Hot Wheels
Hundreds of classic, custom and cool cars and trucks shined in the Sunday sun on Main Street for the 25th annual Cruise-A-Palooza.
And thousands packed the downtown streets to cruise on foot among them.
Sponsored by the Rodfathers car club, the show also featured bands, DJs, raffles, giveaways, food vendors, crafters and car accessory vendors.
Main Street and side streets were closed during the all day event.
Parked on Main Street near Diamond Park was a unique, custom car that drew a lot of attention.
Made of parts from various classic cars, the “Alti,” which means ultimate in Latin, took three years to build, said the car's proud owner, Bill Kingwell, of Munhall in Allegheny County.
“It's a one of a kind custom. I made it from parts from 10 cars,” Kingwell said.
The nose is from a Cord, the bumpers came from a Packard, the headlights are Chevrolet and the taillights once adorned a LaSalle.
It took three years to add those parts and others to a 1984 Armaretta made by Lerini Coach Corp. in California to make it an ultimate car, Kingwell said.
The sleek car has a Chevy 350 cubic inch V-8 engine and Kingwell said it gets a lot of attention from people everywhere he takes it.
“I drove it to Indianapolis and back. I use it. It's not just a pretty face,” Kingwell said.Dave Buerkle of Evans City brought the 1969 Ford Mustang he has owned for 15 years.The car was repainted its original shade of green two years ago and Buerkle said he obtained the original six cylinder engine after it was replaced with a 302 cubic inch Ford V-8 by the previous owner.“The green that was on it was faded. It's fun car. I take it to different cruises,” he said.A standout of the show was a rare 1970 AMC Rebel Machine owned by Jim Rasely of Butler.One of only 2,200 that were built, the one-year-only Machine was a high-performance version of the Rebel that featured reflective red, white and blue stripes, a tachometer attached to the hood scoop, Hurst shifter, four-speed manual transmission and a potent 390 cubic inch V-8.“It was a one-year model. AMC made it and sent it to Hurst for the shifter,” Rasely said.He said he has owned it since 1980 and had it repainted in its original color scheme.“It was in pretty rough shape when I got it,” Rasely said.
