On Saturday afternoon, the sun shone with polished chrome in downtown Owensboro as the Sunset Cruisers brought dozens of classic cars to the competition and car showroom at City Hall.
While most of the cars shone, Raymond and Ottom Davis’ 1991 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser stood out. Covered with rust on top of the wheels and bolted to the side plates, the station wagon looked like a vehicle rescued from a destructive yard.
When the couple bought the car, “it was perfect,” said Raymond Davis. After painting his blue coat in a checkerboard pattern for the first time, the couple decided to give the cart a rusty look by spraying it with hydrochloric acid.
“It didn’t take more than 15 minutes for the car to rust completely,” he said. Bolted license plates were an added touch of Raymond’s hobby of collecting numbers wherever he went.
At a recent car show in Evassville, the station wagon won the People’s Choice Award, he said.
The Hawesville couple has been to a number of car shows and held some of them.
“We do that almost every weekend,” said Ott Davis.
The Davis family was in the General Motors race, where judges choose their favorite GM cars. But most people showing vehicles on Saturday were there just to have fun.
“I met some of the best people I know through cars,” said Morgan Murman, who came to the show to show off her Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye.
Murman and Kenny Cecil, both from Owensboro, showed muscle cars to Dodge, its Challenger Super Stock. Like the Davis family, Murman and Cecil are regular visitors to car shows.
“She’s going for more than me,” Cecil said. “We try to support them as much as we can.”
Steve Cale went to the show with his 1963 Cadillac DeVille. Cale said he bought it from a friend who had his old car rotting in a barn full of dust and mouse nests.
“His wife told him to get rid of having too many toys,” Cale said. I had newer cars, but I wanted to get something old again.
While Cail had to replace the gas tank, fuel pipes and other engine parts, everything else in the car was original.
Just taking the car home was a challenge.
“I was stuck on the side of the road several times,” he said. But now DeVille is in great shape.
Cale said working on cars was a lifelong passion.
“It’s been a hobby since I was 15,” he said. He set himself on fire after his mother took the family to a race on the now-closed Chandler Speedway.
“This was my first experience with cars and I still haven’t given up,” Cale said.
Cale said the DeVille is one of the best vehicles in his collection, almost equal to the dragster he still competes with for most years.
“This is my second favorite,” Cale said.