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Local car show organizer Bruce Shaffer said Route 66 is more than a landmark of U.S. history — it is a call for a new journey.
“It stands for wide open adventure, being a free spirit, which America is known for,” Shaffer said. “It represents going out on the road, being able to drive, enjoy yourself, chase a few dreams and enjoy the trip.”
Shaffer directs and organizes this year’s car show at Nob Hill’s Route 66 Summerfest, held on July 21. The festival features live music, local art displays, wine tasting and Shaffer’s car show, which includes a late night neon cruise down Central Avenue.
Shaffer said his 12-year career as a car show organizer began when the city of Albuquerque asked his Rotary Club to help put together a show for the 75th anniversary of Route 66.
“I stepped up and said ‘Hey, I’d like to do it and I’ll put it together,’” he said. “They said ‘Well can you do it?’ and I said ‘Yeah sure.’ I had never done a car show in my life. The opportunity was there to do bigger things, and I had no idea what I was doing, but I still jumped on it saying ‘This will be fun, let’s do this.’”
Shaffer showed off his gleaming red vintage Mercury Cougar at a monthly car show hosted by the Grace Church on July 14. A row of Route 66 car show stickers was aligned across the car’s windshield and classic Beach Boys hits boomed from a nearby speaker.
Shaffer said car shows help older men take up a car-oriented lifestyle they might not have been able to experience in their youth.
“On the outside looking in, it’s just a bunch of old guys doing what they’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “These were things that we couldn’t do when we were 16, 17, 18 because you didn’t have the money, the knowledge, the know-how; but now you can. Now you’ve got the funds to spend on it, you’ve got the knowledge. If you don’t have knowledge, you can find someone that does.”
Car show participants Paul Shipe and Thomas Carrillo both fell in love with cars at a young age, but at different points in their lives. Carillo was raised in a family surrounded by cars: his father worked on cars and his godfather was a drag racer. Shipe said he grew up with little money, so getting a car was a goal, not a necessity.
“I didn’t learn to drive a car until I joined the Navy. I couldn’t afford it. Food came first,” Shipe said. “Just when I got out of the Navy, I saved up my money so I could buy my first car. I’ve been involved with cars ever since.”
Danny Lovato, who is entering in this year’s car show, said the current generation’s connection to cars is not strong. Lovato’s first car was a ’53 Ford station wagon.
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“These new cars are so sophisticated. You can’t work on these new cars, you can’t get your hands dirty like you used to. Everything is starting to get away from the car,” Lovato said. “It just doesn’t have the same mystique as cars used to have.”
Ethan White, co-owner of the Blue Smoke Garage, said people have more interest in building and tinkering with alternative vehicles such as bikes. White said he was drawn to scooters and café racers, which are stripped-down motorcycles, in high school. These vehicles inspired him to open his alternative-transportation repair shop.
White and the Blue Smoke Garage will be donating a scooter to this year’s Route 66 Summerfest for the event’s first ever Urban Wheels show, an alternative to the classic car show that will feature bikes and scooters. White said his generation’s love of transportation is increasing.
“I think it’s really expanding a lot, we just love having something that’s not mass-produced, it’s more of an individual thing,” White said. “I see so many people working on stuff that they’ve just put together in their garage, and that’s just awesome. We have 17-years-olds bringing in their bikes that they’ve built and 65-year-olds bring in their bikes. It really appeals to everyone.”
