Car enthusiasts all over Springfield watched in anticipation Friday, Sept. 27, as the parade rolled along for the Golden Age 18th Annual International Route 66 Mother Road Festival. 

Drew Kerr, who only attends the parade, brought his bright red ‘69 Ford Galaxy 500, which includes power steering and two-speed windshield wipers, which was a rarity for his car model.

“There were only a few that were made like mine,” Kerr said. 

Kerr has been interested in cars since he was a child.

“I quit riding my Harley,” Kerr said, “And I bought a ‘66 Palka to keep the wind in my hair.”  

This parade marked Kerr’s seventh year of participating with his son.

“To me,” Kerr said, “the older cars have more personality. The worse thing that people can do at car shows is bring newer cars. I can see them any day at a Ford or a Honda dealership. But if they do decide to show new cars, they should be separated from the older ones.”  

Another parade-goer, Rick Irwin, celebrated his sixth year of attending the parade. Irwin brought his 1936 red Chevy truck, and it has taken him five years to build it.  

“It gave me something to do for myself,” Irwin said.  

The front bumper of the truck came from Utah and has an oak and stainless steel bed. Irwin has loved cars since he was a teenager and has enjoyed tinkering with them.

“I never really had money growing up,” Irwin said. “But I found that the older the car was, the easier it was to work on.” 

Both Kerr and Irwin said one of the worst things for the cars at a car show is people touching cars that are not theirs. Irwin said even the oil from one’s fingertips can scratch a car.

“One woman was walking along one year with keys in her hand, and she tripped and fell,” Irwin said. “The key scraped the side of the car and left a big scratch. She just kept walking as if nothing had happened, and the car wasn’t even hers”. 

The car show is once a year, on the third weekend in September. There are about 750 vehicles each year. The car show has grown in popularity, and it brings in a large crowd of spectators.

“Most guys don’t like to talk about how much money they spend,” Irwin said. “But it’s always fun to reminisce on the cruising I used to go to Top’s Big Boy and McDonalds”