BERKELEY – Jersey Shore Car Shows and the Berkeley-Lacey Relay For Life held a fundraising ‘Cruising For A Cure,’ which featured more than a hundred vehicles and at least that many stories.
The music blasted oldies out over Veterans Park and a few food trucks ringed the field. The show opened with a light misty rain, but the sun fought its way through. People checked out the cars and trucks, and the owners got to do one of their favorite things – talk about their cars.
Angelina Sciara’s eyeshadow matched her ‘86 Corvette. Her fiance had bought it and started fixing it up for her before he passed.
She took on the challenge, giving it a paint job, ground effects, and more. She hired a tattoo artist to airbrush a tiger on the hood. If that wasn’t enough personality, it has sayings on all sides. One of them is “Italian Princess,” which was on the Corvette she drove in the 1980s.
She takes it to shows now in memory of her fiance, Bob, who unfortunately isn’t with us today.
Driving her car, she gets a lot of looks, especially when her 90-year-old mother is riding shotgun, giving a thumbs up to people checking it out. You might see it around Berkeley if she’s out, but it’s garage-kept otherwise.
Chris Clay is another afficionado who bought a car similar to one he used to drive. His 1993 Saturn SL2 is similar to the Saturn he had in the 1990s. He drove that one for 12 years.
This new one only had a single owner. He had delivered from Virginia. These models were 100% Saturn-made in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
“It’s a survivor,” he said.
Originally from Bayville, he lives in Philadelphia now. This was his first car show ever, and he enjoyed it.
Saturns were only made for a somewhat short timeframe, and weren’t kept as well as sports cars, so as a result, there are fewer of them in the classics circuit now, he said. Most people didn’t know they were connected to General Motors.
In effect, they were so common at the time that no one ever thought that one day they would be rare. A quick search online shows a resurgence in finding and restoring Saturns.
These were just a few of the more than 100 cars, trucks, and motorcycles that made it out to Veterans Park that day.
Organizer Robyn Paciulli-Griffith thanked everyone who made it out. “I’m grateful and I’m appreciative of all the help” they gave to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.
