At Starbird-Devlin car show, every auto evokes a story, a memory

A visitor was strolling past gleaming cars and trucks on display in Century II on Friday when a sight caused his sneakers to squeak to a stop on the polished floor.

It was a turquoise and white 1965 Ford Thunderbird.

It was opening day of the Starbird-Devlin Rod & Customs Charities Car Show. Seeing the Thunderbird transported the visitor to the memory of his older cousin giving him a ride in a convertible version of the same model Thunderbird 52 years ago. In his memory, he saw his 6-year-old crew-cut head, with the convertible top down in the sun, rolling up to McDonald’s arches where his generous cousin bought him a Coke.

Who knows how many other memories came alive at Friday’s show, where baby boomers and younger people roamed the floor.

The ‘65 Thunderbird comes to the show thanks to Willard and Shirley Banman of Newton.

In 1995, Willard Banman saw the car for sale on the highway outside Goessel, in Marion County. He told himself then: “I can’t let that go.”

To understand how Banman felt about the car, know that he can remember a time around 1947 when he was starting high school and people where he grew up were still driving worn and practical Model A Fords. Back then, just a few years after the world war had halted the manufacture of cars, people flocked to dealerships to get their first glance at new cars – with updated designs and more powerful engines – they couldn’t afford. They kept dreaming.

When the 1965 Thunderbird was new, Banman was 32, with a wife and two children and a teaching job, and he was busy “trying to pay off debts,” he said. He couldn’t have afforded such a sporty, luxurious car with a console and bucket seats when it was new.

But 30 years after it came off an assembly line, he paid $4,500 for the Thunderbird, which “was a basket case when I got it,” he said. It was weather-beaten, having spent so many years outside.

But he knew that he could afford it because he would do much of the restoration himself.

The work took Banman five years.

He had to disassemble the components and clean, weld, paint and reupholster them. Someone else rebuilt the high-performing engine.

So many people who take on vintage car and truck projects get distracted or discouraged or lose interest.

But Banman said he was “just determined.”

“I was just curious what the finished product would be.”

The work can seem daunting. A 1965 Thunderbird is no simple machine. It has some tricky sequential lighting in the taillights, for example. “That wiring there is a real bear,” Banman said.

But “if you read books, and you can get manuals, you can do it yourself,” he said. “Or ask someone else.

“Don’t get discouraged.”

The visitor could have kept talking to Banman. But there were so many other impressive autos to see. Across the room, the visitor stopped at a metallic olive-green 1953 Chevrolet 3100 pickup. The owner had painstakingly printed the story of the truck on a poster. The truck has been named Blanche. The story, in the voice of “Blanche,” tells how a Kansas farmer used the truck until he “retired me to the field in a fence row where I spent many lonely years.”

“One day,” the account continues, “a nice man found me, loaded me up, and hauled me to the city. After many hours of hard work, lots of love, and lots of loose change, I am dressed to impress.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 6:54 PM with the headline "At Starbird-Devlin car show, every auto evokes a story, a memory."