Verde Art Space Hosts Drifters Car Club on Saturday in Edgewood

Well, Suzann and I thought we were on to a really hot idea having her son’s car club, the Drifters, guest star at Verde Art Space this weekend. Now, of course, the southern heat has invaded Pittsburgh and we really will have a sizzling hot car cruise in Edgewood this Saturday afternoon.

Suzann’s son, , founded the Drifters a while back and he and his dad, Dave, both build and restore vintage cars. Out in their garage, it’s like a step back to the decades of my childhood, when big cars felt like giant steel spaceships with teeth in the front that often looked ready to snap up small girls.

I sit with closed eyes in Dave Miriello’s 1950 Buick and remember those sticky all day drives from my home in the mountains of North Carolina down to the flatlands of Myrtle Beach. In those days, Myrtle Beach was a sleepy backwater town, dotted with  small  beach cabins. The future Grand Strand was rebuilding after being leveled by Hurricane Hazel in 1954. No interstates in those days, just a skinny two lane road that snaked down the mountains. I usually sank into those big soft seats seats half dead from car sickness only to revive when we finally hit the piedmont which was flat, empty and so deadly dull.

I can still feel those big  cushiony seats, the crazy radio dials and our faces blown with heavy hot air – we had no air conditioning, so the windows were always cranked down. My mother would shake her head and say how lucky we were not to live in Columbia, SC with such stinking hot temperatures. That big roomy car was usually packed with dogs, pet turtles, Ray Charles records, my grandmother and of course all our linens ironed and carefully folded. Going to the beach was like moving our entire house with us and that car could hold it all. Those cars were like traveling mansions!

Now, Dave’s car is a bit different than my mom’s tidy cold war Buick. I open my eyes and see purple butter smooth seats, wild cartoons pin striped on the dash and painted flames on the doors! It’s a wild looking car and has a mighty roar when fired up!

The Buick will be part of the gang of rat rods that will adorn the Gates Gas Station on Edgewood Avenue this Saturday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Also starring is Trixie the pick-up truck  from the early 1950’s looking like she belongs in a nice cool evening drive-in for a lazy date; except this Trixie has a cow catcher front, a skull mounted on the gear shift and real flames that shoot out of the exhaust. All the Drifters’ cars have uniquely quirky decorations and they are actual works of steel art.

Suzann and I invite you down to catch these rat rods and escape the heat into Verde Art Space where we  will have cool refreshments. Maybe you will remember a  time when the best stuff in your life could fit into the big old family car and everything was simple and the ride was smooth!

For more information about the Drifters, check out their website at www.Drifterscc.com