The 5th annual Honoring Our Veterans Past and Present Car, Truck and Bike Show at the Florence Center opened at 9 a.m. and by 11 a.m. on Saturday and had 81 entries, just 19 short of the number Joe Warren wanted. The show took place in Florence, South Carolina.
There was still time, as the show was set to run through most of the afternoon and judging was just about to begin.
“We’re raising money for the Veterans Resource Center (of Florence),” said Warren, who is with the Eastern South Carolina Mustang Club. “One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to that organization.”
At 11 a.m. club members were still directing show entries to parking places whereas other club members walked the rows of show vehicles looking for the red ribbons that showed the car was ready to be judged.
The vehicles gathered at the Florence Veterans Park end of the Florence Center parking lot.
For the first four years of the event, it was taking place in the parking lot at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church on Cherokee Road.
Warren said the event had outgrown the location.
The Florence Center, Warren said, bent over backward to house the event, which happened earlier than in general this year to house another event at the Florence Center.
Saturday’s show was an “open” event, open to any car, truck, or motorcycle — and there were enough of them.
The entries were about evenly split between newer cars, trucks, and motorcycles and those that could be viewed as “vintage” rides.
“I like old cars; we have a lot of old and new Mustangs,” Warren said. “But right now, I saw a ’57 Studebaker Silver Hawk. Right now the Studebaker has my vote.”
The Mustang Club carries out several car shows annually to support community organizations such as A Choice to Make and Camp Happy Days, Warren said.
The next show of the club is scheduled for the spring.
