4 HOT CARS
How many of us love the movie “American Graffiti”? Chances are, if your
reading this magazine, you love American Graffiti! When I was a kid the mov-
ie boosted cruising BIG time! And the fact that I lived an hours drive west of
Modesto made it easy to attend the annual American Graffiti night. Of course,
back then it wasn’t very organized; thousands of Northern California kids would
flood downtown Modesto and party/cruise until two o’clock in the morning!
Some years were better then others. I remember one year the cops shut it down
and blocked all the streets except for the ones that led out of town!
After a few years with no Graffiti nights, the town began to realize how much
money the cruise brought into the town each year! So the city took it over and
made it a weekend long event. “The American Grafitti Festival” was born. Today
the show features a Friday night cruise with downtown blocked off and only the
(1,700!!) registered cars are allowed to cruise. Early staging Friday afternoon
offers locals an up close look at the cars. The staging is on beautiful tree-lined
streets with vintage buildings. Once the cars are staged, you have a couple of
hours to grab dinner before the cruise begins.
At 6PM we all climb back into our cars and
fire up engines to start the cruise. The only
problem is it turns out to more of a roving
car show then a cruise. You cruise for about
15 minutes, then things grind to a halt for 15
minutes. Took us about three hours to do one
and half laps of the closed off downtown loop.
We had a fantastic time, and riding in the car
and shooting the cruise provided a different
perspective instead of shooting from the curb.
The 2019 American Graffiti Festival and Car
Show was a great success. The North Modesto
Kiwanis Club thanks their sponsors, the show
entrants, and the public for their support. You
can mark the dates for the 2020 show which
will be held on June 12, 13, 14, 2020. Please
plan to attend the show and visit Modesto, the
birthplace of American Graffiti!
Visit their website at:
americangraffitifestival.com/nmk/
RIGHT: It seemed kind of
appropriate to have BOB, our
project car, parked in front the
United States Bankruptcy Court.
