Flashy cars blow into Old Town
BY Hurst Laviana
The Wichita EagleSkipping past the Porsches and Corvettes, the Camaros and GTOs, the Jaguars and Mustangs, Nathan and Jayvid Guyette had no trouble picking a favorite at the 13th annual Moonlight Car Show and Street Party.
"The Lamborghini," said Nathan, 15. "It's European."
"It's different," added Jayvid, 17. "The rest of them are pretty much muscle cars."
The Guyettes, from Greensburg, were visiting Wichita and stopped by the car show, which drew thousands to Old Town on Saturday night to listen to music and see 900 of the area's snazziest show cars and trucks.
The brothers said they've been staying with their family in Leoti since their home was destroyed by the Greensburg tornado, but plan to eventually return to their hometown.
Among those with cars in the show was George Mattern of Augusta, whose purple 1952 Henry J had the words "Blown Income" painted on the spoiler.
"That pretty much states it," Mattern said of his love affair with the two-door coupes he's been driving since 1964, when he drove a 1953 model to and from work.
"They came out with a flathead four-cylinder or a flathead six-cylinder," he said. "Mine has a small-block 350 Chevy. And I've got an 871 blower on it with two 750 Holleys."
For non-gearheads, blowers are superchargers and Holleys are carburetors.
"I've got 450 horsepower there. It'll run 140 (mph) in a quarter-mile."
Mattern said the Henry J was the country's first subcompact car. He said it was a popular race car in the 1950s and 1960s.
"It's fun to drive on the street and do the speed limit," he said. "I get a lot of looks. Kids nowadays have no idea what a Henry J is."
Mattern said he's taken his purple Henry J to a few car shows, but none as big as the one at Old Town.
"Usually you go to one of these, and there are 30 to 70 cars," he said. "This one here, it's a huge one."
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Here's a link to a slideshow I put together: Slideshow
JohnC · Kechi, KS
