Gearheads Converge By The Thousands At Cruisin’ For A Cure

CFAC-leadartThe premise of a typical car show is simple – roll in, post up, show off your ride, and scope out whatever else shows up. This past weekend at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California, scores of those who dig all things automotive – be them old or new and built for speed, style, or otherwise – congregated for all the usual reasons. But the organizers of Cruisin’ For A Cure didn’t put this event together just to see a massive collection of cool vehicles. They want to save lives.

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There was no shortage of badass gassers at this year’s cruise, like this ’53 Chevy dubbed Fat Bastard, reportedly equipped with a dual-carb’d 327.

The annual event has been running every year since 2000 when it was created by Debbie Baker, whose husband had been diagnosed with prostate cancer at too late of a stage to save his life. “We figure having the guys here with their toys is the best way to get them in,” says Baker.

“We’ve tested over 12,000 men over the last fifteen years and we’ve saved about 3,500 of them from a disease that they would not have known about had they not taken advantage of the free screenings at this event and others.”

For most guys, the doctor’s office is not somewhere we’re particularly enthused about spending time, so integrating non-invasive, preventative medicine into an event that caters to the demographic of men who’re the most at-risk for this disease is nothing sort of brilliant.

Since the inaugural event, Cruisin’ For A Cure has expanded to become the largest one-day charity car show in the nation, with well over three thousand vehicles on display and more than 200 vendors and exhibitors on site. The show has attracted sponsorship from the likes of Meguiar’s, Magnaflow, Mickey Thompson Tires, Interstate Batteries, and Mac Tools; and the voice of the NHRA, Dave McClellan, hosts the show.

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Car clubs were out in force at Cruisin’ For A Cure, and since there’s no restriction on make, model or year, anyone with an interesting car can play. Corvettes, Camaros, Mustang and Challengers all had a big presence at the show.

The non-profit event is all volunteer run, and unlike many other automotive fundraising events, none of the proceeds go to car clubs, promoters, or administrative overhead. A simple, painless PSA blood test can be done at the cruise and results are mailed out within a few weeks. And it’s certainly worth the trouble – last year one thousand men were screened and 140 of them discovered to have an elevated PSA count.

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We saw a good collection of old cop cars at the show as well, like this gorgeous mid-50s Buick. Movie cars were another favorite as well – check out the Bluesmobile parked next to this one in the gallery below.

Of course participation in the screening is totally voluntary, and every year more tens of thousands of people show up to the event just to get their fix of automotive awesomeness. And Cruisin’ For A Cure certainly doesn’t disappoint in that regard – whatever you’re into, there’s plenty of it here.

The mile and a half long cruise route loop snakes through the event center, giving participants a chance to show off their wheels and check out everything at the show in the process.

Alternatively, drivers can simply find a parking spot, grab a drink, hang out and let the show come to them. And unlike many shows there’s no restriction on what make, model, or year an entry car is – it just has to be cool.

Bone Fab's Special Bus has to be one of the wildest things we saw at Cruisin' For A Cure - a '59 Chevy C4500 Wayne Body with a turbocharged, 12-valve Cummins diesel engine that rides on air suspension that looks like it would right at home on Fury Road.

A mid-60s Porsche 911 might roll by, followed by a hot-rodded Buick station wagon with wood paneling. And behind them? Who knows, maybe a modified C7 Z06 Corvette or a gasser-style drag car from the early sixties.

We are suckers for purpose built racers from back in the day, so this 426 Hemi-powered Plymouth Belvedere and Vic Young's Bad News III '55 Chevy gasser definitely caught our attention.

It’s no surprise that at an event this size there’s more than just a bunch of bitchin’ hot rods rolling by.

Live music gets dished out at the main show stage throughout the afternoon, and with more than 200 vendors offering everything from hot dogs and beer to go karts and jewelry, there’s a good chance that the event has something interesting to offer to everyone who attends.

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We also scoped out a number of really cool vintage service vehicles, like this 1954 GMC / Van-Pelt firetruck, said to be number 57 of 100 identically spec’d trucks purchased by the California Office of Civil Defense, now known as the California Emergency Management Agency.

There’s also a number of cars for sale as well as performance parts, so if you’re looking for a new project or there’s an empty spot in the garage begging for a new toy, the show always plays host to numerous potential candidates that are worth checking out.

Brian Scotto's 1972 Chevy, dubbed the Napalm Nova, also made it out to the show. It's powered by a 454 with an Atomic EFI kit and backed by a Tremec T56 gearbox. It's also extremely badass, and its mission statement is explained in no uncertain terms on trunklid.

To give you a sense of the sheer scale of the event, Cruisin’ For A Cure gave out no less than sixty two awards at last year’s show for notable entries ranging from Best Tri-5 Chevy to Best Chopped and Dropped, and some of the sponsors even give out awards of their own, like Meguiar’s Award of Excellence. Just about every tribe is represented here, whether you’re into lowrider trucks, modern Mopars, Mad Max-style school buses or stretch limo third generation Corvettes.

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It wouldn’t be a car show without a clean ’70 Chevelle SS wearing some American Racing wheels, now would it?

There’s some pretty killer prizes to win at the show too, like a pair of Z24 350ci V8 crate engines supplied by two Chevrolet dealerships, a Magnuson supercharger kit that’s good for up to an additional 120 rear-wheel horsepower in certain applications, and a custom set of Budnik wheels.

Holding an outdoor event at the end of September in Orange County is a recipe for great outdoor weather, and with the summer season drawing to a close, it’s a great excuse to get out of the house and enjoy the warm temperatures before fall and winter set in. And with so many cars at the show cycling in and out, the selection changes throughout the day, which keeps things interesting.

As the saying goes, it takes all kinds to make the world go around, and that adage is well represented at Cruisin' For A Cure, where we saw an eclectic mix of muscle cars both new and old, low riders, rock crawlers, vintage sports cars, movie cars, and just about anything else you can think of.

“Every year the show continues to grow and get more exciting,” says Lyndsay Johnson of Bound by Marketing. “This year I was involved more than ever, helping to put together the marketing/design for the show’s website. My father is a survivor so we take the cause into our hearts each and every day. I am so grateful for having been part of this year’s cruise and will always support the cause and this day. A huge thank you goes out to Debbie Baker for putting everything she’s got into each year’s show!”

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About the author

Bradley Iger

Lover of noisy cars, noisy music, and noisy bulldogs, Brad can often be found flogging something expensive along the twisting tarmac of the Angeles Forest.
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