An array of cars filled the More Church’s parking lot for the seventh annual Father’s Day Car Show, bringing fathers and their kids together to spend the day creating memories and admiring unique vehicles.
Lucky Thompson goes to car shows regularly and decided to enter his new 2023 Dodge Challenger R/T Manual in the show with his son, Kaiden. While Thompson wasn’t expecting to win trophies, he took the opportunity to teach his son about his passion.
“I go to car shows regularly enough that it’s just what we do, it’s what’s fun,” Thompson said.
He said that his son helps him as much as he can with building his cars and the pair spent 10 hours alone installing LED lights onto his challenger.
“I got it from my dad and he’s learning it from me,” Thompson said. “There’s about 15 cars here that he doesn’t know that I get to teach him about.”
Bobby McElhaney, an organizer of the event, said their goal is to get more people interested in mechanical cars because it's a “dying breed.” This car show is meant to be something to honor the fathers and give them their due, he said.
“A lot of attention is given to mothers on Mother’s Day, but fathers, they get the honor but they’re kind of left out,” he said. “They don’t wanna go to dinner, they wanna come see some cars and eat some hot dogs.”
Carlos Enriquez entered his 2015 holographic Dodge Charger, decorated with stickers inside the door lining, and brought his kids to the show to embrace his passion and love for cars. He hoped to hang out with his kids all day and hopefully take an award home.
“It’s just time to be out with the kids man, just quality time,” he said. “Show them the passion that I have for the vehicles.”
Robin Moody, an organizer of the show, spent around 40 hours on each trophy, making them out of car parts and adding bearings to make the parts of the trophies interactive. He’s been doing metal sculptures for eight years and uses car parts that he already has.
“This is one of the things, kind of a gift that I’ve been blessed with and it’s a way for me to give back,” he said. “And you know, a lot of what drives car show attendance is trophies.”
Wayne McNair entered his white 1980 Camaro Z 28 and brought his son Wayline, who is starting to become a car guy himself. McNair said his interest in cars started by playing with little matchbox cars as a kid. His son followed in his footsteps, but really got into cars once he got his license.
“Spending quality time, teaching them different stuff about different cars,” Wayne McNair said. “Learn about the older cars because a lot of kids, they don’t know anything about older cars, just know how to jump in and start a car.”
@amandaLaldridge
Watch a staff illustrator capture families at the annual event.
