From 10:00 am until 4:00 pm

At The Gregory School

3231 N. Craycroft Road

www.rotarytccs.com

More Than A Car Show

12 Years Total $1 Million for Nonprofits

Some of our best memories involve cars – like our first car, our favorite car or the car we’ve always dreamed of owning. One such memory comes back to life this fall at the Tucson Classics Car Show.

John Nicholson served in the Navy and was stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, in September 1967 when he bought the car of his dreams. He owned that 1967 Chevrolet Corvair convertible for more than 40 years. Since then, the car has had two other owners. But on Oct. 20, John and his wife will be reunited with the car, completely restored to its original beauty by Jay Parke and his wife, Lisa.  

Parke said the freshly painted car, which will be on display at the show, “looks incredible. The paint is like a mirror and the body is perfectly straight. The nearly three months in the shop is paying off.” The Parkes restored the car over the last two years. “She worked on the engine, helped with the cosmetics and kept me from going berserk when I could not start the car for about two months last year,” Jay said of his wife.

Memories are made at the Tucson Classics Car Show presented for the past 12 years by the Rotary Club of Tucson. More than 400 classic cars will be showcased. Visitors to the show can stroll the grassy campus of The Gregory School at 3231 N. Craycroft Road and browse through aisles of cars from the ’20s, ’30s,’40s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s while listening to hit songs from those decades. The event also includes a food court, related car vendors, displays from nonprofit beneficiaries and musical entertainment all day long.

The Tucson Classics Car Show is more than just a car show – it’s an event bringing together more than 480 Rotary and community volunteers to fill over 770 event-day job slots. Tucson charity organizations – 21 this year – joined with Rotarians in selling tickets. The charities keep a portion of the proceeds from their sales for their own projects. 

One hundred percent of the net proceeds benefit local charities. Over the years, the Rotary Club of Tucson has raised more than $1 million for local charities through the Tucson Classics Car Show and helped countless nonprofit agencies support their goals. Admission is $5. Children under 18 get in free with a paid adult. 

The primary beneficiary of the proceeds this year is Make Way for Books, whose mission is to work with children birth to age 5 and their families to increase children’s readiness to enter school. Other beneficiaries are:

• The Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation – known as SARSEF – creating the next generation of critical thinkers and problem solvers through real-life science and engineering projects

• Wright Flight, motivating students to achieve higher goals in academics and personal behavior by earning the opportunity to learn to fly an airplane

• Interfaith Community Services, focusing on low-income single mothers to help them secure housing, utilities and food, followed by a stabilization program and job resource center

• Job Path, providing opportunities for motivated, impoverished individuals to achieve financial independence through improved education and job training in local, high-demand careers

The $5 admission ticket includes entry into a raffle. First prize is a 2005 C-6 Corvette convertible or $15,000 in cash. Secondary raffle prizes include a $3,000 shopping spree at Sam Levitz Furniture, $2,000 in airline tickets from Wellspring Financial Partners, $1,500 in appliances or furniture from Tucson Appliance and Furniture Company, and a $500 car-care gift certificate toward a set of Cooper Tires from Jack Furrier Tire and Auto Care.