Car show, concert rolling in to Fort Myers

The 2,000 show cars that will rumble, roar and rev up downtown Fort Myers streets on Sunday are more than just fancy transportation.

Call them functional art.

The vehicles are streaming in from the Southwest Florida area and three states for the Third Annual Rock 'Til You Drop Car Show & Concert.

The event, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is the largest single-day car show in Florida, said Tony Allen, event organizer.

Displayed throughout River District streets will be everything on four wheels from Model-Ts to hot rods, retro rods, Corvettes, muscle cars, trucks and even military vehicles.

"They're metal sculpture," said Tony Allen, event organizer. "They are beautiful unto themselves. When a designer designs the car, they really do design it as art."

Consider the smooth lines and curves of a classic design, the shiny fenders, the gleaming restored engine.

Yes, Allen is a car buff. But he's also savvy enough to build on an event that brings people to a downtown hurting for weekend crowds.

His office at the Fort Myers Redevelopment Agency, where Allen is redevelopment manager, displays photos from last year's event showing streets packed with people.

Estimates are that the 2006 event brought in about 15,000 people, he said. Apparently, show cars are an economic driver.

Most of the downtown restaurants and shops will be open that day and other food vendors will be added to accommodate the crowd, Allen said.

The boundaries of the event have also widened so that the annual car show now has the largest footprint of any downtown Fort Myers event, said Allen, who also oversees 25 other River District events.

The event covers an area that stretches from Edwards Drive to Main Street, and from Monroe to Lee streets.

This year, Allen hopes to draw 20,000 people with more and different cars.

"The one thing you want in a car show is cars you've never seen before," he said.

The car clubs have names like The Asphalt Angels, from Stuart, Florida, the Hot Chili Roders from Southwest Florida and the Timeless Traveling Treasures from Cape Coral.

They invest lots of money in restoring and creating their show vehicles.

Jim McLoughlin, a member of Corvettes on the Gulf, owns six of the sports cars, spanning an era from 1957 to 2002.

His group has 104 members stretching from Naples to Punta Gorda. They own 87 Corvettes among them.

McLoughlin's 1957 red-and-white with a tan interior and tan top is one of only 412 made that way and one of only 241 made that year with four speeds and a fuel-injected engine.

McLoughlin, 66, has owned a Corvette since he was 19 years old.

"I'm kind of in love with them. I have Corvette fever," the Cape Coral resident said.

Allen, who owns a 1935 Hudson Terraplane that took 10 years to restore and a 1927 Model T Ford touring car outfitted with a powerful 392 Hemi engine, estimates that the cars on display Sunday are worth at least $12 million.

They are competing for prizes and trophies in categories such as Best of Show and City's Choice. Another 100 show favorites will receive People's Choice awards.

An awards ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m.

For those non-car buffs just along for the ride, the show is coupled with live music throughout the day by three different groups: Brylcream, playing oldies music; Wildfire, playing classic rock, Motown and other genres; and the 10-member Uptown Express, which performs '50s and '60s music.

Julius Szalay, a guitarist and lead vocalist with Wildfire, said his band will display its musical range.

"We do everything from Tony Bennett to AC-DC," he said.

This is also a chance to check out Jeff Lindsay, another Wildfire guitarist and lead vocalist. He's otherwise known as the author of the best-selling "Dexter" crime novel series, now also a top Showtime TV series.

"It should be a lot of fun," Szalay said. "We support all downtown events."