Car club finds outlet for hot Lowcountry season: indoor show

Yet another year of sweltering summer weather got the best of a local car club, whose members agreed not to hold shows June through August.

Or so they thought.

The Coastal Carolina Corvette Show would wind up hosting an event Aug. 28, but with a twist. It was the “Summer Cool Down” Indoor Car Show, held under climate-controlled conditions.

The group was able to secure the Omar Shrine Temple on Patriots Point Road in Mount Pleasant as the show’s venue.

“We had great cooperation from the Shriners,” said Chuck Sheldon, organizer with the Corvette Club. “We are very excited about it.”

The event was a pre-registration show because of space limitations on the number of vehicles that could fit in the hall. “We got 52 in here,” he said.

In addition, another two dozen or so Corvettes belonging to club members were on display outside.

Within the temple, showgoers could peruse a melange of cars and trucks — ’50s classic Chevys, Olds and Fords, muscle cars such as a Pontiac GTO and Plymouth Fury and imports including a 1977 Porsche, a Nissan Z sports car and an Autobianchi Italian minicar.

Near the side door, Lizzy Franco, 12, held out a plate of sugar cookies with yellow icing for people to take. She baked the cookies, which were designed to match her father Charlie Franco’s yellow and black-striped 1967 Ford Mustang on display.

“She worked for four hours last night,” said her mother, Jeannie Franco.

Charlie Franco said he’s owned the car about a year. “We are actually a Corvette family,” he said, noting they own a Z06. Moreover, he was looking for a 1970 Dodge Charger, reminiscent of his first car, when he stumbled upon the Mustang. “We fell in love with it,” he said.

The Franco family hadn’t been to an indoor car show before. “I hope it’s successful,” he said. “This is really cool.”

One of the more unusual cars on display was a 2004 Dodge Viper Mamba SRT-10. Hardly a high-volume model to begin with, the specialty Viper was even more scarce. Just 200 Mambas were built in 2004, said the owner, Jerry Simmons of Pimlico. They came standard with a six-speed manual transmission, and the sticker price was $87,000.

Simmons said, “It’s got plenty of power:” the modern-day muscle car toted a V-10 engine. But he said he bought the vehicle for another reason. “I had a Corvette and sold it. I wanted something to replace it.” The white-framed Viper sported a black interior with maroon seats. “The biggest thing is just the styling,” Simmons said.

“Summer Cool Down” pays homage to the best-known indoor car event in the Charleston area, the annual “Winter Warm-Up” show in February at Gaillard Municipal Auditorium. Car enthusiast Doug Smits, a former building official with the city of Charleston, organizes the winter show.

Sheldon said he’s pleased with the summer show’s first year and expects it to be an annual event. “We are very happy with the turnout. As word gets out next year, we should have a bigger crowd.”

Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542 or jparker@postandcourier.com