Mike Smith gave his 1971 Chevelle and 1977 Corvette a lot of tender loving care over the years.
The Columbus man had worked on the Chevelle and wanted to get the Corvette repainted, but the latter never happened.
“He knew he was passing, so about a month before he passed, he got rid of both of those (cars) to pay bills off so that we didn’t suffer,” Sarah Foist said of her father, who died 19 years ago.
Eleven years later, Foist was able to get the Corvette back.
“My aunt had this one, so she sold it to us,” Foist said.
Then a few years later, she got the Chevelle back.
“We knew the person who had bought this one off of my dad, and we kept going back every so often, at least once a year, ‘Hey, would you sell that?’ ‘Hey, we want it,’ and (the owner) would promise that whenever he would sell it,” she said.
Foist’s husband, Shannon, said the Corvette was in pieces, so they had to put it back together. The Crothersville couple also has done work on the Chevelle over the years.
The last two years, they were able to showcase the Chevelle during the Cars and Guitars cruise-in and concert in downtown Seymour. For the 18th annual event Saturday, they brought the Corvette, too.
“We just got done with rebuilding the rear end,” Sarah said.
“I painted it and everything,” Shannon said of the Corvette’s burnt orange with gold sparkle exterior.
“We still have some work on the Corvette. We want to get the interior and stuff, just doing it as we can,” Sarah said.
The two cars were among 180 entered in Saturday’s cruise-in.
“This is a dream because I’m on this side of the fence,” Shannon said of showcasing the cars. “Used to, back in all those days all of my life, I was the one walking down the street looking at the cars dreamin’ and droolin’. Luckily, her dad had them. I just lucked into the dream.”
Having both cars there was extra special for Sarah.
“It just brings back memories of my dad because my dad took both of them to car shows growing up,” she said.
Saturday was the first time in several weeks that she was able to drive the Corvette after work had been done to make it a dependable vehicle.
“He told me he had to get that one going so I quit wanting to drive that one (Chevelle),” she said, smiling.
“I’ve got to stop that somehow,” Shannon said, smiling.
Shannon said he doesn’t drive the Chevelle too often. Sarah said her father had gotten that car from a junkyard.
“They were about to crush it, so he redid it, and it was the same color,” she said of the sting red body with maroon stripes. “We repainted it after we got it because the person who had it before let it rust and it was in a garage fire and burnt up, so we painted it back to the original color that he had.”
Considering the work they have put into both cars, the Foists like being able to show them off whenever they can. Cars and Guitars is a perfect opportunity.
“I just want to take them so that everybody can see what I have done,” Shannon said. “It is a reward in itself just seeing people smile or point.”
Next to the Foists was Bill Gray of Seymour with his unique car, a white 1959 Edsel Ranger with a red hard top and whitewall tires.
He also had a unique story to share. His first car in 1966 was an Edsel, and just a few months ago, he came across the 1959 model on Facebook and purchased it from St. Joseph, Missouri.
He brought a photo of his first car and a 1972 newspaper ad for Fidelity Federal with a photo of him standing next to the car.
“I was the assistant controller for the savings loan. This was an ad for the business. It was an employee appreciation ad,” Gray said.
The bold text above the photo reads “Want to talk car? That’s Bill Gray’s second love.”
“My first love was account data processing at Fidelity, and this was my second love,” he said, referring to his car.
The ad photo was taken in front of a garage that still stands at Walnut and Third streets in downtown Seymour behind what’s now Seymour Eye Clinic. Fidelity Federal was nearby at that time.
The Edsel was named after Henry Ford’s son. Henry was the founder of Ford Motor Company.
The Edsel, however, was only made for a few years.
“It was Ford’s folly, but the people that say that have never owned and never driven one,” Gray said. “There was too much competition. There was Ford Galaxy, there was the Mercury and this (Edsel), so why did Ford need three cars in the same class? There could be a step up from Ford to this to this to Lincoln. There wasn’t a tier. It was just another same thing as what they had with the Galaxy and the Mercury.”
For Gray, however, the Edsel is nostalgic, and he was happy to find one in great shape.
So how often does he drive it?
“Every chance I get,” he said, smiling.
Saturday was his first time entering it in Cars and Guitars, and he plans to take it to other car shows.
For the last two hours of Saturday’s event, Billy Brown and his band performed a concert. He’s a Kentucky native who sings country music. His band included Seymour native Dave Campbell II, formerly of Dave and Whitney, on guitar. Catch him and his band at Poplar Street Restaurant on July 15.
In the middle of their set, Cars and Guitars organizers Darrin and Shawna Boas announced winners of an autographed John Mellencamp guitar, two bicycles, a car detailing certificate, a football autographed by Indianapolis Colts cornerback Kenny Moore and $400 for a new set of tires — all of which were donated.
Then they announced the winning ticket number for the 50/50 drawing, and the winner donated half of his more than $400 winnings back to Cars and Guitars.
The two food trucks set up during the event — Schocke’s Meats and Kona Ice — also donated a portion of their sales to Cars and Guitars.
Proceeds from the annual event go toward physically challenged playground equipment for Seymour parks.