Car club has been active since 1979
By Marty Cheek
Photo by Marty Cheek
Russ Carr and his wife Marilyn cruise along Tennant Avenue during a recent Valle Del Sur club trip.
On a perfect spring morning last month, a caravan of five antique cars casually climbed the winding two-lane mountain road of Dunne Avenue toward Henry W. Coe State Park. Among the vehicles was a 1930 Packard five-passenger coupe purchased in Paradise, Calif. nearly 20 years ago in a state of neglect and lovingly restored back to pristine condition by its owner Ray Fairfield.
The vehicles on the road-trip outing belonged to members of the Valle Del Sur antique car club, which is now celebrating 35 years of auto machine mania. Nearly every month, members of the South Valley-based car club take friendly journeys to fun destinations for afternoon picnic lunches and occasional overnight stays.
“It’s just a great bunch of people,” said Fairfield, a member of the club since 1981. “Individual members put on the tours each month to enjoy local attractions and so you get to see whatever interests the other people. You get to see all kinds of interesting stuff you would never think of going to see.”
Photo by Marty Cheek
Classic cars cruise through the backroads on Morgan Hill during a recent trip.
Retired from employment as a nuclear start-up engineer for General Electric, the Morgan Hill resident enjoys working on his Packard and socializing with Valle Del Sur members, getting into long conversations about their common interest in cars.
The group is a regional club under the umbrella of the Antique Automobile Club of America, founded in 1935 in Philadelphia and the oldest and largest automotive historical society in the nation. Cars are considered “antique” for the club if they are 25 years or older and in original condition.
Vehicles owned by club members make up an eclectic collection that give a glimpse of American car history. One member has eight Model Ts including an old farm truck that he still uses for agricultural work. Other cars include a 1936 Auburn Phaeton Sedan, a 1947 Cadillac convertible, and a red 1966 Ford Mustang.
For Fairfield, enjoying revving the engine of his Packard while doing the monthly club tour gives him a sense of nostalgia for cars of a bygone age.
“You get a few heads turned and a lot of thumbs up,” he said. “It’s like going back into time a bit. You know, they say cars aren’t like they use to be, and that’s true. They’re better now, they’re better in almost every way engineering-wise. But there’s just something about the old cars. They’re fun. They’re works of arts.”
On the May road trip to Coe State Park, Russ Carr, president of the Valle Del Sur club, drove his white 1963 Lincoln Continental convertible — the same model of car President Kennedy rode in on that fateful day in Dallas. The Morgan Hill resident grins when a passenger riding in the rear in the same seat Kennedy sat in tells Carr he has the perfect name for his hobby. The man’s automobile passion started young when his father got him interested in the wide variety of vehicles that roll the roads.
Photos by Marty Cheek
Ray Fairfield and his wife Kathy Fairfield take a break on their trip to Henry W. Coe State Park.
“I’ve got my first car at home,” he said. “It’s a little wooden thing that I use to pull along behind me. I’ve always enjoyed cars. I can remember going to car shows with my dad with a whole different variety of cars then back when I was a kid. I’ve always been interested in different cars and the nostalgia.”
With more than 30 members, the Valle Del Sur group is made up of a mix of people from different occupations and age ranges. All share an enthusiasm for antique cars. Carr recalls one particularly memorable film-themed club road trip to a small coastal town north of San Francisco for an overnight stay.
“A couple of years ago we had a ‘Birds Tour.’ No, we didn’t go out to look at birds. We went up to Bodega Bay and drove there along a back road that I know where it is that Tippy Hedron drove in 1963 in the (Alfred Hitchcock) movie ‘The Birds.’ You come down into Bodega Bay and we stayed there and they showed the movie at night, which for most of us is a comedy now. We went to some of the different spots such as where the school house was and the church and some of the other places around there. We just had a whole weekend that was involved in that movie.”
Besides presiding over the club, Carr also serves as the chair of the Liberty Car Cruise that proceeds the annual Morgan Hill Fourth of July Parade, part of the Freedom Fest events put on by nonprofit Independence Day Celebrations. Although the cruise isn’t officially one of Valle Del Sur’s club activities, many of its members participate in organizing it and riding in their antique autos or modified hot rods to celebrate America’s independence and love of rubber on the road.
Carr laughs as he talks about how the Car Cruise pre-parade tradition started a few years ago. “I made the mistake of saying I can help,” he said. “You know how it goes with volunteers. I’ve been in the parade for maybe 10 or 12 years when I first got the Continental. And at one point in time I told Bob Hunt (co-chair of the parade) that I can help you out with the Car Cruise part of it. And now I am — and I’ve talked the club into working with me.”
Besides the regular road trips, the local club members meet at a meeting/social event the second Monday of every month starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Morgan Hill House (located at 17860 N. Monterey Road). Club membership is $25 a year. Members must also pay an annual $35 membership fee to the AACA.
