- [Carl] Car culture in the Carolinas
is certainly alive and well.
We're in Elkin North Carolina
for a monthly gathering of the Elkin Valley Cruisers.
This event is filled with great history,
great cars with friends and a whole lot of love.
- All my friends are here that I went school with,
they got their old cars here.
- So it's still a thing of friends coming together?
- Yeah it is yeah.
(southern rock music playing)
- It used to be people that come from out of state
and all over everywhere and down here on Friday and Saturday
and Sunday night, it would be bumper to bumper.
- [Carl] From the '60s through to '80s
Elkin North Carolina was considered by many
to have the largest car cruising community
on the East coast.
It was so popular that it made the front page of USA Today.
You were doing hotrods before and they were even cool.
- Right.
- So you guys have been together how long?
- 57 years last week.
- 57 years?
Can you believe it?
- Yeah.
- It's a 37 Pontiac,
you can find Chevrolets and Fords,
but it's so hard to find a Pontiac
and this is an old bootleg car.
- I had a 62 Super Sport Chevrolet 409.
It gets you away from the politics of the world.
And you forget about all your troubles at home.
- [Carl] Our Carolina Car Culture segments are driven
by a growing passion of car collectors
and enthusiasts everywhere.
They are passion driven and they love sharing.
their rolling works of art.
Smiles and good memories are in abundance.
(upbeat music)
Well folks, there's no doubting that
there's a lot of love at a car show, that's right.
(laughs)
What's your name ma'am?
- Cathy Billings.
- You know this fellow?
- Yes.
- I would hope so, kissing you like that.
- I know.
- What's your name sir?
- Dicky Billings.
- So Dicky, is this your car?
- Yes, sir.
- And ma'am?
- Yes, that's my truck.
- And this is your truck?
I'm seeing a theme we've seen a few couples here already
that come with both cars, right?
- Later in life you learn a lot of things.
So we decided we wanted to get back into it again.
So she always liked trucks.
So I built this truck for her.
Once we got it finished and then I said
I want a car for myself.
So we found.
- Hey, is that Turk from State Road?
- That'd be me.
- What you got there?
- Oh I was trying to work on a Supercharger
just a little bit
- A Supercharger right.
What a beautiful car you've got.
Tell us about it.
- Well, it's a 2010 Challenger turned into a Super Bird.
- Right.
- From Petty Enterprises It's got the Six One.
That's got a Kenny Bell Supercharger.
- Now, Turk, I want you to tell me,
go back in time a little bit of what happened to you
as a young man that brought you to the place
before you now have this car.
- Well, when I started out and I was about 13, 14
I had 69 Roadrunner.
I had a little 62 Chevy, every kind of muscle car--
- You weren't afraid of speed were you?
- No.
Drag race a little bit.
- Yeah.
Everybody's telling me different reasons
that they would come and cruise the streets at night.
So what was your reason?
- It was the (mumbles)
- Yeah.
- Maybe come to see the young girls and the hot rod cars
it was here.
- Did you have ever get in trouble?
- All the time or two.
(laughs)
- But more than just being a businessperson here,
what is it about this car environment that made you say yes.
- I enjoyed myself messing with old cars.
And back when I was in high school, it was the thing
before I come along and everybody cruise downtown Elkin
and they did it year after year, century after century.
And me and my wife, I met my wife here
and a lot of people met their girlfriends and wives here
over the years.
And I thought it was just a wonderful family thing
for people to do and keep on doing.
I just hate to see that fail.
- People like Dub Harris who have a veteran in Vietnam
and he has this old moonshine car
and it's become a little bit of his identity.
That he likes to talk about that era in that time.
- That's right.
- So that's really a piece of history.
- That's a piece of history that nobody else knows about
except Dub and he does a very good job of telling it.
- Yeah that's right.
So this is your truck.
- It's a 1947 Studebaker.
- Studebaker.
- Same year as I am.
- Oh.
- And he gave it to me for my retirement present.
- Clay what an incredible car you have,
tell us about it.
- It's a 65 GTO always been my favorite car.
- Yeah.
- I grew up in one.
And other than the color of it, it's the same car
I rode in when I was 14 years old.
- SO a GTO, have you had more than one of these or?
- Yeah, I've had several.
I've had 13 through the years.
- Wow.
GTOs?
- Yeah.
My brother was my idol.
He was my hero.
- When you drive it, do you think of him?
- Yeah.
Yeah, every time I reach to crank it, I think of him.
Sitting in the back, this thing cranks
on the left and I used to watch
him crank his car.
up top on the left and I used to watch him
crank his car
And I always thought it was crazy
that it cranked over there.
Most cars crank on the steering wheel or in the dash.
- Right.
- This cranks up on the left hand side.
- [Carl] Time's short has cruise by quick
when you spend time doing what you enjoy
and it's clear that the Elkin Valley Cruisers
love sharing their cars and memories with others.
(southern country music playing)
Oh my gosh love is the air here in Elkin.