Classic cars keep Kauaʻi childhood friends together in the garage, on the road

They gathered at the far end of the Salt Pond parking lot, away from other beachgoers clustered beneath the early winter sun. Their bodies — some burgundy, black or blazing orange — dazzle against a backdrop of red earth and the blue Kaulakahi Channel separating the islands of Kaua‘i and Niʻihau.

This group of hot rods, muscle cars and land yachts has spent the past year meeting at Talk Story Bookstore in nearby Hanapēpē town, where they are displayed during town-wide “art nights” organized every Friday.

Ten owners of those classic cars met on a recent morning at Salt Pond Beach Park to sip coffee and catch up with fellow enthusiasts.

Jeffrey Vargas Sr. brought his cream-colored 1965 Chevrolet Nova, which he has emblazoned with racing decals reading “Hombre” and “Grandpa’s Toy.”

Vargas was 16 when his older brother gifted him his first car, a silver-gray 1965 Chevy Nova.

“This is not the Nova that he gave me, but it’s a ‘65,” Vargas said.

“It’s mostly sentimental,” he added. “When I was growing up in high school, the ’60s era was the era that I liked. The ‘gasser’ look.”

In 1999, Vargas paid $250 to salvage the cream-colored Nova’s rusting and unloved body from a Kaua‘i garage. Today, the vehicle looks like a brand-new “gasser” with a raised front axle to improve weight distribution in drag races.

Marie Mariani initiated the Talk Story Bookstore meetings to revitalize the group first assembled by Clyde Silva, a lifelong resident of Lāwaʻi. Many of its members, like Silva and ʻŌmaʻo resident Dennis Bonilla, are now middle-aged men whose friendships began in kindergarten.

More than a little gasoline runs in Mariani’s blood. Her family owned and operated Mariani’s Auto Body in Port Allen, before it closed in 2007. Her parents also raced cars.

“We just decided to get together, and I thought it was a cool thing,” Mariani said of the Talk Story cohort. “We’ve been loving it ever since.”

The automobiles’ appearance schedule is approximate. Their most recent visit to the Talk Story Bookstore occurred on Jan. 24. This past November, the cars were displayed on the last Friday of the month.

Now, about 12 months since their first bookstore meeting, the friends are considering an official title for their group. Nothing has stuck so far, yet Mariani is confident a good name will crop up at the right moment.

On Kauaʻi, there are well over 100 classic car enthusiasts, who naturally fall into circles based on their regions, Mariani said.

Most who gathered at Salt Pond Beach Park live on the West Side or South Shore. They reconnect with others from elsewhere on Kaua‘i at parades, car shows and trunk-or-treat events. Many classic car enthusiasts also belong to the Garden Isle’s drag race scene.

Vargas grew up on O‘ahu before relocating to Kaua‘i, his father’s birthplace, in 1989. He spent 30 years driving county buses while performing automotive bodywork on the side. Vargas enjoys the strong sense of community among classic car enthusiasts.

“We can all help the other car buddies,” he said. “It’s satisfactory, when you’re able to help somebody and they’re able to help you back.”

Vargas used his expertise to strip to bare metal one of Silva’s cars, a two-tone Chevrolet Bel Air. It’s since been restored with gleaming white and aqua blue paint.

Silva and Bonilla strive for precision in restoration. They want a vehicle that could have just rolled off a factory line. Others, like Vargas, place their personal vision above historical accuracy. His Chevy Nova is a testament to brotherly bonds and teenage memories.

The first Nova owned by Vargas boasted a silver-gray paint job. His current Nova is a cream-and-chrome dream designed to embody the ultimate retro race car.

“It’s all show, no go,” Vargas chuckled.

In an Old West font, the Spanish word “Hombre” appears on the sides of the car to pay homage to a neighborhood car that Vargas saw during his childhood.

“It had the name ‘Hombre’ and it just kind of stuck,” Vargas said. “It’s been years since anybody saw that name, so I figured I had put it out there. I like it.”

Bonilla, who grew up in Kalāheo, pulled up to Salt Pond Beach Park in a pristine 1948 Cadillac. Almost 80 years after it rolled off an assembly line, the burgundy beauty screams luxury, but looks can be deceiving.

“The ‘48 Cadillac is a rare car, because they were not the top-of-the-line Cadillac,” Bonilla explained. “Not many of them got saved.”

Bonilla found the Cadillac in a local shop, but when he balked at purchasing it when the owner upped the price, someone else stepped in and bought it.

Time passed. A friend of Bonilla’s eventually bought the Cadillac. The friend offered it to Bonilla in exchange for work performed on another vehicle.

“He bought that car, dangled it in front of me and said, ‘I’m going to cut it up if you don’t do the work,’” Bonilla said.

He had wanted the 1948 Cadillac because his father’s 1950 Chevy had a similar “fastback” shape.

Bonilla’s personal fleet of classic cars also includes a 1930 Ford Model A and a 1914 Buick. To restore them to factory condition, Bonilla delves into automotive history, scours the internet for antique parts and learns new skills.

Bonilla may be stymied on occasion — he is now struggling to find a rare dashboard clock — but it’s unlikely he has ever known defeat. Case in point: Bonilla purchased an industrial sewing machine when he could not find an upholsterer willing to repair his Buick. He is now ready, after much practice, to reupholster the car himself.

A garage, despite its grease, oil and gasoline, can be a haven from the messy world outside. There is comfort in machines’ predictability. A classic car enthusiast simply needs a manual, a method and plenty of time. Success, according to Salt Pond’s “car buddies,” is inevitable.

“Every component that you work on gives you instantaneous gratification,” Bonilla said.

“It’s not like the human being, where you have to treat it a certain way in order to get it to do what you want,” he added. “You get it. You fix it. And, it works.”