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Cruise the 'Burg

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By Skip Peterson, Wheels of the Week Updated 12:35 PM Monday, October 19, 2009

The fourth Saturday of the summer months brings Main Street in Miamisburg to life, mostly with the sounds of big V-8s and rock ’n’ roll music. Welcome to Cruise the ’Burg.

The family-friendly event closes most of downtown, and the cruisers begin arriving by 3 p.m. to get a choice parking spot. Chris  Howard was rolling into town from Farmersville at the wheel of his ’23 Ford T-bucket.

Among the hundred or so cars, Tom Sparks’ Cherry Bomb Red 1940 Ford was drawing a lot of looks. You knew it looked special, but it was hard to know more until Sparks explained it.

“It started life as a coupe; actually, it was a police car in Oxford. Harold Niehaus did the custom body work on it and he removed the door post, creating a two-door hardtop.”

Sparks continued to explain the other features of the custom machine.

“The top is chopped 2 inches, the windshield raked back to make the correct roof line, all the door handles are removed, and the center high line of the roof has been flattened. He had over two years of work on the body alone, before he ever started painting or anything.”

Under the hood, you do a double take, as the firewall is polished stainless steel, giving it a mirror-like effect on the 355-cubic-inch Chevrolet  engine. The grille is also made of polished stainless, and the car features all power windows, automatic transmission, Mustang front end with disc brakes and a tan leather interior.

“We know of one other two-door hardtop like this in California, but that’s the only other one we’ve found,” Sparks said.

Pro Street machines also took up a number of the parking spots, including Dan Schmidt’s ’55 Chevy.

“I worked on it for about seven years, before I finally finished it last year,” the West Carrollton resident said.

The two-tone, blue-and-white coupe features a modified and chromed-out Chevy engine and custom interior.

“I’ve got a for-sale sign on it. It turned out real nice, but now I’m getting ready to start working on a ’34 Ford street rod,” Schmidt added.

As the last of the cruisers was arriving, Bruce Taylor was drawing a lot of attention as his  2-year-old German shepherd, Cleopatra, was hanging out of the sunroof of his Subaru.

“She does that all the time; she loves to get her head out there,” Taylor explained. “I have a Honda S2000 convertible, and she’ll put her paws on the console and put her whole head above the windshield. I have to hang onto her leash when she’s in that car.”

To nominate your special vehicle for Wheels of the Week, contact us at: Wheels, Marketing Publications Department, Dayton Daily News, 1611 S. Main St., Dayton OH 45409 or via e-mail at arollins@coxohio.com. Include your name,  daytime telephone number and a photo of your vehicle.  Read this story and others like it  at DaytonDailyNews.com/Wheels.

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