Auto correct: Weather cooperates for Hampton Presbyterian Church car show

With regard to his unprecedentedly popular Model T, Henry Ford once said:

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it’s black.”

Fast-forward to 1993, and Chevrolet was offering something similar with its 40th-anniversary Corvette, only in a dark reddish hue.

Hampton resident George Schibler, who always wanted his own ’Vette, saw an advertisement online for one of the ’93 models for sale in the South Hills.

“So we went out to Brentwood, and I liked the color. She was not too crazy about it,” he said about his wife, Donna, “but I like it.”

His Chevy was one of the beauties on display during Hampton Presbyterian Church’s Sept. 10 car show, under overcast but precipitation-free skies.

“We run three of these a season. It’s free to the community, and we’re trying to get folks to come out and have fellowship, especially after covid,” Wendy Stormer, who chairs the church’s outreach committee, said. “We allow all vehicles: motorcycles, trucks, whatever. And sometimes an antique fire truck comes, which is awesome.”

Schibler has owned his contribution to the show’s awesomeness for a decade.

“I spent several thousand dollars on different parts,” he said. “We did all the ball joints, all the rotors, the calipers, brakes, new tires, the normal wear-and-tear stuff. But the most expensive thing was the transmission. We had to have the transmission rebuilt.”

He happened to park his car next to one of a different make that happened to contain a Corvette engine.

Joe Migliorisi’s 1960 Metropolitan by American Motors is distinctive enough as one of the smaller cars of its era, but the Harrison resident probably stands alone with regard to what’s under the hood. As to why he dropped the big block in there:

“I don’t know. It just started taking on a life of its own,” he said, following its purchase seven years ago and his subsequent work. “It was pretty rusty, so I didn’t think it was worth making it all stock again.”

His car has a back seat, but it’s flush against the front ones.

“Everything had to be moved back for the motor,” Migliorisi said. “So we sort of sucked up all the leg room.”

The long-departed automaker Nash introduced the Metropolitan in 1953 as a subcompact “grocery getter,” intended as a second vehicle for families, and production continued for eight years as a U.S.-United Kingdom collaboration to address the car’s short wheelbase.

“They didn’t have the tooling, and they didn’t think it was worth it to assemble it in America,” Migliorisi said. “So they made all the parts, made everything, sent it there. They put it together and brought it back and sold it in America.”

But Metropolitan sales were practically nothing compared with those of a certain German import that established itself as this country’s most popular small car.

Volkswagen piggybacked on the success of the Beetle with the Transporter, better known in popular culture, especially for folks who attended Woodstock or Grateful Dead concerts, as the microbus. Wayne and Kelly Loebig of Shaler own a 1979 version, the last year for the second generation of Transporters.

“I wanted to get a Mustang, and we were looking online,” Wayne said, with their then-10-year-old son. “He saw this and talked me into buying it.”

Wayne worked on the van for about two years before taking it to the streets.

“The motor is pretty much all original. It just hit 200,000,” he said about the mileage. “The interior, most of that’s original other than the front seat covers. It’s just fun to drive because it’s different.”

Larry Proft was looking for something different when he bought a 1969 AMX, American Motors’ foray into the American muscle-car market. His two-seater roars with a 390-cubic-inch V-8 engine.

The O’Hara resident bought the AMX in 1993 from a seller in Little Rock, Ark., after being impressed with an example he saw at a car show.

“I’m thinking, man, that’s something you never see. So I tried to find a ’70 with a four-speed and air,” he said, referencing the manual transmission and climate control. “I couldn’t hit the combination, so I ended up with this, with four-speed. But I still didn’t get the air.”

He’s not complaining about his purchase, though.

“All I had to do was repaint it once — it had 24,000 miles on it — and fix the seats,” Proft said.

As befitting any car show worth its road salt, deejay Denny Dutko played favorite songs of the golden age of American automobiles, from the 1950s through early ’70s, as outreach committee volunteers sold food and drinks.

“All our money that we raise today goes to new membership,” Stormer said. “Anybody who wants to come and learn about the church, we spend money on some food and refreshments for them.”

The committee, in fact, is hosting a pair of informational sessions regarding Hampton Presbyterian Church membership, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Oct. 9 and 23. Questions can be directed to Stormer at wstormer96@gmail.com or Rev. Ryan Pixton, associate pastor of youth and outreach, at ryan@hamptonpresbyterian.net.