Highway Star: Car enthusiasts enjoy sunny Saturday show
Greene County and Ruckersville AutoZone co-hosted a Cars & Coffee Cruise-In event Saturday morning, with spaces quickly filling up and spilling over onto the surrounding grass and into the CVS parking lot. Everything from a Ruckersville Volunteer Fire Company engine to a 1939 Chevy Master Deluxe, a 2015 Lamborghini and a brand-new yellow Corvette (with a rear engine) were on display as owners and admirers popped hoods to discuss engines, remodels and paint colors on the beautiful sunny spring morning. The AutoZone staff held a raffle and gave out car care supplies to the winning ticket holders, and free coffee and donuts were also available. The automobile enthusiasts hope this will be a recurring monthly event, even if they need to find a slightly larger venue in the future.
Purple Mustang
Joe Martin’s gorgeous 2009 Ford Mustang features a unique iridescent paint called “mystic” that appears purple from some angles, with hints of green and gold from others and disappearing flames down the side.
1939 Chevy
Carl Sibley got his 1939 Chevy Master Deluxe about seven years ago from the original owner, after it spent 40 years parked in an old tobacco barn. After a few years of work getting it back in driving condition, he’s been enjoying it since 2018; it only has 5,000 miles on it. Wife Martina Sibley, pictured above, drives a 1966 Comet Cyclone GT (currently in the shop for an upgrade) and the couple used to run the Orange County Cruisers.
Lamborghini
Jason Barnhart of Stafford poses with his 2015 Lamborghini, which boasts a “grigio lynx” (grey) paint job. The Lambo has a button to raise the suspension to allow safe passage on less-than-perfectly-smooth roadways and this particular model has all-wheel drive.
1966 Mustang
Lee Aivazis loves the Shelby “sapphire blue” 1966 Ford Mustang and has been driving this beauty everywhere for the past two years after upgrading it with modern air conditioning. A big fan of the Mustang, he says this is his sixth one, as he has given a few of the previous cars to his kids.
1968 Charger
Scott and Robin Borrelli pose with their 1968 Dodge Charger, which Scott has been tinkering with in his garage for the past 30 years. A silver Charger was Scott Borrelli’s first car out of high school, so he loves taking it to car shows and cruising along the back roads of Greene County as well as sharing his mechanical knowledge with his three sons. The Charger is about to get an upgrade to a brand-new modern engine and drive train.
1972 Opel
Troy Harlow of Ruckersville found this “Mayan Gold” 1972 Opel GT ten years ago and had to have it. He and his wife, who celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary on Sunday, went on their first date in one of these cars when they were 15 years old. Fun fact: the headlights “roll over” from open to closed at the pull of a lever inside the car. Also, the slight “bump” in the hood offered clearance for the original carburetor, which would not fit in the car otherwise.
1977 Trans Am
Samuel Arant and Madison Soreng hand-painted the iconic eagle decal on the front of Arant’s 1977 Pontiac Trans Am. Originally built in Canada, Arant bought the car in Iowa in 2011, where he was a Kansas City high school student. It has since taken him to college and later moving across the country to Stanardsville eighteen months ago, acquiring lots of bumper stickers along the way and teaching Arant a lot about vehicle maintenance. The back of the car is the original yellow color while the front half shows the black primer underneath, and Arant says he does plan to add air conditioning in the near future after suffering through the past summer.
