Les and Natasha Clark, along with their children, enjoy themselves in the family’s vintage Camaro at the Corner Cafe’s Cruise-In Saturday night.
A crowd gathered at the Corner Cafe on Saturday evening despite the packed SEC football schedule for the annual “Cruise-In.”
The owners of more than two-dozen classic cars used the opportunity to show off the objects of their affections.
Toney Hicks and his wife, Doris, staked out a patch of green grass behind their orange ’66 Plymouth Valiant that has a sweet 360 cubic-inch engine tucked under the gleaming hood.
“That’s not Tennessee orange,” said Doris, as Toney cackled. “We’re Alabama fans.”
“My dad was the captain of the Alabama team in 1929,” Toney said. “So, you see where my allegiance is.”
There were old Buicks and Mercurys with their hoods open for all to lust after the good ol’ American horsepower they had been retrofitted with. Vintage Camaro’s, convertible and hardtop, were sprinkled around the lot of the popular eatery. The fellas from the fire hall stopped by to gawk. They had to park Engine 2 next door at the gas station because the lot in front of Melissa Davenport’s popular eatery was overflowing with Detroit metal.
Not everyone was enamored with the display of cars. Sure, Tommy Francis is as red-blooded as the next man and admires classic cars with muscle as much as anyone. But he and his wife, Ruth, proudly wearing their Tennessee shirts, were sitting it a table outside the Corner Cafe with an acquaintance with a hand-held device that was keeping them informed of the play-by-play as the Vols rebounded in the second half against the Gators.
“Oh, we didn’t miss any of the game,” said Ruth, who served this city for many years as a school crossing guard.
Melissa Davenport, the proprietor of the Corner Cafe, busily filled orders for folks inside the restaurant who stopped by and worked up an appetite admiring the cars.
Davenport said she gets a kick out of having the Cruise-In at the place every football season for the last five years.
“We had 26 cars, that’s the most we’ve ever had,” she said as she brought out a Brownie Sundae and waved it under the nose of Jane Clark (’67 Camaro).
Ron Patterson (Mercury and Buick … sorry didn’t catch the model, took home a door prize of a car wash kit. Like Ron’s cars had a speck of dirt on them to begin with.
Candy Morgan and Christina Notaro each won a gift card to Advance Auto as a door prize.
Melissa Davenport, proprietor of the Corner Cafe, tempts Ruth and Tommy Francis with a Brownie Sundae Saturday night at the Cruise-In.
