ELKHORN
Who can forget the classic Nova?
Actually, there might be some people who would like to forget the 1976 Nova sedan their parents forced them to drive to high school in 1989, when the car was considered an embarrassment instead of a classic.
None of those people were at the Madison Classics Auto Swap Meet and Car Show on Sunday. For the past three decades, car people have been gathering the first weekend in August at the Walworth County Fairgrounds to look at classic vehicles and talk cars.
The weekend鈥檚 specially featured vehicles were Novas and Chevelles.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a car thing,鈥 said Gary Esse, organizer and founder of Madison Classics.
Esse and his family have been hosting shows at the Walworth County Fairgrounds for 34 years and at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds for 42 years. The show in Jefferson is scheduled for Sept. 27-29.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a get-together for car owners and collectors and for people that restore cars,鈥 Esse said.
This 1969 Nova 396 was on display at Sunday鈥檚 Madison Classic Auto Swap Meet and Car Show at the Walworth County Fairgrounds. This is the 34th year the event has been held there. This year鈥檚 featured cars were Novas and Chevelles.
On Sunday, more than one participant referred to the swap meet and car show as an event for 鈥渃ar people.鈥 Those are the people who see potential in that baby blue 1976 Nova sedan and transform it into a masterpiece鈥攖he coolest car on the block.
鈥淐ar people鈥 are guys like Bob Kuykendall, who has owned more than 200 Corvettes. He bought his first one, a 1963 model, for $2,000 when he was 17. By that time, he was already a car person鈥攋ust like his father before him.
鈥淢y dad owned a body shop,鈥 Kuykendall said. 鈥淚 started doing body work and masking and sanding cars when I was 10 years old.鈥
When he was 30, he opened Bob Kuykendall鈥檚 Pontiac in Fort Atkinson. At the time, he was the youngest GM dealer in the nation.
His favorite Corvettes are those known as 鈥渕id-year cars鈥濃攖hose made between 1963-67.
Starting in 1968, Corvettes had bigger bodies and less room inside. The fender wells had a different look, too.
Paul Tackett is another guy who has always been a car person. His first car was a 1951 Chevy, which his older brother gave to him when he was 14.
Tackett had five of his restored cars featured in the movie 鈥淭he Express,鈥 starring Dennis Quaid. The vehicles included a 1951 Studebaker, a 1940 Chevy Coupe, a 1951 Chevy and a 1956 Buick. He thinks the other car was a 1949 Oldsmobile, but he can鈥檛 recall.
Tackett and a couple of buddies also restored an old Silver Eagle bus, ripping out the interior and refitting it. Singer Rick James used the vehicle on his 鈥淐old Blooded鈥 tour in 1983, and singer Roy Orbison later bought it to use on his own tour.
Tackett, who says he has had hundreds of cars, said it was difficult to name his favorite.
鈥淧robably my 鈥56 Ford Victoria,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t was the first good car I owned.鈥