Old Cars Reader Wheels: The Eickhoff family stable out for a cruise
Alan Eickhoff and the rest of his family appreciate the allure of old cars.
Family Cruising
By Alan Eickhoff
Even before there was the film American Graffiti there was cruising on York Road in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. In the early 1960s I did it with a friend in his mother’s 1955 Chevy convertible. Who cared if it was an automatic six banger? The top was down.
In those days of the 1960s merchants didn’t take kindly to the summertime ritual that generally disrupted the flow of business in town. The flow of traffic was also disrupted as it moved very slowly. Isn’t that what cruising is all about? Seeing and being seen?
In recent years the Chamber of Commerce actually revived the long-ago tradition. From May to September on the 3rd Friday of the month folks turn out to again see and be seen. Participants are encouraged to bring a food item to donate to the local food pantries. Some people even park their car and set up chairs to see and be seen.
My family now has 3 generations of car aficionados. It has long been a goal to gather all of them for a single occasion. That bucket list item got “checked” off on the August 2023 cruise night in Hatboro.
Looking at the photo, the first vehicle seen is a Chevy Silverado and it belongs to our daughter in law, Ashley Williams Eickhoff. It has been in her possession for 8 years. Her dad bought it new in 1990 with the special-ordered paint job of Caramel Brown and Adobe Gold. It has a 5.7 liter engine. Ashley drove this truck to high school. Her husband, our son, proposed to her in this truck after a rattlesnake scared them from their hike on the mountain.
Next in line is our 1948 Dodge Custom. My wife and I have owned this for 20 years. Following a 26 month restoration effort we earned our First Junior Award from the Antiique Automobile Club of America at the 2020 Gettysburg version of the Fall Hershey Meet. When we dated in high school, I drove a black 1947 Dodge which explains why I didn’t use it to cruise Hatboro in the 1960s.
Next in the picture is the 1969 Mustang owned by our son, Jeff. Even as a youngster he loved Mustangs so this car fulfilled a dream for him. It is the first car he ever bought and he has owned it for 28 years. It is an all-original car with optional air conditioning. He and Ashley drove it on their honeymoon. In 2005 he disassembled the entire front end for rebuilding and then it sat for 17 years. In July 2023 he and his cousin and their sons put it back together. This cruise was his first real showing of the car. Jeff is a new AACA member
Next in line is the 1992 Camaro owned by our grandson, Evan, who is also an AACA member. This car too fulfills a childhood dream. It is the 25th anniversary Heritage Edition Z28 model. Evan has owned it for 4 years and loves caring for it and driving it. It will be hard for him to leave it home as he heads off to college. At some point we hope he can join us at an AACA event.
Then there is the 1992 Dodge Shadow convertible that we bought new. My wife, Linda, used it as a daily driver, especially driving out to our daughter’s college in Williamsport, PA. Then when our daughter graduated, we gave her the car as a gift. Despite being a convertible, it was an outside car when she lived in her apartment. She was about to trade it in when I did some research to find that it is one of 3,185 convertibles produced that year. I gave her the Kelly Blue Book price and put it back in our garage. We earned our AACA Original Historic Preservation Original Features award at the 2023 Hershey meet.
The second part of the line up are vehicles from my brother, Roger’s family. Unfortunately, he was not able to attend the cruise. However, his 1982 Chevy diesel pick up was there. My nephew did much of the work in restoring this truck and it too is recently on the road after a long period of being idle. It is a Custom Deluxe K-20 with the original engine in it. This is the first year that Detroit Diesel supplied engines for Chevy trucks. Roger has owned it for 32 years. Roger’s son, Greg drove the truck for the cruise.
Shown next is my nephew, Greg’s 1979 Pontiac Trans Am that he has owned for 27 years. It is the 2nd car he ever bought. Originally an automatic, he has converted it to a 4 speed. The rebuilt engine is now a 408 and one of just many engines that have been in the car over the years. Greg’s good friend, Dan, drove the Trans Am in the cruise. Greg actually bought the car from Dan’s brother plus Dan has done a lot of mechanical work on various Eickhoff vehicles so he might as well be a family member.
Greg’s son, Josh, owns the 1986 Firebird that is the next to last car in the line-up. Josh has owned it for 3.5 years. It is a 355 engine with a manual transmission. Josh loves to cruise with the T tops off. Currently Josh is a student at Automotive Training Center in Warminster.
The final car in the line up belongs to Matt Eickhoff, also a son of Greg and older brother to Josh. It is a 1981 Pontiac Firebird which he has owned for 4 years. He has a custom dash with a 350 engine and 4 speed manual transmission. This is his daily driver as he also attends the Automotive Training Center in Warminster.
For a long-time Matt and I have advocated getting the family collector cars together in one place. Friday, August 18, 2023 the stars aligned and 9 Eickhoff owned cars lined up to drive south and then north on York Rd in Hatboro. Posing for pictures was almost as much fun as driving the cruise to see and be seen. Isn’t that what it is about?
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