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<\/a>Everyone at the show that brought cars or had anything to do with RPM Mike\u2019s display of vehicles is pictured, including Dean Vanderpool, Jack Wright, Tim Hiscoe, Jerry Frantz, Ann Marie Lomauro, Steve Lomauro, George Dalia, Pete Paxos, RPM Mike, Manley VanValkenburg Jr., and Kevin Yaggie. (Greg Zyla Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n
The Troy Town Cruisers present a cruise-in each and every Tuesday evening during the warm months in a First Citizen\u2019s Community Bank parking lot. Usually packed to capacity and under the watchful eye of cruise-in show organizer Jim Blackwell, every participant receives a door prize entry ticket that coincides with the businesses that surround the show. Be it a banana split from the ice cream shop across from the bank to a car cleaning product, the door prizes seem to keep coming every 20-minutes or so during the 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. event.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also Rocky the DJ spinning music to delight the fans and featuring songs from The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Ronnie and The Daytonas, and Motown to the appreciative attendees.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Our author, Greg Zyla, took time to pose for a quick pre-cruise-in photo with show organizer Jim Blackwell, left, before the start of another weekly Troy Town Cruisers Cruise-In event. Blackwell has been overseeing the event for 13 years. (Dave Mareck Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n
While the young and old browse the cars, a local community organization sells hot dogs and soda each week to help support their organization. By show end this night, the Troy Chamber of Commerce was sold out of the dogs. Speaking of dogs, you\u2019ll find many of man\u2019s best friends dotting the area to the pleasure of everyone who loves pets.<\/p>\n
Across the street, a pizza and hoagie restaurant is fully knowledgeable that it is the Cruise-In that is most responsible for its Tuesday bottom line profit, as does the ice cream shop. Overall, Blackwell and his staff can take a bow for not only fulfilling the appetite of the car lovers, but also incorporating excellent organizing skills that merge perfectly with the ideals of the area businesses in a seamless coordination of cars, business and wholesome family values.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The Plymouth Duster interior is all business, with all necessary controls and shifting controls utilized for the 6-speed overdrive transmission with a dual slider clutch allowing low RPM freeway drives. (Dave Mareck Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n
As one of the show\u2019s founding members, Blackwell has been building and massaging the weekly show now for 13 years. He understands the importance of the entire community involvement, from the Chamber of Commerce initiatives to his personal handshake with a door prize ticket to each and every show vehicle\u2019s owner. <\/p>\n
Enter now to the Cruise-In RPM Mike, the mechanical genius and muscle and custom car whiz who proudly displays his and his customer\u2019s cars at each and every show. This particular RPM Mike owns the RPM Garage in Troy where the creations of horsepower, mechanicals and collector car art come to life. <\/p>\n
<\/a>Another photo of the featured car at the Cruise-In. The \u201971 Plymouth Duster was completely rebuilt from the ground up. (Dave Mareck Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n
New this first show of 2023 is Mike\u2019s most recent muscle car, specifically a 1971 Plymouth Duster powered by a 392-inch, bored and stroked engine that started as a bone stock 318-V8. Although not a Hemi as most people expect thanks to the rear 392 trim, Mike and owner Pete Paxos take great pride in the car\u2019s spectacular finished product. The 392 sounds great thanks to electronically controlled \u201copen\/closed\u201d header tech, something we didn\u2019t have back in the 1960s when race time arrived. <\/p>\n
Most unique is a set of very rare cast iron \u201cDirect Connection\u201d MOPAR wedge style 318 cylinder heads that were available only for few years. After some special massaging on the intake and exhaust ports and installation of a solid lifter Howards cam, RPM Mike bolted the heads onto the block and presto, more than 500 horses await the tap of a right foot. <\/p>\n
The Duster\u2019s beautiful orange color is most outstanding, applied by a regional paint whiz known only as \u201cMitch\u201d from Waverly, N.Y. The Duster features a 6-speed manual transmission with double overdrive, a dual slider clutch, modified Holley 750 carb, Moser 4:11 Detroit Locker, full tube front end, and other ancillary goodies that guarantee the RPMs will rise quickly during all all-out run.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Another beauty on display that RPM Mike helped construct was this \u201979 Corvette owned by Kevin Waggie. Featuring a special color metallic and modified small lock engine, this car is a many time car show prizewinner. (Dave Mareck Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n
RPM Mike\u2019s background might be a bit different from the many other RPM Mike\u2019s that attend cruise-in shows across the country. This particular RPM Mike grew up in Queens, N.Y. and quickly found himself in the middle of one of the most famous areas for street racing and muscle car evolution.<\/p>\n
This madness took place in the mid to late 1960s and early 1970-era featuring high dollar street races that took place every night of the week. RPM Mike found himself building engines and correcting many of his friend’s muscle cars that needed special attention when he entered the street scene back in 1971. His knowledge of both drag racing and the muscle car are unquestionable, and his aggressive yet still inviting personality is what one comes expect from a guy that\u2019s \u201cbeen there and done that\u201d many times over. RPM Mike was there when that wild, untamed, 1970s era street racing scene produced many legends, including the Brooklyn Heavy Rufus Boyd himself and street events that featured Don Yenko Camaros, Tasca Ford Thunderbolts, Baldwin Motion Novas, and even Mr. Norm\u2019s Grand Spaulding Dodges and Dick Harrell prepped \u201cNickey\u201d Chevelles that were brought in from Chicago. <\/p>\n
<\/a>Another beauty on display that RPM Mike helped construct was this \u201979 Corvette owned by Kevin Waggie. Featuring a special color metallic and modified small lock engine, this car is a many time car show prizewinner. (Dave Mareck Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n
On this special night in Troy, RPM Mike\u2019s customers brought along their cars to show, including a \u201968 RS\/SS Camaro, \u201966 Ford F-100, \u201969 Charger R\/T 440, \u201967 Olds 442, \u201968 El Camino, \u201966 GTO, \u201932 Ford pickup, and a spectacular \u201979 Corvette. RPM Mike is quick to give credit to his machinist, Steve, who operates Steve\u2019s Machine Shop in the Wyalusing area of Pennsylvania. He admits that without a machine shop that can deliver the needed correctness and usability when it comes to engine blocks, rods, piston clearances and proper bores, his reputation would not be where it is today. <\/p>\n
When I started this week\u2019s column, I was confident that even though I zeroed in on Jim Blackwell and RPM Mike from The Troy Town Cruisers, my readers would quickly decipher that this story does have national prominence. There are no geographical borders when it comes to a car show and the newspapers that run my column from the largest Spokesman Review in Spokane, Washington to the smallest Milton Standard in Milton, Pa., these local car shows are still one of the greatest attractions and escapes for fans of all ages. I guarantee when you partake in your area car show you\u2019ll enjoy an evening of fun all centered on the cars and trucks that have driven all of us to where we are now and where we all came from in yesteryear.<\/p>\n
Try to visit or participate in a car show close to home this year and remember, there are a Jim Blackwell and an RPM Mike just waiting to say hello and shake your hand.<\/p>\n