When you think of car dealerships, you probably immediately think of new and used cars, the service department and the parts counter. But what you don’t typically think of is custom cars of all makes and models filling up the lot with the wheezing of blowers and the cacophony of lopey cammed big blocks. Well, that’s just what happened at Lake Chevrolet in beautiful Lake Elsinore, California.

The “Cruise Night” was the concept of Dan Gomez, Service Department manager. Gomez noticed custom car owners were coming in with their daily drivers to get the standard oil change or warranty work done, and through a couple conversations discovered that a lot of these customers had custom vehicles; Chevys, Fords, and Dodges, and they all like to show them.

The first show was  last year in April, and the Cruise Nights have become an immediate success. Once a month, on every second Saturday between 4-to-7pm, you can attend a free cruise night in the parking lot of Lake Chevrolet. On the maiden voyage of the first show, the staff at Lake Chevrolet were amazed at the turnout, with over one hundred custom cars and trucks in attendance. The show attracted approximately 300 spectators and not to mention potential car buyers too. In fact Lake Chevrolet sold two cars in that four hour period.

Gomez even hosts a raffle with prizes and money to be given away at each show. The grand prize is a brand new Chevrolet crate motor, a heck of a big ticket item to take home just for attending a car cruise.

Scheduled to run seven times a year, the cruise nights will go on until October, so you car owners that enter will have seven chances to win. It’ll be October’s final show that some lucky participant will walk away with a brand new small block. But wait, the news gets better! Every month, a new aftermarket item will be bolted on to the motor; like a new Edlebrock manifold this month, new carburetor the following month, and so on. So, by the end of the month, the last month will see quite a few goodies on the motor, how cool is that!

The first show of 2011 was critical because of the weather. Rain that fell that morning had dried up by the afternoon as the sun came out to the joy of car owners and spectators alike. With a carnival atmosphere, there were vendors selling hot dogs, burgers, sodas and other delights.  Around 4:00 pm the custom cars started rolling in. It was awesome to see vintage cars, intertwined with new 2011 model cars man, have they come a long way in design and performance.

We spoke with a few car owners about that subject and they were passionate in their answers. Ed Lambert who owns a classic Willys coupe stated that he drives new Chevy trucks for his business AMBER AIR in Lake Elsinore but he would rather tool around in his Willys Coupe and enjoys the time spent working on it. We heard the same story from a lot of other car owners at the show.

Vendors were small in numbers because of the weather but one of the tough guys who attends events come rain or shine was a guy named Tim who had a custom woodworking booth, where he made custom works of art. The best one we found was a wood carving of the “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Tim tells us he can carve anything that you can dream up. he told us he would be at next month’s show so come down and check him out.

The show even had a visit from famed car builder Sam Foose (father to world famous son, Chip) who brought his custom Ford down after winning “Best of Show” at the Goodguy’s event at Del Mar.

As the show continued, the clouds began to roll back in. The threat that the clouds held moved in overhead dropping temperatures and kicking up winds. With the weather turning for the worse, the protective car owners started one by one heading for the safety of their garages. We don’t blame them it, was getting pretty nasty out.

But they didn’t go away empty-handed as several people won cash and prizes and had a some great food. The next show is May 14th, so keep that on your calendar. Hopefully, the weather will be better and the turnout bigger.  Plus, you can always increase your chances of winning a cool crate motor. See you next month.