Tuesday evening, the parking lot in front of Southlake Nissan in Merrillville was full of classic, sports, and performance cars and their proud owners looking to share their beauty with friends, family, and strangers alike. The Southlake Nissan Auto Mall Car Show and Cruise Night has become a regular occurrence in Merrillville the last few years and a chance for these car owners to show off their rides to the community.
“It’s a nice event is unique that no one else in the area really does. These guys have these cars that are performance cars and they don’t have a place to do this. You know, it’s a place where families can come and hang out. Kids love to look at the cars and see them burn out,” said Southlake Service Director Ken O’Neal, who has been participating in the event for the past three years.
Speaking of how the event has evolved in the past few years, O’Neal was optimistic.
“It had almost gotten a little too big, a lot of truck clubs and other stuff came in that took up a lot of space…we’ve kind of gotten back to our original core audience with the older guys and the classic cars and performance cars.”
While guests admired the classic cars, they were greeted by the motorists themselves, who were excited to be there, take in the scenery, and share not only their cars’ stories, but theirs as well and one of the motorists, Fran, was no exception. having brought her 1970 Chevelle.
“I bought it new in 1970 and that motor’s still running!” she said about her beautiful 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle.
“I come out often,” shared Gerald, one of the motorists whobrought along his 1970 Pontiac Grand Prix. “It’s great meeting with like-minded people and seeing all the cars and of course they’ve got the burnouts here.”.
Elsewhere at the show, motorists walked around admiring and complementing each other’s cars and polishing their own to make sure they were in pristine condition as the Southlake Nissan employees directed car after car into the lot.
One man, Bill, had brought his rare Nissan Figaro, which was launched by Nissan at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show under the slogan, “Back to the Future” and resembled a 1960’s Japanese Datsun. When asked about the classic car, Bill was more than happy to elaborate and share the history of his beloved car.
“They were made strictly for Japan… but in England they’ve been importing them for years and years,” Bill explained. “They could have their own rally with how many they have. There’s probably only 300 in the US…They only made them for one year!
Stories were told throughout the night as people mingled and bonded over all of the speciality and classic cars at the Southlake Nissan Auto Mall Car Show and Cruise Night. This was a common theme among the attendees who joked and reminisced about the past while enjoying the simplicity of a shared hobby.
For more information about Southlake Nissan, go to www.southlakenissan.com.