Bruce Silence had a Chevrolet Nova when he was in high school, and his next choice of car was a Chevrolet Chevelle.
Seventeen years ago, he came across one, a 1970 SS model, and bought it.
Later on, the previous owner died, and any time Silence entered it in a car show after that, he made it in memory of him.
On Dec. 14, 2021, Silence died from cancer. He was 58.
Since then, the sunburst orange Chevelle with a black stripe painted on the hood and trunk has been owned by his wife, Michelle Silence.
Bruce was a longtime active member of the Seymour Area Cruisers car club, which for the past six years helped with the Fraternal Order of Police Donald M. Winn Lodge 108’s annual Pre-Scoop Cruise-In and Car Show. That’s held the night before popular Seymour tradition Scoop the Loop takes place.
Michelle recently was asked if she was OK with Bruce’s Chevelle being the featured vehicle on this year’s Scoop the Loop shirts. Of course, she said yes.
“I bawled,” she said. “I just cried like a baby and called all these guys (family members). It meant a lot to us. Still does.”
The Chevelle was on display at Friday’s car show, and Michelle and one of her daughters and three grandkids were all wearing the Scoop the Loop shirts with the car on it.
“We are very, very, very proud,” Michelle said, smiling.
The car was among more than 250 that showed up for this year’s show, which was the seventh annual. It was hard for Michelle knowing Bruce wasn’t part of the show.
“He helped with this and loved this car show, loved being a part of it, definitely a car guy,” she said.
For years, Bruce was the sole driver of the car because he was trying to find a specific type of tires, Michelle said.
“For years and years and years, he wanted to put new tires on it. I bet we looked at a million tires, and he never could find the ones he wanted,” she said. “About a year and a half to two years, he was sick, and he finally picked a set. I don’t even know if they were the set he wanted, but I feel like he was preparing that car for me.”
Bruce had done a lot of work on the car over the years. Michelle said it was a “funny blue” color when Bruce got the car because it had been used for racing, so it wasn’t in shape to be a show car.
“He and my uncle did all of the work to it,” she said. “They painted it, and then here she is today.”
Since Bruce also liked Harley-Davidson motorcycles, he chose their signature colors, orange and black, for the Chevelle.
“He did every bit of work on it, just everything,” Michelle said. “He put a new engine in it, 454, because it didn’t have a 454 when he got it.”
Bruce regularly drove the car, but now for Michelle, she said it’s more of a show car.
“I’ve got to get a little bit of work done to it since he put the bigger motor in it,” she said. “There are a few things we need to do to it.”
Bruce earned many trophies from showing the car and was proud to include his kids and grandkids at the shows and in parades.
He once said he wanted the car to stay in the family, and Michelle is keeping with his wishes.
“It’s meant to stay in the family because he has always talked about the grandkids would be the ones to have it after him, so he never wanted it to go anywhere, that’s for sure,” she said. “It was staying with us.”
Across from the Chevelle in the Robertson Feed Mill Parking Lot on Friday night, Mark and Diana King of Seymour and their son, Mike King, were with three vehicles.
Mark and Diana brought a red 1955 Chevrolet car and a black 1932 Ford, while Mike brought his father-in-law’s white 1991 Avanti convertible.
Mark and Mike made the Chevrolet a father-son project after it was purchased in 2003. They worked on it for about a year.
“My first car when I was 16, we started when I was 14, we built my first car together. That’s what got me involved in cars, so we’ve been working together on cars ever since,” Mike said. “My high school car, we built together. Mom even upholstered it. We were all involved in that one back then, so we’ve always worked on cars.”
Mike said the Chevrolet was a “barn find kind of car” with surface rust when they got it.
“We had a guy in Franklin paint it,” he said. “I did all of the rest of the work, engine and suspension.”
The Ford is unique because it’s made of Henry Ford steel and has a Chevrolet engine in it. Mark said they’ve had it for 10 years. When they got it, it looked quite different than the Chevrolet.
“It was really in good shape,” Mark said.
With the Avanti, Mike said his father-in-law, Gary Bateman, bought the car in 1993, and it only has around 16,000 miles on it.
“A guy told me it’s one of 26 built in ‘91,” Mike said. “They are pretty rare. They are all hand-built … (and) used to be owned by Studebaker years back and made in Indiana.”
The three vehicles mainly are just taken to car shows. The Chevrolet has been driven across the country to different shows.
The family, though, likes to participate in the Pre-Scoop show because proceeds benefit the FOP’s Cops and Kids program, which pairs local kids and law enforcement officers for a shopping trip in early December at Walmart Supercenter in Seymour.
“It’s a really good show. We really enjoy it. It’s a nice show,” Mike said.
“It’s a great cause,” Diana said. “We try to support it.”
On Saturday night, Scoop the Loop filled downtown streets. Some people chose to drive loops, while others decided to be spectators.
Raymond and Charlene McKinney of Seymour did the latter, sitting in chairs in the bed of their navy blue Dodge Ram 1500.
They reminisced about scooping the loop years ago.
“This here was every Friday and Saturday night,” Raymond said.
“This reminds me of back in the day,” Charlene said. “You got to see your friends, yell at them and we’d all stop in the middle of the road.”
Both are glad Scoop the Loop was revived in 2011.
“I love it. I wish they had it about twice a year,” Raymond said.
“I told him I wish it was every weekend,” Charlene said.
They both like checking out the old and new vehicles and seeing familiar faces.
“There are a lot of people I haven’t seen for a long time, and then just all of the vehicles new and old, and of course, I like the music (coming from the cars),” Charlene said. “I’m 64 years old, but it makes me feel like I’m 18 again.”
The couple planned to stay the full four hours of Scoop the Loop.
“Always do,” Raymond said.