Memories on Main

CLOVIS - Wednesday evening, Ronnie Jones danced with his mother Patsy beside his father Cletis' glistening red 1950 GMC outside Clovis' Twin Cronnie Drive-In.

A few minutes later, Ronnie's son Kade pulled his silver 2014 Genesis Coupe beside his grandfather's truck to bring home the contrast and the continuity across the generations.

The Jones' are keeping up with each other. Cletis enjoyed draggin' main back in its mid-century heyday, and his grandson, who starts college this fall in Lubbock, keeps the tradition alive meanwhile on Friday nights on Clovis. Sure, there are some technological differences in the 64-year gap between the cars - Kade's ride includes a three-piece 180 PSI airlift system for negotiating the varying terrain of Clovis roads - but the spirit of simple automotive recreation is virtually unchanged.

"(Draggin' Main) was a hoot," said Patsy's sister, Janie Garland, who graduated Clovis High School in 1964. "It was a wonderful time."

The wonderful times aren't all gone, either. In fact, at a glance at this year's "Draggin' Main" festivities you couldn't be blamed for imagining a time warp to a period half a century past when classic cars ruled the old brick road of downtown Clovis.

A blending of the ages was a common aspect of the cars showcased, when the city's classic drive-ins hosted evening gatherings that drew gearheads young and old.

On Tuesday night, Mary and Al Lewis came out with a 1957 Chevrolet business sedan, beautifully restored in the past three years after sitting for over two decades in a junkyard in Amherst, Texas, with a tree growing through the hood.

"I always wanted one," Al Lewis told The News. He wanted one again, that is. Lewis had one just like it before going off to Vietnam, but on his return his father gave him a check for the car sale. Circumstance offered another chance, and with the technical assistance of their friend Jason Gus the Lewis' are now the proud owners of a car that's classic on the outside with a new style computerized motor and digital gauges on the inside.

Some transformations were even more dramatic. Mike Turner pulled into the drive-thru Wednesday evening like a hurricane, blaring music from the speakers of his Frankenstein trike made on the frame of a 1971 car and outfitted with parts of big rigs, stainless steel ice boxes, a barbecue grill and a toaster. He's dressed the vehicle up like Santa's sleigh, with his own costume to match, during past winters.

Other lineages are more straightforward. Daniel Tapia proudly presented his father's high school car, a 1974 Camaro, on Wednesday, and on Thursday Jordan Muffley spoke fondly of his late grandfather "Judge" Russell Muffley's 1967 Buick Skylark.

"It's been in the family 40 years," Muffley told The News, running his hands over the red leather bench seats. "They don't make them like this anymore."

They call that Buick the "holiday on wheels" after the sales pitch of the local dealership that sold it, but they haven't taken it on many long holidays. Still, the car has been well cared for and has only needed general maintenance along with a new paint job in 2010.

Muffley said it's "super comfortable" and "rides like a boat," which is just the sort of motoring Jeff McGough likes to make with the 1955 Chevy Bel Air called "Black Beauty" that his late father Steve McGough bought in the early 1960s.

"We like to cruise Main, get a Coke, the things you're supposed to do in a classic," he told The News. "She still drives like a kitten, let me tell you."

Fred "Speedy" Gonzales and his wife Betty - who liken themselves to characters from both The Flintstones and Looney Tunes - like to take their restored 1940 "street rod" Plymouth for cruising on account of its modern air conditioning and V8 engine.

The Gonzales' brought two cars out to the drive-in Thursday evening, opening the butterfly doors of the Plymouth's hood and displaying their Speedy Gonzales stuffed mascots inside the adjacent two-door 1955 Chevy Bel Air Post. They brought photo albums lovingly documenting the years-long restoration process for each, including Fred's painstaking recreation of the Plymouth logo with a toothpick and paint. The Chevy, his "pride and joy," was obtained after Fred's brother picked it up south of Taos for $13 and all the booze he had in the house.

"I was more or less born in a shop," said Fred, who grew up in Fort Sumner but moved to Clovis in 1969. He appreciates the simplicity of the older vehicles, which he says can start up with just four wires compared to a myriad with newer models.

"I bet you a dollar against a donut you need several hundred wires to run a modern computer engine," he said.

Betty Gonzales said she appreciates the stories behind their vehicles. They're working on fixing up a 1951 Mercury with suicide doors for next year.

"It's easy to buy a fancy car, but these have history," she said.

Not all cars are designed for cruising, but they still found a place last week in Clovis. Bob and Cindy Brooks drove their 1973 DeTomaso Pantera down from Castle Rock, Colorado. Their intentions in town were to see Loverboy's opening act, Liliac, during Friday's iteration of the concurrent Clovis Music Festival, but realizing the car dimension of the week they decided to come in style.

Bob Brooks said they've owned the car for 35 years, and it has its own hybridity - Italian made with an American engine and a German drive crank. They harbored no plans to drive their low-slung sports car, named for a panther, in the Draggin' Main parade, however.

"It doesn't like to go slow," Cindy Brooks told The News. "And Main Street has a lot of bumps."