Father's Day car show parks vehicles and memories
Cars lined up at the Onset VFW for the Father's Day car show on Sunday, June 21. Photos by Nick Mossman
Claire Smith's "toy," a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria. 
A 1954 Chevy Belair.
Many cars had their hoods open at the show.
A supercharger sticks out of the hood of this orange car. 
Smith had a replica of A&W food, an homage to her use of the car and the old A&W Restaurant in East Wareham. 
A red car at the car show.
Over 50 cars were lined up by 11 a.m. for the show. 
Residents could peruse through the aisles to see all different kinds of cars. 
Xenia DeLuze, Swanza DeLuze, Darlene Andrade, Mary DeLuze Voner, Donna DeLuze, Erma Deluze and Mary DeLuze Fernandes were part of the Onset Car Show crew. 
These trophies were awarded to the best cars in each category at the show. 
Darlene Andrade presents scholarships to Upper Cape Regional Vocational Technical High School students. 
From left to right: Ken DeLuze, Harold McCoo, Harold McCoo IV and Mianna McCoo, Ben Andrade and Justin Andrade.
Cars lined up at the Onset VFW for the Father's Day car show on Sunday, June 21. Photos by Nick Mossman
Claire Smith's "toy," a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria.
A 1954 Chevy Belair.
Many cars had their hoods open at the show.
A supercharger sticks out of the hood of this orange car.
Smith had a replica of A&W food, an homage to her use of the car and the old A&W Restaurant in East Wareham.
A red car at the car show.
Over 50 cars were lined up by 11 a.m. for the show.
Residents could peruse through the aisles to see all different kinds of cars.
Xenia DeLuze, Swanza DeLuze, Darlene Andrade, Mary DeLuze Voner, Donna DeLuze, Erma Deluze and Mary DeLuze Fernandes were part of the Onset Car Show crew.
These trophies were awarded to the best cars in each category at the show.
Darlene Andrade presents scholarships to Upper Cape Regional Vocational Technical High School students.
From left to right: Ken DeLuze, Harold McCoo, Harold McCoo IV and Mianna McCoo, Ben Andrade and Justin Andrade.
When a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria showed up unannounced in Wareham resident Howard Smith's driveway eight years ago, he asked his wife "what's that?"
"That's my new toy," Claire Smith responded.
Claire Smith brought that "toy" to the third King of Cars Classic Car Show on Sunday, June 21 at the Onset Veterans of Foreign Wars Post. Dozens of classic cars sat in the parking lot of the VFW on the sunny Father's Day morning. Parked alongside those cars were the memories that came with them.
Claire Smith said she never said anything to her husband when she went to get the car eight years ago. She found the car from a listing on eBay, traveled to Uxbridge to see it and then had it delivered to her home.
"You've got three. Now I have one that I can drive and enjoy," Claire Smith said she told her husband after he saw the car.
Claire Smith decorated the car with nostalgic items, like an old drive-in speaker and items that would be sold at an A&W restaurant, which Wareham used to have in the 1960s. She said that when she and her husband were dating, they went to the old Wareham Drive-in Theater together.
Those memories inspired the decor on the car.
"We have a lot of fun with it," Smith said.
For Claire Smith, the car is an opportunity to perhaps make new memories too.
"I wanted a fun car," she said. "I wanted something I could take my grandkids in for ice cream."
The emphasis on memories extends to the purpose of the car show.
The King of Cars Classic Car Show was hosted in honor of Kenneth DeLuze, who died in 2024, and was known as a "huge car lover," according to his sister Mary DeLuze Fernandes. She said that this was the third year that the Onset VFW has hosted the car show and that his family put it together to honor him.
"I'm honored and pleased that so many of our friends and relatives and neighbors have turned out," Mary DeLuze Fernandes said.
Mary DeLuze Fernandes said many members of Kenneth DeLuze's family attended Sunday's car show. She added that family members had previously brought Kenneth DeLuze's old cars to the show.
Mary DeLuze Fernandes praised the cars that were at the Father's Day show this year.
"These cars are absolutely beautiful," she said. DeLuze Fernandes added that her favorite color is orange and so were her favorite cars at the show.
"Just feeling real blessed today," she said.
