Mesa, Arizona Cruise on Main – Monthly Event

Cruisin’ Main Street
New Downtown Mesa Monthly Cruise

Beginning this Friday night December 12th, from about 6pm to 10pm, the downtown Mesa merchants will host a monthly cruise night on downtown Mesa’s Main Street from Center Street to Country Club Drive.

All years and types of vehicles are welcome to cruise or park along Mesa’s Main Street to enjoy the parade of rolling sculpture’s pass by. Most of the stores and restaurants will be open late so bring the whole family and make a night of it.

This cruise night will become a monthly event to coincide with the downtown Mesa merchants successful “Friday Night Out” program held on the 2nd Friday of the month. Mesa’s next 2nd Friday Night Out event and cruise night is scheduled for January 9th 2009, so be sure to mark your calendars.

Among the many activities planned for Mesa’s “Friday Night Out” event will be an “Art Walk” featuring over 80 artists displaying their wares along Main Street. Also, live music will be playing at several locations along Main Street too. As I said, most of the stores and restaurants will be open late so plan to make a night of it.

All this culture and family fun plus 2 and 4 wheeled works of art cruising up and down Main Street will make for an inexpensive family night out in Downtown Mesa. Money may be tight, but gas is still cheap, so load up your ride and cruise on out to Mesa for a fun “Friday Night Out.”

For more information on Downtown Mesa’s “Friday Night Out” event go to: http://www.downtownmesa.com/friday_night.htm for more details on this and upcoming 2nd Friday events and to see photo’s from past events and cruise nights in Mesa.

If you have any more questions that the web site’s can’t answer, call Anita at the Jersey Girl Cafe (218 W. Main) at 480-924-7887 or e-mail her at: jerseygirlcafe @ gmail.com.

Don’t forget, with any purchase, Jersey Girl Cafe is giving out $50.00 off coupons for Discount Tire—-which also includes $100 off for a set of rims !!!! (Anita just posted me today about the $100 off rims part).

Also, two other terrific restaurants on Main Street are Queens Pizza for some great pizza prepared by Dave, or S-Bistro for some high end French-American-Tuscan food, prepared by Chef Brian.

Contributed by:
Bill Gilmore
Senior Appraiser
Automotive Research Services

1956 Buick Special Mild Custom

In case you didn’t know, My Ride is Me has a meaning. Everybody’s ride tells you a little something about the owner and every owner has a story. Ed shared this story for MyRideisMe.com about his 1956 Buick Special after I took some photos at the recent Cruise on Main Street in Mesa, AZ. It’s a beautiful car, so I’m happy to share this brief story and pictures.

Written by “Special” Ed (click to see his custom garage)

There is a story with this car. (Isn’t there always?) I had a blue and white Buick when I was 19, and was devastated when a drunk hit me in the rear and totaled the car. I paid $375.00 for it and had to borrow $200.00 to get it.

25 years later, while living in Detroit, I asked my brother-in-law (who was in the car business in Chandler, AZ) to keep an eye out for a clean AZ ’56 Buick. I’ve owned several street rods and always had a soft spot for that old Buick. A few months later he called and told me I owned a ’56 Buick Special. He had a mutual friend fix the bad spots and had an interior put in it and sent it to me in Detroit. From the beginning, the Buick was to look like I wanted my first Buick to look. There the sub frame and drive train work began. I found a donor ’73 Buick Electra 225 and used the 455 engine and the 400 trans. The sub frame is ’74 Nova welded in high to get the front end low and converted to disc brakes. The rear end came from the same Nova. Shortly after that, my wife and I decided to move to the Phoenix area. The car was then shipped back to Chandler (along with my ’47 chopped Ford sedan) and sat untouched for about 5 years while we reset our lives.

Selling the Ford freed up some cash to get the Buick on the road. It was finally street able in spring of 2000. I drove it for 5 years with blue and white primer, while I continued with body modifications, each time adding another spot of primer. The paint was done in August of ’05, and turned out much better than I expected. I have done a lot of work on this car myself, but the fabrication and bodywork and paint and many other details were done by many other people in the Detroit area and locally. Be assured that I have written all the checks. There are many war stories with the build of this car as there are with all car builds, but I would be typing for hours to explain them all. Thanks, Ed

I’ll share some of the other pics I took of Ed’s ride so you know that it’s not just clean on the outside. The grill is perfect and the interior is just right.

So what’s your story? You can help MyRideisMe.com keep great new content available by telling us why, “My Ride is Me”. Where’d you buy it? What made you like that car in the first place? Is that the car you got to second base with Mary Beth in? We wanna know! Add a comment and let us know you want to tell your story and we’ll get with you. Thanks!

If you like this story, please join MyRideisMe.com. It’s all free! We’ve also got KILLER GARAGES to browse through and more blogs to read.

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Cruise’n on Main St. – March 2008

For more information on the November 8th, 2008 Memories on Main Street cruise, go to the Mainstreet Garage.

While most parts of the US are still half frozen, Mesa, Arizona launches the first big cruise of the year (and first minor sunburn). Brought to us as, “POP’s Memories on Main Street” by the Prostate Checkup All Sports Foundation, it was a good time had by all and we had near perfect weather for it.

Cruising between Country Club and Mesa drive with parking on Main Street and in the several nearby city lots, for the $5 per car donation, I think everyone had a place. I was expecting a few more cars, but there was no lack of quality. Main street was lined with lawn chaired folks cheering for the next guy to, “light’m up!” I’m pretty sure Mesa PD did just that cause most burning rubber was followed closely by howling sirens. For the most part though, I think every had a good time enjoying their cars and making new friends. I know I did.

Here are a few of the cars I especially liked. Most of the pics I took are in the MyRideisMe.com picture gallery. CLICK HERE to visit the Main Street Cruise gallery. I’ll be featuring a few of these rides. If anyone sees there car and wants the high resolution image, let us know.

First off is my man Mike’s newly finished (or the first time I’ve seen it) 2 door Comet Wagon. This smooth cruiser is the cousin of the Falcon wagon and rare to find, especially in this condition. I’m a sucker for wagons. Mike’s also got a garage here at MyRideisme.com. I’ll be loading the other pics I took of this wagon soon. Click here to visit Mike’s garage.

(Click on any image to see it full size)

Sticking with the wagons theme then, dig this one. I was lucky to meet the owners and hear their touching story. This will definitely be a feature story since it hits so close to home for me. How many people got into hot rodding or car building because of their Pops? Don’t let the badges fool you. This 2 door Chevelle wagon sports a big block and a 5 speed! They’re new members of MyRideisMe.com too! Click here to visit their garage.

Next up is a SUPER rare Boss 351 Mustang owned by Craig Fackler. He bought this car new in 1971, then sold it and was able to buy it back! Guess what? He’s keeping it now! I’ll be featuring this Mustang too.

I see this 1956Buick Special all over town and I love it every time. Ed finally gave in and joined MyRideisMe.com too. I wheeled this baby out into the open to take a few pics for Ed. This car’s smooth from every angle so even “Shakey” here can get a good shot! I’ve got more pics Ed! Click here to visit Ed’s garage.

Last but not least, I want to share a few more pictures of Corporal Foster’s newly redone Camaro. He was out proudly cruising his new ride with Lance Baker from the 1st Generation Camaro club near by. That Viper blue paint they used really pops in the sun. If you didn’t get a chance to read the heart warming story of this car and the soldier it was built for, CLICK HERE to read the story.

Obviously, there were more than 5 cars there so here’s some thumbnails of my favorite pics. Remember, all of the pics I took are located in the Gallery. CLICK HERE to see the complete gallery.

While you’re here, please take a look at our other blogs and join MyRideisMe.com. It’s all FREE! Thanks for having a look and spreading the word!

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