Annual car show still a magnet for beautiful machines

Close to 100 cars showed up for Burger Boy's annual car show on Sunday, July 9. Traffic along Sweden Street in Caribou came to a crawl in front of the burger joint as folks turned their necks to appreciate some beautiful machines. (Joshua Archer)

CARIBOU, Maine — Car lovers pulled the covers off their winter projects to reveal some outstanding works of refurbished machinery at the annual Burger Boy car show on July 9. 

The hot top outside the retro diner was surrounded by classic and some modern rides by mid-afternoon. Car enthusiasts registered 89 cars for the show, and odds are there were at least a dozen more unregistered cars that arrived at the show, according to Burger Boy’s Facebook page.

“It’s not all about the competition, it’s about coming out and having fun and meeting people and making friends,” said Dell Brissette of Caribou. He showed off the cherry red 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle that he and his family have been fixing up.

Next to Brissette’s bug was a space grey 1947 Plymouth Special, owned by his brother-in-law, Jay Olson, also of Caribou.

“We’re all mechanics, me, my brother-in-law, my father-in-law, we all work on cars,” Olson said.

The Plymouth took about four years of work to make it show ready and Olson has plans to show off his ride at other County car shows this summer.

Whether a car is cherry picked by a diehard enthusiast or inherited through the family, breathing life into vehicles that were once ubiquitous deserves pause on a sunny summer afternoon.

“It’s all about the joy of building something and showing it off,” Olson said.