Classic cars from nearly every era were featured as part of a car show put on by Warren Tech power equipment and motorcycle tech students.
By Jack Maher, multimedia journalist, and Devan Crean, communications specialist, Jeffco Public Schools
“Every year, our class likes to host a car show where everyone can bring out their nice bikes and cars to get a prize and showoff their beautiful cars,” said Warren Tech student Gage Blakeslee.Warren Tech’s CTSO (Career Technical Student Organization) requires students to participate in a leadership activity. The car and bike show fulfills that requirement, but also helps students prepare for their future careers.
“It allows the students to see how to put on an event, get them to interact with people they don’t know, so they can get that ability to be able to talk to people,” explained Warren Tech instructor Ed Baumgard.
It was also a mini history of transportation with classic cars and bikes from every era and several makes and models featured, including Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Harley Davidson, and even Volkswagen.
“Some of [the owners] are collectors. It’s really cool seeing all the different styles they bring out and how it’s welcome to anyone,” said Blakeslee.
Baumgard added, “Anything that you see over here…you can definitely see different years, different vintages, going back to the 1930s. Each vehicle has its own story.”
The event gave students a chance to talk with the owners and learn more about what it takes to keep these beauties running.
“With the really old and classic cars, it’s really hard to find their original parts and parts that fit because it’s such a different engine from what it is now to how it was back then,” explained Blakeslee.
It can take a lot of work, but it is worth it for these passionate owners.
“If you constantly keep it running and keep all the fluids nice and clean…and, you know, replace parts here and there, it’s pretty simple. It’s when you let them sit and you let the old fluids in them get all old and grimy and gunk up the engine, they kind of don’t last as long,” explained one owner.
Connecting that hard work and passion of each car or bike’s owner to the work students will do in the future, also was an important lesson for students.
“With my students going out to work in the industry, they have to understand the passion that people have for their vehicles so that when they’re working on somebody else’s vehicle, they have that same passion. Then, they understand that vehicle is an extended part of the [owner],” explained Baumgard.
Aside from working on skills and gaining knowledge they can apply in their future careers, students had the chance to just admire the incredible cars and bikes at the show.
“I can’t stop smiling about how amazing some of these cars look and they still run like they did back in the day and it’s just beautiful, honestly,” said Blakeslee.
Watch the JPS-TV version of this story here.