Classic cars invade Butler’s Main Street for annual Cruise-A-Palooza
The streets of Butler were choked with cars of all descriptions — classic cars, experimental cars, race cars and even a hearse — for the Rodfathers of Butler’s 31st annual Cruise-A-Palooza, held along Main Street on Sunday, June 28.
Rodfathers President John Malinski said the summer automotive spectacle has gained a national reputation, with visitors coming from many states to see what Butler has to offer.
“There are websites they have on car shows, and that's how these people come here.” Malinski said. “We've had people come (from) as far away as Kansas. You can see the amount of people here, and we have new generations coming in. Most of this is family oriented and most of these people are car people.”
According to Malinski, this year’s Cruise-A-Palooza brought about 700 vehicles to Main Street and some side streets. While still massive, it represented a decline from the nearly 2,000 that attended last year’s event.
Malinski blamed the decrease on the gray sky over Butler on Sunday.
“Due to the weather, it’s down,” Malinski said. “We normally have about 1,500 (cars).”
Despite the lower-than-usual turnout, those who did attend were able to see plenty of new attractions, including a pair of preserved and ultra-rare 1960s Plymouth A990 “Super Stocks” owned by friends Charlie Caldwell and Frank Corrao, of Chardon, Ohio. The vehicles were originally built and used for drag racing and are two out of fewer than 200 of the model that were built — so the fact that two of them were next to each other in Butler was a one-of-a-kind moment.
“These aren’t street-legal cars. They’re factory race cars. They're not even legal on the street. They’ve got to be put in a trailer dragging them,” Caldwell said. “In fact, when Chrysler built these cars, they put a disclaimer in the glove box that said, ‘These vehicles are for competitive use only and are not street legal.’”
Although he has brought his vehicle to several car cruises, Caldwell said this was his first time at the Butler Cruise-A-Palooza, and he thoroughly enjoyed it.
“The Rodfathers here were so nice to bring us here and take care of us and give us a place to park,” Caldwell said.
Another highlight was a chopped 1929 Ford Model A, rebuilt from scratch with original Ford parts and heavily modified by physically lowering the body and leaving the engine compartment exposed. The modified Ford, which garnered plenty of attention from onlookers, was put together in six months by Levi Maskal of Maskal Motorsports, a used-car dealer in Clay Township.
Maskal said this was his second time bringing the Ford to Cruise-A-Palooza, having done so last year. However, he says he’d visited Cruise-A-Palooza for years prior.
“You couldn't even walk around this thing last year,” Maskal said. “You couldn't even get by.”
Yet another standout vehicle was a black hearse owned by Vince Miller. The twist: an open coffin with an actual medical school skeleton poking out of it, along with other horror-themed touches, such as a bust of a man being run over placed underneath the front of the vehicle.
Miller said he has brought a hearse to car cruise events for over two decades, including the coffin and skeleton, and has gradually made his display more intricate over time with new additions.
“I fell in love with hearses when I was a little kid,” Miller said. “It was the most respected car on the road. It could go through stop signs and stoplights. Every car let it go through and didn't honk. I fell in love with the respect that it had. Not because of the dead bodies it carries, but because it was just so recognizable that everybody respected it.”
The Cruise-A-Palooza is the fourth out of 10 scheduled car cruises to be organized by the Rodfathers this year. The next is scheduled for Independence Day, when the Rodfathers are assisting in the organization of a special Fourth of July car cruise as part of the Big Butler Fair.
“This year, (the fair is) going to have a car cruise out there with fireworks,” Malinski said. “We're actually going to help them put that on. It's the first year we've done it out there for them.”
As usual, the Rodfathers will pool all proceeds from the Cruise-A-Palooza and all other Rodfathers events this year and donate them to charities of their choice. Malinski said the group has yet to choose which causes it will back this year.
Over the years, the Rodfathers has donated to the American Lung Association, the American Diabetes Association, the Ellen O'Brien Gaiser Center, the Make A Wish Foundation and the Butler City Fire Department, among others.
