beyond cool, he actually helped build that exact car while working on the GM assembly line in Van Nuys that year. LaGrasta's license plate, IBILTEM, is no lie. "I was installing engines in the cars and this car, according to the cow tag, came down the assembly line at one in the afternoon, the third week of March 1972," LaGrasta said. "I put the engine in this car. It still has the original engine and drive train." Building the very same SS is double cool. How he came to own it is tres cool. "My father worked for General Motors, and we had the car built for my neighbor," he said. "I intended to buy this car from him when I came back from four years in Vietnam. But when I came back, the gentleman had moved, and I had no idea where." LaGrasta fast-forwards 30 years from 1972 to 2002. "I was over at Pomona looking for a car to purchase and this one went right past me. I recognized the older gentleman, named Gary, driving it. I went over, gave him a big hug and he looked at me and said, "Richard?' I said, "Yes, sir, you remember me? I built that car for you in 1972.'" "He said, "It's for sale,'" LaGrasta continued. "I said, "My God, I found the car I wanted 30 years later at Pomona!' I paid $20,000 and today it's worth about $35,000. So it's a good investment. My wife and I drive it everywhere. It's air-conditioned, runs on regular gas, and still gets rubber in every gear. It's a keeper!" Parked next to LaGrasta's all-American muscle car was a "49 Ford driven in by club member Tom Henry, who had just purchased the sleek midnight green beauty with the grinning grille earlier in the day. The paint job is so perfect it reflects almost like a mirror. And next to Henry's Ford was Phil Arnold's raging red '57 Chevy Bel-Air, probably the all-time most popular muscle car. "This is a really unique piece of Americana," said Arnold, the club's vice president. "It has a 572 cubic inch big-block or what they now call a "crate' engine designed by Chevrolet. It'll put out 650 horsepower, and is equipped with nitrous just in case you need an extra 200-300 horsepower. It also has a custom-built 400 transmission and a Gear Vendor overdrive." Arnold spent a year restoring the body and another six months on the drive train front to back, working many nights and weekends. "We
built it at my house. Dick was one of the co-builders," he said. "It's
a lot of fun, very enjoyable." Across the aisle were a father-son duo - John Hartman of Santa Clarita Street Rods with his chauffeur-driven 1925 Buick Town Car limo and his son Ted driving a '22 Buick Touring model. Their mutual interest in vintage vehicles goes back 39 years. "I was driven home from the hospital in an old car," Ted Hartman said. "Took him home in my '34 Dodge Touring," his father confirmed. Now retired at 66, the senior Hartman's daily drives are the '25 Buick and a '40 Packard that completed a run to Oklahoma City and back in April. Hartman also has a '21 Buick roadster, a '26 Dodge sedan, and a '32 Packard 901 sedan that weights three tons. Just then, new CCC member Dave Shierts of Saugus and his wife Bonnie rumbled into the lot, driving their yellow '64 Mercury Comet Caliente. Tailgating them was their son Nick, 20, and a College of the Canyons student, behind the wheel of his 1972 Road Runner, which they've just started restoring. Dave Shierts, 43, is also a member of the Glendale-based Vanishing Breed club. The couple bought the Comet about 14 years ago, they said. He drives it, but her name is on the pink slip. They've put about $25,000 into it to date, and it's mostly restored, but he has no plans to sell it anytime soon. "Dave would have to go through me, so it's not going to happen," Bonnie grinned. She said the couple actually met cruising Van Nuys back in the late '70s, started dating, and got married soon after. "I sure miss that place," Dave Shierts said, waxing nostalgic. "Cruising was a whole way of life for a whole generation of car enthusiasts, and it got washed away in a year. Rowdies got out of control and ruined it for everybody." Down the line was Clint Huffman's baby metallic blue 1964 Olds 442. His dad had bought it new and cruised Van Nuys Boulevard in it during the '60s and '70s. Clint got to drive the 442 during high school, but later his dad figured they'd never get around to restoring it, and sold it for $800 in 1996. Huffman the Younger kept the buyer's phone number, and four years later, bought back the car - by then 80 percent restored - for around $15,000, then finished it off. "I basically fixed it up back to how my dad had it when he cruised it in the '60s," Huffman said. "I'd hung out there with it there, too. So it's a family heirloom now. My two boys will have to argue over it." "That would be awesome!" exclaimed Austin, 10, when asked him if he'd like to drive the 442 someday. Brandon, 7, likes the car's color and the way it sounds: "It's loud!" The next generation of gearheads is already on the assembly line. A Cross-Valley Connection (Article excerpt from The Daily News, Sunday, April 7, 2002, Author - Heather MacDonald) Local Santa Clarita civic leaders declared Golden Valley Road open to the public Saturday, April 6, and a dozen antique and vintage cars roared down the long-awaited thoroughfare in an inaugural trip. Golden Valley Road, from Sierra Highway to Redview Drive, cost almost $30 million to build. It provides access to the soon-to-be-built Golden Valley High School and the new Centre Pointe Business Park, a site expected to bring more than 5,000 jobs to Canyon Country. The Santa Clarita Valley Contemporary Car Club and the Santa Clarita Valley Antique Auto Club provided wheels and a back-to-the-future flavor for the celebration of the 2.5 mile, four-lane roadway completion. The Santa Clarita Valley Contemporary Car Club members who participated were: Dick LaGrasta in the Emerson’s 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1, Dwight Emerson in his 1964 Plymouth Barracuda, Rikki Kirchner and Charles Griffin in her 1971 Chevy Chevelle Malibu, , Eddie Esaco in his 1968 Chevy Chevelle Super Sport, Mark Reece in his 1948 Ford Anglia, Dave Zelman in his 1956 Chevy , and Johnny Khanoo in his 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback.
Modern Day Bonnie & Clyde Co-stars NASHVILLE, TN (December 10, 2001) --- Country Superstar, Travis Tritt shot his new video for "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde" on the edge of the Mojave Desert in California, December 11th and 13th. "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde" is the fourth single from Travis' Platinum selling album, Down The Road I Go. In an unprecedented occurrence, Academy Award winning actor Billy Bob Thornton will star in the video. While Billy Bob has been asked on numerous occasions, he has never before starred in another artist's video. When Travis asked, however, he said yes right away. Seems Billy Bob is an admirer of Travis' music and reportedly loves the new song. He also felt he could wrap himself around the role of Travis' Clyde, a renegade outlaw on the lam after holding up a convenience store with his girlfriend. SCV Contemporary Car Club member, Charles Griffin’s blue 1967 Pontiac Firebird is featured in this video. It happens to be Billy Bob Thornton’s getaway car used after holding up the convenience store somewhere in Tennessee with his girlfriend. Charles spent the 11th, 12th and 13th in Lancaster with his car for the entire video shoot and got to meet both Travis and Billy Bob. Below are a few photos taken on location.
Charles Griffin with Billy Bob Thornton
Travis Tritt & Billy Bob Thornton with Charles' Firebird in front of the Four Aces Motel in Lancaster, California
The Firebird gets prepped for a scene where police tow away the vehicle.
Charles's car affixed with Tennessee license plates
Pub
Date: Friday,
September 7, 2001 The Signal Newspaper
It seems like the school year is already
speeding by at
lightening speed, but I wanted to mention a few things that went on this summer.
The Santa Clarita Valley Safe Rides, a
Club President, Dick LaGrasta's '64 GTO is featured on the cover of High Performance Pontiac, June 2001 Issue
| ||||||||
Send mail to soto.richard@att.net with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
