FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — Classic cars and Route 66 just go together. Now, almost a century later, these cars and their drivers are still getting their kicks on Route 66.
From classic Camaros to vintage Volkswagens, the Mother Road Classic Car Show in Flagstaff has it all. John Teutsch brought his 1949 Oldsmobile 98.
“It’s just history,” he said. “They’re classy cars!”
Teutsch always wanted a vintage car. After he moved to Seligman, known as the birthplace of the Route 66 revival, he finally bought the Oldsmobile and has been taking it to car shows ever since.
“We let them sit in the car, get pictures in the car,” Teutsch said. “Their faces light, like, ‘In the car?’”
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However, many here will tell you it’s more than just a car. Clair Steiner sat next to his red Corvette, yelling, “Any veteran, please sign my car,” the entire morning.
Steiner was in the Navy for 22 years. Two decades ago, he began attending car shows and having veterans sign his Corvette’s hood. He was also taking donations for the Wounded Warrior Project.
“I have over 16,000 names,” Steiner said. “What I do is once the car gets full, I make a collage of all the names.”
Since then, the vet has owned 15 Corvettes, and his signatures now hang at the National Corvette Museum. Steiner said it can get pretty emotional.
“I ask, ‘Are you a veteran or first responder?’ She said, ‘No, I am a Gold Star widow,’ and it really just melted me away just thinking about that,” Steiner said.
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He’ll be close to 17,000 by the end of the show and plans to keep collecting signatures at many car shows to come.
“Veterans always have a story, just like people have a story about their car,” Steiner said.
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