The wheels of summer are already spinning across the Village of Shorewood, and it brought out some vintage classics to kick off the second annual Shorewood Show and Shine Car Show on May 21.
The parking lot at Cene’s Four Seasons Park drew a crowd of spectators this year.
“It seems like it keeps growing, so that’s good,” said Luke Gundersen, recreation event coordinator for the Village of Shorewood Parks and Recreation Department.
Gundersen credits the growth of the annual car show to word of mouth.
The event drew in 99 cars last year.
This year, more than 100 cars of different shapes and sizes were polished and perfected by owners, like Dale Kleinhoffer.
“I found it on an Indian reservation in South Dakota four years ago,” the Channahon resident said of his antique Coca-Cola International Harvester Truck. “It’s a very rare car. There’s probably one car left in the country. Coca-Cola had International Harvester build them for them. During the war, Coca-Cola scrapped all the trucks from the war effort. This one was saved for some reason.”
Kleinhoffer said he made some changes to the vehicle.
“I restored the body, the cab—which is an International Harvester cab—and I fabricated the back half myself,” he said.
Kleinhoffer added that he’s always had interest in working on cars.
“I’ve done it for years and years and years,” he said. “I’m 70 years old now, and I touched my first car when I was 13.”
Kleinhoffer said winning the car show doesn’t matter to him, it’s “just a good time.”
Bill Beal, of Shorewood, brought out his 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Rally Sport.
“The interior is just as you see it—it’s all original, all stock,” he said. ‘That’s original paint. The underside is all original. All I did was freshen up the engine compartment.”
Beal said he purchased the car from its original owner in Ohio.
“The guy just parked it and stopped driving it since 1978,” he said. “I pulled out the whole engine [and] went through it.”
The reason for buying the car takes him down memory lane, Beal said.
“Growing up, I had [what] they call a second generation Camaro—that’s 1970 to 1973,” he said. “I had several of them. When me and my wife were dating, I had one of them. Then, when I had the time and the money, I bought another one.”
Beal said attending the car show served as a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
“It’s a nice show,” he said. “We go to a lot of shows around here, and this is the one we always try to make it to.”
Each car registered for participation in the show was separated into categories based on the decade in which the model was introduced and judged accordingly.
Voting was open to both spectators and registered car show participants, with the one rule being that judges cannot vote for their own vehicle.
Prizes were offered to the winners in each division and another was extended to the car dubbed as Best in Show.
“Overall, I think we get really good feedback from [hosting the event,] and it shows from last year it grows,” Gundersen said.