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Cars

Cars, enthusiasts come together

The Roamin' Oldies Car Club has 40 or so folks who enjoy talking about their seriously cool rides.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published May 27, 2005

SUN CITY CENTER - Officially, the name Roamin' Oldies Car Club refers to the vintage automobiles that the members own.

"But it could refer to the geezers out here in Sun City too," club member Paul Courter said. "I guess it means both the cars and the members. We're both old and we both roam."

Actually, there's no age limit for Roamin' Oldies - either the cars or the members. Most of the 40 or so members do indeed have a vintage car or two. And the club was founded by residents of Sun City Center, who are predominantly retirees, so the average age is probably higher than the norm.

But Roamin' Oldies is open to anyone, and to any car. In fact, two current members don't even own cars. It's essentially just a group of people who like cars in general and like to share their interests.

"It's really more about the people than about the machinery," said Courter, one of the club's original members.

But it is, after all, a car club, and some of the "geezers" have some seriously cool rides.

Courter has a 1973 Triumph TR6 that he's owned since it was new.

"It was actually my wife's everyday car that she drove to work every day through the salt and snow in the Michigan winter," Courter said.

Even though Roamin' Oldies is one of the few local car clubs that's not devoted to any specific make, model or era, Courter's little British sports car stands out at the club get-togethers.

"Mostly," he said, "it's Detroit metal."

But the Detroit metal ranges from a Model T through mid '30s Chryslers, from a 1962 Corvair wagon to a 2002 Thunderbird.

Admittedly, a 2002 'Bird isn't an especially rare sight. But it ends up being a popular attraction at a lot of club functions.

When they co-founded the club, Earl and Sandy Harper already owned a classic 1957 Thunderbird.

"Shortly after the club started, the wife went out and got a brand new 2002 Thunderbird, the same color blue," Earl Harper said, "and we show them together to give people a look at what 45 years of engineering improvements brought about."

Sure, Harper allowed, a lot of vintage car nuts might not consider the newer T-bird an improvement. But he likes both the old and the new.

"They've put a lot of the Jag features in the new Thunderbirds, and aside from terrible marketing, Ford's done a pretty good job," he said.

Harper served as the club's first president, but he really credits his wife with coming up with the idea for starting their club.

"We were typical old people, retired and sitting here on our porch in Sun City, and she said, "You know, we ought to get some of these people with old cars to come out and do something together,' " he said.

Harper spread the word around Sun City Center that some car aficionados were going to get together at a nearby Wal-Mart parking lot.

About eight people showed up on a bad-weather afternoon, including Courter. Not an overwhelming turnout, but heartening enough that they decided to actually go ahead and start a formal club.

"We passed the hat to get money for fliers and mailings," Courter said. "We said we were starting a club . . . much to our delight, about 30 people came out for that first meeting."

Club members take some informal road trips to car shows around west central Florida, but the official club activities are a monthly cruise-in and two annual car shows.

The cruise-ins, on the first Thursday of each month, are informal affairs. Anyone with a cool car is welcome to stop by, meet other car nuts and show off their wheels to passers-by. It's an increasingly popular event, Courter said, that usually draws 50 to 75 cars.

The Roamin' Oldies Toys for Tots show, every December, is a more formal, judged show. Every entrant is asked to bring at least one new toy, unwrapped but still in its original package, which Marine Reserves distribute to needy kids in that part of the county.

Last year, in just the second year of the show, Roamin' Oldies volunteers filled up two vintage trucks with toys gathered at the show. Courter said the club estimates it gave about $4,500 worth of Christmas cheer to area kids.

In May, Roamin' Oldies hosts its biggest show of the year as part of the Ruskin Tomato and Heritage Festival. That show, which is not judged, attracts some 200 collectible cars.

Family memberships for Roamin' Oldies are $20 a year. Anyone interested in joining is encouraged to stop by one of the monthly cruise-ins, from 6 to 9 p.m. the first Thursday of every month at Beef O'Brady's on State Road 674 just east of Interstate 275 at the Sun City Center exit.

[Last modified May 26, 2005, 08:33:06]