Showing off prized possessions

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D.B. Horton and his son, Daniel Horton, spent time Saturday shining Daniel’s newly renovated Ford truck for its first time on display at the 10th annual Hot Rods and Academics Car Show.

The duo restored what used to be Daniel’s great-grandfather’s red truck, working together to bring it back to life in just over a week.

They finished it minutes before Daniel was set to take his date to Trinity Lutheran High School’s prom.

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“It’s been a lot of fun to have a father-son project to do together,” D.B. Horton said of the time he got to spend with his son. “I wanted to do it to spend time together but also to teach him that he can do it.”

The pair disassembled the entire truck, and then had it sandblasted and painted, including the engine. They then reassembled it all, sometimes working until 2:30 in the morning.

“It was a lot of work, but look at it — fresh paint, fresh everything, even the bed is made out of tiger wood, which is pretty exotic,” D.B. Horton said.

Daniel said he hadn’t learned to drive a “three-on-the-tree,” a manual transmission vehicle with three different forward gears, before he received the truck, but he had learned as they finished it.

“I actually tried driving it around the block before we had completely finished the brakes, so I was basically driving with limited or no brakes,” Daniel said.

Both said they are proud of the work that went into it and even more pleased with the result.

“It’s pretty cool, and you don’t realize how cool it’s going to look until the end,” Daniel said.

The truck was one of many vehicles on display at the car show held at Seymour High School. Each and every car had its own story.

Kenneth Isley, a Seymour junior and member of the Customs, Academics, Racing and Restorations Club, said he enjoys hearing the stories.

Isley said his job at the event was to direct cars to parking locations. He used the opportunity to meet the owners and learn about their cars.

“It’s just neat to go out and talk with all of these guys that are into cars,” he said. “You get to hear all of the stories behind the cars and how they got here.”

The CARR Club organized the car show, which included door prizes, trophies and concessions and this year collected money for two scholarships.

The scholarships are available for Seymour students who have an interest in pursuing a career in automotive fields after high school.

The scholarships and car show are examples of what the CARR Club offers to students involved.

“We want to give them a chance to interact with the car community,” club adviser Jeremy Wischmeier said. “We want them to talk with the owners, meet businesses out there involved in cars and foster an interest in them.”

The CARR Club set up the music and the tables and directed traffic.

An hour into the event, 20 cars were on display. Wischmeier said he hoped to have about 60 by the end of the day, but the cold weather and threat of rain may have deterred vintage car owners from coming out.

Wischmeier said with perfect weather, the show has had as many as 100 cars entered.

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