Classics on Main Car Show returns to Washington
Angela Roberts/Observer-Reporter
Bill and Colleen Toe stand with their restored ‘63 Dodge, one of the antique Mopars they will be showing at the Classics on Main Car Show Sunday.
Bill and Colleen Toe's 1957 Plymouth Fury clone is called "Christine," after the film of the same name based on a Stephen King novel.
Bill and Colleen Toe's 1957 DeSoto Adventurer is shown in this photo. The last DeSotos were made in 1961.
Bill and Colleen Toe began their collection of antique Mopar cars in 1975 by trading half a side of beef for their neighbor’s ’49 DeSoto. Now, almost 50 years later, a garage on their Washington horse farm is crowded with about 15 automobiles from 1962 to 1966.
“It’s almost like a disease, I guess,” Bill said of collecting classic automobiles. “We just kept buying cars and trading them off and selling them.”
The couple will be displaying at least 12 cars from their collection at the 14th annual Classics on Main Car Show on Sunday. Bill said their Mopars will be featured with up to 30 others in an exhibit at the pavilion on South Main Street, Washington.
Bill and Colleen have spruced up some of their classic cars, not just to be displayed in shows, but also to speed alongside other antique Mopars in drag racing competitions. In 1999, the couple’s drag racing team made its debut by winning the Mopar Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.
Each car requires a different degree of renovation to reach museum condition, but Bill said the process can take years. The couple teams up with friends and neighbors to restore the antiques to tip-top shape and make sure they stay that way.
“It takes a village,” Colleen said with a smile.
All the work that goes into maintaining the classics is worth it for Bill and Colleen. Their affection for antique automobiles stems from the fact that they grew up with the cars. Colleen still remembers the car on which she learned to drive – a ’55 Chrysler that she said was like a tank and “murderous” to parallel park.
Colleen, who taught third grade at Bower Hill Elementary School in Peters Township before retiring in 2001, said that classic cars interest people of all ages “because it’s like a little bit of history.”
“Even though [young people] may not recognize what a DeSoto is, it was kind of part of the American Dream at one point,” she added.
Classics on Main was cancelled last year after an apartment building on North Main Street collapsed, but the event drew 350 cars in 2016 – so many that some antiques had to be turned away due to space constraints, said Layton Wise, the president of the Covered Bridge Region Antique Automobile Club of America.
Wise said Main Street is usually packed on the day of the event with collectors and spectators alike, typically from Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Eastern Ohio.
This year, a couple all the way from Melbourne, Australia, will join the crowd.
John and Thelma Huitt are collectors themselves and own four Ford Model Ts – one of which they displayed at the Model T Ford Club International Meeting in Butler County last week – but they will be attending the Washington car show as spectators. Along with the Mopar exhibit, the pavilion on South Main Street will also feature a display of antique Model Ts.
John said he has been a “Ford enthusiast” for his entire life.
“The joke was ‘Your dad must have hit you over the head with a Ford steering wheel when you were little,'” he said.
While this will be the couple’s first year attending the car show, it is their 15th trip to America. They love the country – especially the country music that plays on 103.5 FM – and will make their 16th trip next year to drive from New York City to Seattle with the Model T Ford Club International.
For more information about this year’s Classics on Main Car Show, visit the Covered Bridge Region AACA’s website at coveredbridge.aaca.com.