Thousands turn out for annual event.

 By Peter EMERY

Despite the heat on Sunday, the Montrose Shopping Park was packed throughout the day as nearly 15,000 people turned out for the 21^st annual Montrose Car Show. Over 300 vehicles registered for the event, filling the 2200-2400 blocks of Honolulu Avenue. Though most of the cars were classics, there were a few newer models on display as well as motorcycles.

An awards ceremony was held in the early afternoon, recognizing autos in a variety of categories. Among the winners was Ted Saraf who entered the car show with his 1968 Dodge police car, which displayed Pasadena police decals on the doors. It was also fitted with the old lights and sirens.

“Working on a car is something else,” Saraf said. “This was a project car … I basically started from having the car in a garage, it had been there for 20 plus years with chickens in it, to getting it home and taking it apart.”

Mike Welty, owner of a 1969 Camaro Super Sport, said he’d been coming to the Montrose Car Show for “about 10 years now.”

Also present at the event were the cackle cars, classic drag cars fueled by nitro and alcohol. A lot of people crowded around the cars to hear their engines revved – sounds that could be heard blocks away.

Dale Dawson, event coordinator for the Montrose Shopping Park Association, gave kudos to the manager of the annual show.

“The real key to this is our car show manager, Tom King,” said Dawson. “Tom is a volunteer and is not paid for what he does but he puts the show together. He and his family run the check-in booth and without them we could not do it.

“What I like, as the event coordinator for the Montrose Shopping Park Association, is that we can put on events like this,” he added. “The best thing about the car show to me is how it draws people to our beautiful little town.”

The shopping park also hosts the weekly Harvest Market held on Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.