The objects of fascination fall into four basic categories:

•   Classic Cars 25 years or older, restored to the original standards.

•   Street Rods 1948 or older, American made, completely hot-rodded engine drive train, suspension, and customized any way.

•   Custom Cars 1940-present, wheels modified, new suspension, power brakes, etc.

•   Race Cars These wild, hot contraptions are strictly for speed. A 1200- pound sprint car might sport an 800-pound engine and circle the track at speeds of 115 mph or more.

The classics, street rods, and custom cars evoke a nostalgic feeling in most everyone, and every enthusiast I interviewed related the instant camaraderie and positive reactions when driving their dream cars.

The Mayor's Wheels

I started my vehicular love-quest with the granddaddy of Northshore car shows, Mayor Peter Gitz of Madisonville. "Back in 1989, when we operated the Covington Badeaux's Drive-In, five of my customer friends (David Holland, Charlie Wiggins, Billy Wascom, Ronnie Tony, and Milton Spell) had classic cars and hot rods and wanted to meet and get a club started. They met with five cars the first time, ten cars the next month, and it got more and more popular as time passed."

Nowadays on the 1st Friday of every month (weather permitting) at Badeaux's in Madisonville, the attendance is typically 75 cars and hundreds of admirers. "It's a fun time with friends and families. Lots of horse trading for cars, wheels, seats, and whatever." Mayor Gitz says they have contests for the kids and "there's never any humbug." It's a genuinely wholesome family affair.

Gitz says that "the perfect car" is local Doug Gardner's magnificent, show-stopping 1937 Packard. "The hottest cars," he says, are Boogie Scott's salt flat race cars that he races in Utah. "His goal is 235 mph, and I believe he'll make it." Scott built them from scratch at his shop on Lowe Davis Road in Covington.

Bond... James Bond

Real Estate Developer Billy Kingsmill was first smitten when Sean Connery pulled up in a classic MGTF in one of the early Bond films. "I knew one day I'd have a car like that," Billy said. A friend turned him on to an MGT club, and soon the remnants of a 1954 MGTF were found in an uptown New Orleans garage. Billy and his buddy, Ken Olsen, trailered the pieces and parts to Covington and the from-scratch, frame-up restoration ensued. "I had the engine totally rebuilt," Kingsmill said. "Ordering and installing all the replacement parts took me a year and a half."

"It's a thrill to drive," he says of his 007 fantasy come true. "It's like a little racecar and it flat out moves!"

Billy just recently acquired a 1958 Nash Metropolitan, which has a very personal meaning to him. The significance was totally different from his first reconstruction. "This was the same car as the one I grew up with. It's tiny, but it's all we could afford." His family of five (including his over-6-foot dad) had it as the family car till he was 11 years old.

It's in fairly good condition, but Billy is restoring it to its original state. Forget about air conditioning, power windows, or other creature comforts, kids. "It has an original vacuum tube radio that only picks up AM, of course." When he drives it, he thinks he should carry a clown umbrella 'cause it's so very small. It's really fun and holds lots of great memories for me."

The Ladies Wanna Ride

Muscle cars are street rods that look like they're speeding when they're parked. "It's a hot car, all right," says Madisonville native Jessie Jenkins, "and I wanted one since I was 17."

Jessie's fire-engine red, 1934 Plymouth was a labor of love, costing $25,000 to buy and another $15,000 for improvements - not counting his own work on it. He's a welding foreman at Trinity Shipyards, so his skills came in handy during restoration. "It's got a Mustang II chassis with a 454 cubic inch Chevy engine, an 850 Holly carburetor, a 400 turbo transmission, and 540 horsepower." "I'm pretty sure it'll do 150 on the straight-away," he winked.

A look inside the window beneath the 4" chopped top reveals a high-tech set of instruments and controls you wouldn't expect to find. A totally digital computer regulates oil pressure, gas gauge, engine temperature, speedometer, alternator, and the electric windows, too!

His son in California has a '67 Camaro dragster, and he wants dad to meet up with him at the "Hot August Nights" show in Reno on Route 66, where over 6,000 cars strut their stuff. Jessie loves shows, and he'll probably do it.

Jessie is currently in search of a 1967 RT Dodge Charger to restore. I asked if the wife minded him spending so much money on his driving passion. "I work extra cuttin' grass and doin' yard work on the side." He closed the hood over his pride and joy engine and smiled. "She don't mind 'cause she knows how much it means to me, and she always comes along and socializes with the other wives. We always have a fun time."

Cruisin' In Style

Jovial, witty tobacconist Patrick Clanton, whose family goes back five generations in Covington, has fond recollections of growing up with a car just like his 1956 Ford Fairlane Victoria. "I was four years old when dad bought our family's first new car. And I absolutely loved it - even after I accidentally smashed my thumb in the door."

The Clantons would take road trips to the coast and go to New Orleans via the brand-new, single-span, two-lane causeway across Lake Pontchartrain. "We kids would hang out the windows and let the wind fill our cheeks out full and just do goofy stuff kids did then." The side vent windows were perfect in these cars - especially when dad lit up a stogie. "He'd hold the cigar right up to the side vent window, and the 'living room comfort' referred to in the car sales literature proved to be a fact."

Patrick learned of his boyhood dream car being for sale and jumped on it for $11,500. He added a 292 cubic inch T-Bird V-8 with 202 horsepower and Dual Smittys "to remind one of the power under the hood," he puffs with a proud grin. The car's now worth around $20,000. It originally cost $2,500 in 1956.

Safety? "Forget about it." Patrick says. "In 1956, Ford tested seat belts with the public and it backfired big time. People wondered about the safety of the car if it was necessary to be strapped in, so the company scrapped the idea." He knocked on the dashboard as we cruised through Covington. "Folks liked this hard metal dashboard and big hard steering wheel - and they wanted even more chrome in those days." He shook his head, "Man, sometimes when I'm polishing the chrome on this baby it seems like I'll never finish."

"Inevitably when I'm cruisin' - like on the Mandeville lakefront - folks wave, and when I stop somewhere, they'll come up and talk about fond memories the car recalls. You'd be surprised how often strangers come up to me and tell stories of their first romantic encounters in this very car." He quickly corrected himself, "Well - not necessarily this very car." He glanced at the back seat. "At least I hope not."

Suits 'em to a 'T'

Model T aficionados have strong reverence for the great Henry Ford, who built and sold over 15 million of the revolutionary cars, the longest run of any single model apart from the Volkswagen Beetle. He vowed in the early 1900's, "I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It w ill be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one-and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces."

Mr. Ford succeeded beyond all reasonable expectations, but his mass production wasn't quite as colorful as we enjoy today. He said, "The customer can have any color he wants so long as it's black". Pre-mass production cars were available in green, red, blue and grey, but Ford switched to black because it dried faster.

I recently flagged down a trio of couples in Model T's cruising through St. Tammany from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and they were only too happy to share information about their antique road machines. Dan Resch, President of the Magnolia Model T Ford Club of Mississippi, told me about his 1914 Model T, whose original engine "was like a big lawn mower motor, with no oil pump, no water pump, no battery (a magneto instead), gas headlights, and a transmission brake. It was hard to drive, as well," he explained.

"It's a challenge to learn to drive a Model T Ford," Dan explained, "especially in today's traffic. Model T's don't accelerate or brake quickly. The brakes function using bands which constrict the transmission, unlike a modern car which uses brake calipers attached directly to the wheels. They don't handle very well by today's standards though they navigated washboard & dirt roads very well. In fact, that's the kinda road surface they were designed for."

The Model T was offered in many different models throughout its history. All of these body styles were built with the same engine and essentially the same chassis: the Model T Roadster, Coupe, Coupelet, Runabout, Roadster Torpedo, Town Car, Touring, and the Henry Ford's own-named 'Fordor' and 'Tudor' sedans, which referred to what the names sounded like.

Harrold & Becky Rogers' black 1926 Model T 2-door ('Tudor') sedan was neat, as was Bruce Pabon's spiffy 1926 Model T green pickup. Friendly folks, for sure.

There are more than 15,000 Model T's driving throughout America today. They originally sold for $600-800 brand new at first, then dropped to an affordable $280 after Henry Ford's mass production success.

The Perfect Car

Doug Gardner is an extraordinary car aficionado who's considered the "Big Daddy" of 'em all in these parts. A gainfully unemployed engineer, his design background, creative problem-solving talents, welding skills and start-to-finish vision have enabled him to transform rusted relics into many of the finest street rods and classic cars in our region.

This guy has bought and sold more cool cars than anyone else around. He's even bought and sold the same 1948 Chevy Pickup three times, but that's a long, 'nother story.

His auto passion began in May of 2000, when he had just sold the company he had originally founded. He was set, but had an empty feeling he couldn't shake. He was successful, but depressed with the sudden stop in his high-powered executive pace. Five years earlier, he had traveled with son Brian to the big Hot August Nights Show in Reno with thousands of classics and rods to behold. He picked up a '40 Ford Coupe from Kansas with a Chevy 327 and the bug gently bit. He restored it while still concentrating on company business... for the time being.

The Big Daddy's first big anti-depressant project would turn out to be his best (to date): he found a '37 Packard with a rusted-out body and no engine. But Doug saw more than was there. The car originally was worth more than Cadillacs, Lincolns, and other luxury cars in their day. He offered $10,000 and brought home a project that's become the crŠme de la crŠme (pardon my French) of classic cars. Since restoration, he's been offered more than seven times his purchase price.

Covington's Ronnie Sandifer did the frame, body, paint, and interior with Doug doing a lot of the work himself. The '37 Packard beauty now sports an automatic transmission, power brakes, power steering, power windows, cruise control, a/c, remote-powered rumble seat, leather interior, and many other niceties. It might just be the finest ride on the northshore.

But Doug, my over-achiever friend, has lots more wheels in his ever-growing, ever-changing collection. His '27 Ford Roadster sports a Chevy 350 CID engine and his '48 Chevy Pickup is a personal driving favorite. Doug's '59 Chevy was so cool that a guy flagged him off the road at the Cruisin' The Coast Show in Biloxi and bought it from him. He's also proud of his hot lookin' '34 Chevy two-door sedan with a '91 350 CID Corvette engine. Doug even drove a '48 Cadillac owned by his bud, Billy Wascom, to the National Street Rod Show in Louisville, Ky. recently and sold it on the spot for him.

Surprisingly, insurance for these classic show jewels ranges from $90 to $150 a year since they aren't driven often and are often trailered to shows.

Doug Gardner's current project? Building another '37 Packard. "This will be the big brother to the other," Doug explains, "but with four doors and Air Ride so it can sit close to the ground at shows." That's as hip as you get.

Looks like the Big Daddy's gonna perfect perfection.

I urge you to take the whole family to see the exciting rods, customs and vintage cars sprawled throughout venues all around the northshore throughout the year. With no restricted access, fans are able to get up close to the cars and witness their beauty right. And these frequent get-togethers always offer a friendly place where car lovers of a certain style and vintage can mix, mingle and learn about vehicles from other eras, often resulting in many generations coming together and bonding through an enduring all-American interest in cars!

As we say in South Louisiana - Let the good times ROLL!