Every year at this time, all attention in the county seat turns toward the automobile. Beginning with the BID’s cruise-in tonight and continuing through the weekend with the Rolling Antiquers’ show at the fairgrounds, what we usually take for granted day in and day out suddenly becomes an interest, a passion, for even the mildest of car enthusiasts.

And most of the time, I’ll readily admit, I just don’t get it. Sure, I like to drive a decent looking (and operating) vehicle, but that’s about as far as my interest goes. Perhaps if I had the expendable income to afford something which was actually luxurious, unique or collectible, it would be a different story. But as it is, I’m satisfied with having four spinning wheels.

In talking with the area’s foremost auto enthusiasts over the years here at the paper (Ray Hart comes to mind), I’ve often asked them what the big deal was. The answer I got most often seems pretty logical – nostalgia.

For Baby Boomers, I gather, owning and/or restoring vintage autos takes one back to a simpler time. “Sitting in one of those cars reminds you of your first date, the first time you were free on your own with your own set of wheels,” someone once told me. While this source’s trip down memory lane was taken in a ‘68 Porsche, mine would be in a ‘76 Ford Granada.