LAKEWOOD RANCH — Car guys, motorheads, auto enthusiasts. Call them what you will, they are a diverse group united by a common love of the automobile, and what makes them tick.
On Sunday, Team After Hours, a club formed in a member’s Creekwood garage three years ago, and Skyway Corvette Club will take over Lakewood Ranch Main Street from 3 to 7 p.m. for a car show to benefit Junior Achievement.
Garrett Page, 21, is one of the founders of Team After Hours, and a recent graduate of Florida School of the Arts in Palatka. He confounds his friends with his drive to be an actor and dancer, and the irresistible urge to get his hands greasy under the hood of a car.
Page has had nine cars in the last four years and sold many of them for a profit. He currently has a 2005 Volkswagen Jetta GLI, that he has adapted to his personal taste, including lowering the suspension and adding a turbocharger from an Audi.
“I could go on for 30 minutes,” he says of his latest project. “If I’m installing something on my car that needs four sets of hands, a bunch of club members will come over to the house to help out.”
Dustin Kilduff, like Page a graduate of Lakewood Ranch High School, enjoys being able to personalize a car to reflect his personality and has done everything from making an engine swap to installing new fuel injectors.
Fearless, yes, but that’s the way club members learn.
Kilduff likes the friendships he makes in the hobby and taking part in Saturday car shows at places like Five Guys Burgers and Fries on University Parkway. He works in a Publix pharmacy and aspires to become a pharmacist.
Rich Odato, 41, of Odato Marketing Group in Sarasota, is a member of Skyway Corvette Club and is restoring a 1969 Corvette.
But his Vette is not ready for primetime, so Odato will be playing guitar for the Stray Dogs, a blues, rock and oldies group, one of three bands to perform live at the car show Sunday.
Odato is fearless, too. He has to be to be in a band, to restore a classic car and just to be in business these days.
Odato sees the car show as an inter-generational event with one thing in common: the participants are passionate about cars.
Page would agree.
“A true car guy will be interested in any kind of a car. If a guy pulls up in a Model T, I’ll be interested and think that it’s cool,” Page said.
Jim Brown, education program manager for Junior Achievement, which goes into classrooms in Manatee and Sarasota counties to teach children about business and financial literacy, said he plans to attend the car show.
“I’ll be there about 2 p.m. A lot of my friends are car guys and a lot of them are bringing their cars,” Brown said.
The public is invited to the car show. There will be no admission. Car entry fee is $20 For those who preregister the fee is $15. Registration begins at 2 p.m., and judging begins at 5 p.m.
For more information, call (941) 812-5003 or (941) 962-0936.
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