Back in the day, about 15 years ago, a group of friends and myself started a car club. This was before the advent of Facebook so we ‘met each other’ on a car message board (like some clubs still do) that focused on the car we had in common – the 2000 Toyota Celica. This was back in my Delaware days and Philadelphia and much of Jersey were within a reasonable driving distance. Since the message board’s owner was also from Delaware, our group was from the ‘Tri-State’…no offense to the much more well-known NYC Tri-State area. :-) Our big seasonal gatherings were in Seaside Heights, New Jersey…well before MTV made Seaside Heights famous again with “Jersey Shore”. We made a website. We had photoshoots under the Philly skyline. We’d ruin a kitchen oven in a northern New Jersey home during the process of heating headlights to open them for paint. Good times. Good memories.

Our college-age enthusiasts may now wonder how it was all done before social media. We’d text on our flip phones and depart with the old fold-up map because the car didn’t have navigation. That’s my version of ‘old-school’. Walking around our gathering on Saturday mornings, I have conversed with a few groups of self-proclaimed old-timers that started their car clubs decades before the internet. There may have been a flyer or a mailed newsletter but much of the word was spread at the club meeting, seeing the buddies at the corner bar or by ‘getting on the horn’. For the youngsters, that was the wired home telephone. :-)

Fast forward to 2016. Facebook can be a game changer. It makes mass communication a breeze. [Running up long-distance charges to talk to the club is a thing of the past.] It also allows for the word to reach unexpected regions of the world. I still cannot believe that Hunt Valley Horsepower has a small following in West Virginia…let alone California…let alone England.

Well, that’s brings us to Utah. The photo above was posted to the Hunt Valley Horsepower Fan Page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/HuntValleyHorsepower) on April 16, 2015. On August 30, 2016, a young man by the name of Chance Evans saw that photo and his memories rushed back. He posted to the page that he’d love to find the present owner. Back in Utah, his father had built and painted that truck. Sadly, 20 years ago, Chance’s father passed away. This truck was a living tie to his father.

After posting the photo to our local Facebook page, leads came from all directions. Community member Carl Galler came to the rescue 4 days ago. Its just happens that a Marylander purchased the truck on eBay prior to the owner entering assisted living. Contact info has been exchanged. Utah to Maryland…and back again? Chance would love to buy his dad’s old truck back. The internet can be a wonderful place. It can make our automotive communities stronger and it can make what would seem impossible and turn it into a miracle. We’re in the middle of our own reality show. Will he sell? Stay tuned!

Tri-State, Old-School Clubs & Utah Meets Maryland