The Lloyd Police Benevolent Association hosted a bike, car and truck show on Saturday at the Bridgeview Plaza in what they hope will become an annual event.

Officer Chris Miller served as the Master of Ceremony and is the VP of the PBA. Jess Knapp assisted him in handing out the trophies.

“With everything going on with covid we wanted to do something to raise money for the PBA because we like to give back to our community and hopefully we can maintain this in the future. I think it was a great turnout,” he said.

Miller said the PBA supports youth recreation leagues, helps local families in need, purchases school items, such as backpacks, notebooks, pencils and folders, for the kids returning to school, to name just a few of the organizations initiatives.

Miller said Saturday, “was a beautiful day with beautiful cars; it was amazing. I want to thank everybody for their support and coming out and making this a great event.” He gave special thanks to dispatcher Donny Yonta for his help.

A common denominator of bike, car and truck aficionados is that nearly all fell in love with their vehicles at a young age.

Joe Minnetto took home the Best In Show Award for his 1956 Oldsmobile 88 Holiday. He bought it from the original owner 50 years ago, saying it was even in perfect condition back then.

“They judge the paint, they judge the detail on the car, they judge the undercarriage, but they mostly judge the correctness of the vehicle like the alignment of the doors, the decals and there are so many things that you have to have right,” he said.

Minnetto fell in love with Oldsmobile’s after purchasing his grandmother’s 1955 Oldsmobile convertible when he was in high school, “the first car I ever had.”

It took Ed Moreno more than three years to restore his 1929 Chevy pick-up truck.

“I had to modernize it because I couldn’t find too many parts for it; they had mechanical brakes and I made them hydraulic because they were safe,” he said. “I put a modern 327 Chevy engine and a power black transmission in it.”

Moreno said when he bought it there was a cab, running boards, and he did all of the woodwork in white oak with a friend. He said the fenders were crashed, the back was missing and it was in need of metalwork.

Moreno has restored other vehicles but this one tugged at his heartstrings.

“I tried to keep it original but I had to put some modern stuff in it like the headlights, and others in the back,” he said. “This one was special because of the light setup and the whole look of the front of it and it was a Chevy. If you look around you’ll see Fords everywhere, you won’t see many 1929 Chevy’s.”

Hubert Flood bought his blue 1955 Chevy 2-door sedan with a 350 engine in 1965 from a pair of elderly ladies who had used it simply as the regular car for transportation. Initially, they wanted to sell their house and the car together, but Flood managed to persuade them to sell him just the car for an agreed upon price of $100.

Flood calls himself a ‘Chevy man’.

“I love Chevy’s and I like the way the 1955 was built and they were built different from the rest of the companies,” he said. “I repainted it because it was a two-tone, the top was white and the rest was a lighter blue.”

Marc Reina has lovingly cared for his 1966 Ford Mustang since purchasing it from Jerry Erichsen in 1976.

“I always loved the Mustang and when I got it I was 16 and I kept it. I restored it in 2010, a complete nut and bolt restoration. I stripped everything down to bare metal and I put on a new top,” he said.

Reina was also able to obtain new seats with custom embossed horses on them from Mustang Unlimited in Connecticut. He also ordered Crager rims for the tires, which were only offered at that time for the 1966 Mustang.

Gary Gulino brought his red 1963 Thunderbird Sport Roadster to the show.

“When I was 12 my brother bought one of these and his had red interior. I couldn’t drive it but boy I loved it, so I was always looking for one of these and about 10 years ago I stumbled upon this.”

Gulino saw his beloved car on the internet that was parked next to a raised ranch house in south New Jersey. He called up the owner and found out it was still for sale and told him, “I’ll be there tomorrow.” When he looked it over all it needed was a muffler. After a bit of negotiation Gulino became the proud new owner.

Lenny Auchmoody painstakingly restored his 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396/375.

Auchmoody got the car about 18 years ago.

“It should have gone to the junkyard. It was in horrific shape [but] because it was a super sport it was worth saving,” he said.

Auchmoody said it took him 7 years to restore, calling it a labor of love, “and I’ve told people that’s exactly what it was, no question about it. The entire floors inside were completely replaced, the roof was replaced, this quarter-panel was replaced and the back balance of the car was actually three separate pieces that came from Arizona that were put together.” He had it repainted in the original factory color – meridian maroon. He offered special thanks to Gabe Delgiudice of Highland Automotive for his invaluable assistance during the restoration process.
Jerry Erichsen brought his 1957 tow truck to the show. He originally bought it in 1983, his first heavy duty truck but sold it in 1988 in order to buy a bigger truck. He never saw the initial truck again until his son spotted it for sale on the internet up north in Germantown. A deal was struck and Erichsen bought it back just three months ago; “I just had to buy it, that’s the history of our garage.”

Erichsen said it surprisingly can tow a substantial amount of weight, such a gas tankers, “which back in the 1980s were about 85,000 pounds, and even can handle tractor-trailers and the smaller Trailways bus coaches.”

Chief James Janso said the PBA is the social arm of the department, made up of the Sergeants, officers and the dispatchers but not himself and the Lieutenant.

“It’s a social organization that does the contracts, fundraisers for the community, sponsorships for youth baseball and soccer teams and anything they raise goes back to the kids and the community,” he said. “This is one of the biggest turnouts that we’ve had in years and is nice to see, especially in today’s economy and the coronavirus.”