MEXICO — A few hundred people attended the second annual Mexico Cruise-In behind the fire station and Town Hall on Thursday night, enjoying scores of classic and vintage cars, trucks and vans.

Temperatures in the high 80s also brought people of all ages to socialize, photograph and admire 110 classic cars, street rods, rat rods, vintage trucks and vans during the three-hour show.

“Mexico brings in summer,” Eddy Naples of Mexico said of the ideal weather at the event for the second year in a row.

Disc jockey Dan Richard of Dan’s Automotive in Mexico cranked out the Golden Oldies music, adding to the atmosphere while Mexico firefighters were busy cooking and serving hot dogs and hamburgers.

The large turnout brought smiles to the faces of members of the Tired Iron Cruizers Car Club, who hosted the fundraiser.

“Bigger and better,” Cruizers member Cheryl Anastasio said of the event 30 minutes into it at 5:30 p.m. She was busy handing out door-prize tickets to still-arriving drivers of classic and muscle cars.

Her husband, Frank Anastasio, advertised the event in a few magazines and other members placed posters up across the state.

“We’ve been to (classic car) cruises all over and everybody says, ‘We heard about yours, and we’re comin,”” she said. “They’re here from all over. We had a whole group come in called ‘The Knucklebusters’ from New Gloucester.”

The show is a fundraiser to help the Mexico Fire Department buy a six-wheel all-terrain vehicle for remote rescues.

“This is a pretty good turnout,” Cruizers member Tim Pingree of Mexico said. “I love it. We’re really happy.”

Pingree brought his 1969 Camaro to the show. During a walk around the lot while helping drivers park, he said most of the cars and trucks ranged from the 1950s to 1980s.

“This thing started at 5 o’clock and they were here at 4 o’clock,” he said. “I got here at 4 o’clock and there was already six cars here.”

Pingree said he likes vintage cars that are different, like the red 1951 Ford Gasser and a bright green truck.

“The front of the truck is a ’50-something, but the back end is a ’59 Chevy Impala, I think, moulded together,” he said. “It’s pretty cool.”

“Wow, look at this,” Pingree said as the driver of a 1960s Ford Econoline pickup truck braked beside Cheryl Anastasio to get a ticket.

The truck, which looked like a van with a truck bed, had a huge Hemi engine with two straight pipe exhaust stacks towering over it in the truck bed, along with a large plastic gas tank. On the rear bumper was a square case labeled safety chute. The truck attracted a lot of attention from the crowd.

“We’re going to have an annual event here every year, as long as it keeps turning out like this,” Pingree said.

There were cars of all sizes, such as a small red 1940s MG dwarfed by a 1950s white Ford Fairlane with red leather or vinyl seats and interior. On the other side of the MG was a bright yellow Volkswagen camping bus sporting a giant peace sign wheel cover on its front end.

A bright purple 1934 Nash street rod competed for attention while parked near a black Buick rat rod and a cherry red Ford truck.

With camera in hand and a big smile on his face, Eddy Naples said the event was like a big trip down memory lane.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “Geez, this reminds me of when we were back in high school. We all had our muscle cars. I used to have a GTO like the second one down, a ’65.”

Mexico Town Manager John Madigan sported a big smile while admiring the cars with his wife. He said that before he went into the service in Vietnam, he had a 1964 Chevy Impala convertible in high school.

“It’s awesome! Very good,” Madigan said of the event. “Frank (Anastasio) has it in with the ‘big guy’ upstairs. He said, ‘I want summer to start in Mexico, Maine on May 30.'”

Madigan said Anastasio’s idea to hold a classic car cruise-in has been great for Mexico and Mexico firefighters trying to get a rescue vehicle.

“Frank, you brought a lot of smiles out here today,” Madigan said.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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