Classic collection

Tony Owens never had much interest in hunting or fishing so instead he focused his time on restoring classic cars.

The 57-year-old used to race cars but he said he got tired of always fixing them. Instead, he decided to focus on a single repair project and completely restored a truck that he found abandoned near a barn.

It took him five years but he completely restored a 1953 Mercury M100 truck and spent his summers with his wife, Janet as they toured around the country and in the United States for the past 12 years.

“My wife and I just love it,” Owens said. “We don’t hunt, we don’t fish so this is what we do in the summer. I’ve always been into cars. I use to race…and I just got tired of fixing my car every week and I wanted something I could drive and no one was going to hit me.”

Owens took his yellow truck to the Hilldale Gardens Retirement Living Classic Car and Shine show on Saturday. His truck was one of the 14 vehicles on display at the show.

He said he enjoyed letting people see his truck and always got a positive response from the audience members and especially the children who liked the red flames on the front.

“I like to bring the truck out to local community events that we can get to,” he said. “We enjoy showing the truck and giving back to our community.”

KC Craig, marketing manager for Hilldale Gardens Retirement Living, said the classic car show gave the residents a chance to look at some of the cars they grew up with.

“I think seeing the classic cars is something the senior residents really look forward to,” Craig said. “There was a nice buzz in the building today. Everyone was talking about the cars they had and were saying do you remember when this came out. It is really nice for them to see the cars respected and restored to the way that they remember.”