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Cars

Car club more than just cars

"We always joke that it's more of an eating club than a car club," said Bruce Covert, a member of the very social Tampa Bay Antique Vehicle Association.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published August 12, 2005

Every Tuesday night, Joseph Shipley gets together with 100 of his closest friends.

Shipley is president of the Tampa Bay Antique Vehicle Association, a group of more than 100 people devoted to classic cars.

Every Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m., the TBAVA puts on one of the biggest cruise-ins in area, in the parking lot of the Pine Grove Restaurant on Florida Avenue, just north of Busch Boulevard. It's not unusual for 100 cars to be included in the show.

Visitors might get an up-close look at a Model A, a Corvair and a classic Mustang, all within a few steps of each other. There are a few trophies given out, and a $25 door prize, but basically it's just a chance to hang with other car lovers and their machines.

"It's all old cars, but they don't have to be in perfect shape," Shipley said. "If you've got an old car and you're proud of it but the fenders are banged up, you can show it. It's social and it's fun. That's the whole point of it right there."

The weekly car show is probably the focal point of TBAVA, but it's far from the only club activity. Members take annual trips to a car show in Waycross, Ga., every April, and to the Turkey Run in Daytona Beach every November. Club members often schedule smaller, less formal excursions. They recently drove to North Florida and hooked up with a club from St. Augustine and toured the historic sites and the back roads.

"We go caravan-style because someone always breaks down," said club member Bruce Covert. "Besides that's it's always fun to see people turn their heads when they see our cars."

There's also a monthly club meeting and dinner at the Lutz Civic Center. The club supplies the entree, and each member brings a side dish.

"We always joke that it's more of an eating club than a car club," Covert said.

Club meetings used to have a more technical angle to them, Shipley said, with guest speakers talking about restoration and mechanical issues.

But along the way, members became less interested in technical matters. Probably, Shipley said, it's because the average age of the membership has gotten higher.

"We're in our 50s and 60s," he said. "Some of us are in our 70s. We're as antique as our cars."

But even though it's mostly a social club, Shipley said, TBAVA isn't all fun and games. In fact, it's one of the most active car clubs in town in terms of community involvement.

The club recently bought televisions for each room in the new LifePath Hospice facility in Temple Terrace and has helped educate disabled and disadvantaged youngsters.

The club will listen to almost anyone who needs money for a worthy cause, and will help if they can, Shipley said.

Even though Shipley said the average age of TBAVA members is getting higher, that's mostly true of the few dozen very active members, many of whom have been in the club since it started in the 1980s.

The club's membership includes plenty of younger people. In fact, because of the weekly shows, membership is growing rapidly.

"It seems like we sign up one or two new people every week," Shipley said.

But Shipley, whose current cars include a 1950 Ford and a '54 Ford, said signing up doesn't necessarily get you into the club.

"You can sign up at the show, but you're not a member until the board approves you," he said.

Board members reserve the right to reject any application. It doesn't happen often, Shipley said. Someone would have to display some fairly egregious behavior at the show to be turned away.

That's pretty rare these days. On occasion, some people, usually kids, have come to the show and blasted boom boxes or burned rubber through the parking lot. They're asked to calm down, and if they don't they're asked to leave. It's supposed to be a laid-back, family-friendly show.

Like most members, Covert discovered the club through the shows. That was a few years back, when the shows were much smaller, held at a Chick-fil-A on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

Covert and his wife Sharon, both of whom are now board members, started stopping in with their 1964 Corvair.

"After a while we said, we're having fun, we like these people, we ought to join," Covert said. "That's the best way to join, to come to the shows and find out if you like us and we like you."

Despite all the free food, activities and charitable donations TBAVA offers (including a newsletter with club news and car-related ads), membership is just $20 a year for a couple. Members' children can join for another $10 a year. Show sponsorships bring in the bulk of the club's budget.

"The shows bring in money, but we give it all away to charity," Covert said.

For more information about the Tampa Bay Antique Vehicle Association, visit the club's Web site at clubs.hemmings.com/tbava.

[Last modified August 11, 2005, 08:56:11]