Cars give gleam to New Year's day

Surrounded by gleaming Camaros, amped-up Chevelles and two-seater roadsters with "please do not touch" signs and sparkling paint jobs, Chris Shaw's five-window coupe is a commoner among aristocrats.

This 1931 Ford Model A is the only vehicle at Thursday's classic and antique car showcase that invites strangers to write all over it.

Across the lot, hot rods in vibrant yellows, blues, blacks and reds wink at the sun. In contrast, Shaw's car is dour -- black, with rudimentary orange flames scrawled across the sides.

That was Shaw's intention. An old-car buff like the hundreds of other hot rod owners who spent part of New Year's Day in a suburban diner

parking lot, Shaw bought this antique Ford off eBay, restored it, then sprayed it with chalkboard paint.

He keeps a box of multi-colored chalk in the trunk and invites people to tag it. On this day, it bore a Happy New Year message, centered between a hand-drawn ace of spades and a Rolling Stones logo.

"I was trying to be different and be unique," said Shaw, who lives in Durham and runs an office equipment repair company in Chapel Hill. "I didn't want it to be pretty and shiny. If I don't like what you wrote, I wipe it off. This is one of those cars that says 'Please touch,' rather than 'Don't touch.' "

Other cars -- the black Bel Air, the silver and purple Wild Rod Roadster, the white 1964 Oldsmobile Starfire -- seem too nice to touch. But plenty of folks stop by to gaze respectfully.

That's what these rallies are all about. The New Year's Day event is just one of several classic car rallies hosted by Grill '57 each year that draw at least 200 cars. One rally drew 678 hot rods, said Mark Taylor, the diner's owner.

"And we only have 44 parking spaces," he said.

Good thing the diner is at the front of a large shopping center on U.S. 401 at the southern edge of Raleigh. Hot rods fill every space. They're on the lawn and along the small roadways that run through the plaza. Hoods and trunks are open, pristine innards on display. Car enthusiasts walk through the lots slowly, sipping coffee, peeking into car windows and tapping their feet to music.

About 140 hot rods driven from the Charlotte area joined the rally. The caravan was organized by Gary "Bear" Geissman, who edits Cruisin Carolina Magazine, a hobby publication based in Mooresville.

Hot rods and the magazine are Geissman's hobbies. By day, he's a fleet manager with Dale Earnhardt Inc. in Mooresville. Geissman organized the New Year's Day event to give hobbyists something to do on a day off.

"Usually, everybody's bored to death on New Year's Day, unless you're a football fan," he said.

Some classic car hobbyists are collectors, paying premium prices for exquisite show pieces. Others build them from scratch, scavenging at junk yards and swapping parts at rallies. For Geissman, 50, a hot rod is a flashback to childhood, of lazy summer evenings cruising and gawking at girls at the local Dairy Queen.

For most, this is not a cheap hobby. Several cars on display Thursday bore "For Sale" signs. Many listed for close to $10,000. The Wild Rod Roadster was worth $35,000, according to a flier on the dash. But the owner was taking offers.

Clay Whitaker, a Raleigh mechanic who has spent decades rebuilding 1970s Plymouth Dusters, said he may put $25,000 or more into a car. He points to a spotless yellow 1970 Camaro nearby. It's worth $100,000, he said.

"For many of these guys, it's a very expensive hobby," Whitaker said. "Some people will tell you what they put into them, others want to keep it quiet. They don't want their wives to know."