Classic cars lined the lot—their owners chatting under cover of limited shade—as fans of vintage vehicles milled around and voted for their favorites at Saturday’s Meals for the Elderly Classic Car Show.

In the shadow of the All American Chevrolet sign at 203 N. Bryant Blvd, San Angelo, two men sat with their friends and fellow car owners. I wandered up and asked who had the best story, and immediately they all pointed at Bender Martin and threw him under the proverbial bus.

Martin, a long time San Angelo native, has been driving his '69 Roadrunner since his high school days.

“I worked 3 jobs in High school to pay for it,” said Martin, “Cost me $79 a month.”

The four-speed 426 Hemi golden-orange Roadrunner is Martin’s pride and joy; a heavy piece of functional nostalgia.

“How many kids did you put in the trunk to sneak into the drive in?  Four?” quipped his friend and fellow aficionado Dwight Jackson as they both laughed.

Jackson owns a ‘65 Chevelle that he found in a barn in Talpa last September. The ‘barnfinder’ ran just fine and only needed a little TLC to be presentable at shows.

The Chevelle was quite the discovery, “Been in the barn for 20 years and the original owner was there in Talpa,” Jackson explained.

Both had scrapbooks sitting on their classics, detailing the adventures the cars and their owners had shared.

Martin’s showed a timeline of his Roadrunner from when he bought it, the races it won, and the family time he and his daughter spent working on it together, while Jackson’s showcased the before and after photos of his ‘barnfinder’s’ renovation.

Car owners like Jackson and Martin are the bread and butter of car shows: good people with good stories and a love for classic cars.

Shows are great opportunities for these owners to socialize and admire each other’s machines, and entering for a good cause like Meals for the Elderly is icing on the cake.

The car show raised $1,410  for the non-profit, and Becca Edens, Marketing and Event Director for Meals for the Elderly, was ecstatic at the success.

“Anytime the community comes out and supports us and we come out and support another group as well, its win-win for everybody,” Edens said.