By Steve Metsch
Held under sunny and warm skies Sunday, the annual Father’s Day Car Show in Lyons was deemed a smashing success by participants and visitors.
Not only were car lovers able to admire the four-wheeled beauties, some owners spent quality time with Dad or a spouse.
Don Raschka, 80, of Central Stickney, was there with his son Tom Raschka and their 1969 Buick GS400.
“They made 100 of them with the racing engine. They offered the public 70, I got it from the factory,” Don added.
Tom, 44, of Willow Springs said, “for 4,400 bucks, you, too, could have owned this. … Only 131 of them were made in 1969. It’s worth six figures now.”
Tom smiled when asked if the car show on Father’s Day was a good idea.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I get to spend some time with Dad, get to enjoy some cars in beautiful weather and be amongst people who enjoy their vehicles as well. Can’t complain.”
There were zero complaints from Carl Kraizinger, 80, and wife Gerry Kraizinger, 77, who drove their two Corvettes from Naperville for the show.
“That’s a 2019, the last year they made them here. That’s No. 00943. I ordered it the first day (it was available) in January 2018. I had it a month later,” Carl said.
“When I met her in 1967, she had a brand-new ’67 Stingray which, today, is worth $75,000 if you can restore it,” Carl said.
Gerry recalled she was 20 when she ordered that Stingray that cost $5,000.
“My family, we were going on vacation in the ‘50s. I looked out the back window and there was a Corvette. I said, ‘I’m going to get one of those when I get older.’ I was 10,” Gerry said.
She no longer owns that ’67 Stingray. Instead, Gerry had her 1999 Corvette on display Sunday.
“It had 39,000 original miles on it. One owner. The guy was a snowbird, lived in the north suburbs, spent six months of the year in Arizona,” Carl said of the now antique car.
Cars are considered antiques once then hit 25 years.
In an interesting sidebar, although they met in 1967, these two Corvette fans didn’t get married until 2018.
“She kicked me to the curb in ’68,” Carl deadpanned.
But she didn’t forget him.
“I called him in 2018. He was in Minnesota. So, it was exactly 50 years between. He had married. I didn’t. We got married in 2018, so we’re newlyweds,” Gerry said with a warm smile.
Strolling through the lines of cars parked on the grass in Smith Park on Lawndale Avenue, Tom Cepak, 63, of Stickney, was smiling.
Cepak said he liked seeing the variety of vehicles, but “especially the old pickups.”
Bruce Quintos, of Chicago Ridge, does not have a pickup.
However, Quintos did bring 1957 Chevy Bel Air, painted a lovely turquoise, as he does each year.
“The original color was red,” said Quintos, who displayed a photo of his car before he renovated it, when it looked ready for the junkyard.
Quintos, a former village trustee in Chicago Ridge, visited with Lyons Village Trustee Dan Hilke, who wore a broad-brimmed hat that provided protection from the scorching sun.
“This is all about the United States’ love affair with the automobile,” he said of the car show.
“I think it goes back to when the first ones were invented and replaced horses,” said Hilker, who three weeks earlier had attended the Indy 500.
Lyons Mayor Christopher Getty was found strolling through the car show with daughter Isabella.
He noted with a nod toward Lawndale Avenue that “cars are still coming in” at 11:30 a.m.
“We have a terrific number of vehicles. It worked out. Everybody’s having a nice time. We’ve got a great crowd. Perfect weather,” Getty said.
Isabella, 9, added, “I like the colors and I like how they decorate the inside.”
