It takes a lot to turn some heads and the competition is fierce. Noah Hipolito, Jr. manages to grab some attention with his black '48 Chevy as does Taylor and Sharon Hughes with their nighttime weekend drive-in inspired '54 Chevy wagon. By far, honking the horn the loudest in the Oldies camp in Northern California are two guys, Chris Roark and Gilbert Casares.
You should be quite familiar with cover boy Chris, whose a metal-machining and design artist in the East Bay chapter. By now, word has spread about Chris's private shop (shared with club partner Carl Hernandez called C&C Customs) built for the 21st century and a builder's dream garage studio to say the least. The shop was conceived especially for super-car status and its club availability definitely helped in 2005. That's where a majority of the Oldies top secret work gets done, except when the wife shuts it down. The club even had their rides researched for the Disney/Pixar movie Cars.
Never one to ease up on the gas so quick, Chris stirs up the action by grabbing the keys to any number of lovely lows, like his caravan-leading classic black '58 Chevy Impala hardtop or the silver '57 Chevy, and let's include his son's '64 Impala ragtop. You might even say that Chris is the high-temperature lube that keeps everybody going in the club. Chris gets excited about this stuff because it means a lot to him. "The Oldies were the first club to have placed in four different sweepstakes categories at the Las Vegas Super Show," he says.
Chris recalls specific win details like Gilbert's Truck of the Year, Chris's own Second Place Traditional winner and a Second Place in Best Original. And Barry Cheda's Third Place Best Bomb sweepstakes counts as a big win in 2005. However, Chris isn't the only club member to go beyond the call of duty. Gilbert Casares, the reigning 2005 Lowrider Bomb Truck of the Year champion, adds historical greatness to the East Bay ranks and again lifted the club up a notch by creating a truck worth $100K built over 10 years. Gilbert's truck was published in LRM a few months back to commemorate the pinnacle of the championship and gives the Oldies further respect and credibility in the process.
A club is not a club without supporting members. In the East Bay, president Jorge Padilla brings the club prominence with his '54 Chevy, as does Barry Cheda's stunning "Lime Time" '51 Chevy woody wagon. Also bringing the club some custom style and flare is Marcos Rodriguez' glossy orange '47 Chevy, in addition to Richard Ortega and David Orosco of Fresno, California. "Real valuable guys who have done tons and tons of stuff," says Richard Wright of Mr. Ortega and Orosco. Richard's the club's unofficial media spokesman and he went on to mention more members like Rudy Gonzalez and Tommy Melendrez in the Inland Empire district of Southern California, and Ruben Olguin and Jose Arteaga who are doing the job down in San Diego.
A chip off the old block, Oldies' San Fernando Valley Bike Club president Michael Pea is the one who steers the club in a competitive direction. Mike's own the two-wheeler, "Lady In Red," is an acclaimed bike, as is Martin and Angel Madrigal's "Tequila Sunrise" trike. Rookie Adam Lopez is on track to join the top rankings.
Car Club of the Year-it's just one of the exciting awards that can be won on the Lowrider Tour. The Oldies did it after realizing that they came in Second Place in 2004, losing by only a few cars without really trying. So with the fierceness of the Oakland Raiders football team, victory was achieved and the rewards are many and can never be taken away.
With a little evening fatigue, but with enough room for roundtable laughter among friends, Ricardo leaned back at dinner and declared, "I appreciate and respect anybody restoring an old car because it's not like we can go to AutoZone for parts. And it's not just having the money; it's finding the right parts and knowing what to do with them." If you would like to know more about the 2005 Lowrider Car Club of the Year you can find them on the web at www.oldiescc.com. Congratulations, Oldies.