Hot Wheels

It was a glorious day for a car show. On Saturday, about 1,400 people came to Veterans’ Community Park to check out the hot rods, jalopies, exotic imports, and lots and lots of Corvettes at the annual Marco Island Car Show hosted by the Kiwanis Club.

The cars ranged from ancient to brand new. There was the 1924 Ford Model T that Clay Bulow had driven 1,800 miles from Minnesota, on a vintage tire held together by wrapping it with layers of Gorilla tape that had to be replaced every 150 miles or so, all at an average speed below 40 miles per hour. There were several factory fresh Corvettes displayed by presenting sponsor R3 Motorcars. One model was tagged with a price of $264,989, which the sign said reflected a $5,000 car show discount.

Corvettes were perhaps the most prevalent model on display, to the point where the judges awarded first, second, and third just for ’Vettes. The People’s Choice award, judged by votes from the spectators as a whole, also went to a Corvette, a 1959 convertible model in two-tone metallic blue, shown by Bryan Petett.

Along with the R3 cars, some of the privately-owned vehicles on display were indicated as being for sale, although if you made some enquiries, you might have found that many more could be had if the price were right. That included the 1934 Ford Vicky of Moe Bishop, available at an asking price of $59,900.

The overall number of cars was down from last year, said event co-chair Barbara Murphy (sharing the duties with her husband Mike, retired Marco Island fire chief), as another show in north Naples had been forced to cancel earlier in the year due to weather, and rescheduled the same Saturday as the Marco show. But there were plenty of automotive gems to salivate over, all depending on your taste in cars, from Ray Cappella’s 1969 Ford Bronco, one of the first SUVs, which won in its category, to Tom Fox’s 1964 – and a half – Ford Mustang, which also won an award.

Marco Island Academy students, including Key Club and soccer team members, helped out with the event, guiding the parking of visitors, cooking burgers, and holding a bake sale. Additional buying opportunities came from youth booths operated by young entrepreneurs in the Biz Kidz Hub program. These included “For Dogs’ Sake” hands-free dog leashes, fresh-squeezed lemonade, Roaster Coasters, and the Baker Brothers, Orlando Arias, 11, and Santiago Arias, nine, two boys dressed as Mario and Luigi look-alikes selling mini-muffins.

DJ Sugarcube kept the tunes pumping and helped the Kiwanis volunteers sell 50/50 raffle tickets, which garnered $745 for the club’s foundation efforts, which go to help local school children at Tommie Barfield and Manatee Elementary schools, and another $745 for the lucky winner, Jeff Kramer of event sponsor Alair Homes. Total receipts were not available at press time.

DJ Sugarcube also opened the mic for “car owner karaoke,” giving attendees the thrill of hearing Keith Pershing of Island Automotive croon the automotive classic “Beep Beep.”