Residents remember cruising Court

MARENGO — The October evening was cool with brisk winds under a cloudy sky, a typical fall Saturday night in Iowa

Just as they did during their high school and young adult days, a handful of Marengo residents talked in a parking lot across from Marengo Park and cruised up and down Court Avenue.

The walk — or drive — down memory lane was a gift from Marengo Community Development, its first Classic Car Cruise.

Heads turned in admiration as a bright yellow 1973 Corvette Stingray rolled around the Marengo square.

It wasn’t the car that Jerry Imhoff drove when he cruised Court Avenue after high school. It was a dream car he was able to purchase as a nostalgic adult.

“I had a ’65 Impala,” said Imhoff. “That’s what I had when I was in high school.”

Instead of an Impala, Imhoff cruised the strip during last weekend’s Classic Car Cruise in his dream car. “I always was wanting a Corvette,” he said.

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When someone Imhoff worked with in Amana offered the Vette for sale about 12 years ago, Imhoff made the purchase. “I’ve had to redo the interior in it. The carpets and seats.”

Imhoff and other Marengo natives reminisced Saturday about their cruising days.

“We would cruise up and down Court Avenue and eat at the pizza shop,” said Imhoff. “There wasn’t as many stop signs back then.”

The teens occasionally stopped to talk in the same parking lot in which the Car Cruise began Saturday. At one time it was a Good-Year dealership, Imhoff said.

Bruce Ballard showed up Saturday in the same 1978 Ford F250 he had in high school. “I courted Cindy in that,” Ballard said.

“I’d use it on the farm and clean it up and take Cindy out,” said Ballard. “I bought it new in ’78.”

That was 43 years ago, said Cindy, and the two are still together.

The truck saw some rough years, said Bruce. People would stop and offer to buy it, but Bruce always told them he was planning to restore it someday. He finished it a couple of years ago.

The square was quiet Saturday except for the old -timers. They remembered busier days. “It was packed,” said Cindy. “Bumper to bumper. A lot of shenanigans.”

“The jewelry store had the big ol’ clock,” said Bruce, so the young people knew what time to head home to beat curfew.

The Classic Car Cruise was set up by Marengo Community Development as a way to engage the community, said Director Corienne Dally.

“We wanted to kind of get one in before the year was up,” said Dally. “We’re just trying to get more events that are community-building.”

Mark Plotz was driving an ’87 Chevy truck he bought new decades ago. “I ordered it from the factory in March of ’87.”

The truck has more than 100,000 miles, but not much more. “I just never drove it a whole lot,” said Plotz. “I took good care of it.”

Plotz never wanted to sell the truck. He was afraid some young kid would jack it up and run it hard.

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Kim Keiser cruised the strip Saturday in a 1957 Chevy 150 he purchased in 2001. “When I bought it, it was all green,” he said. It had no motor and no transmission.

“Everything is new on it,” said Keiser. That includes the paint job. The car is now yellow and white. Keiser first took the car out in 2013.

“They had a 150, a 210 and a Bel Air,” said Keiser. The 150 was the plain version. It had no clock and no radio and lacked the chrome of the other models, said Keiser.

The gas tank inlet is hidden in the driver’s side fin.

During his high school days, Keiser cruised the strip in a black 1964 Pontiac LeMans with a red interior. “In 2012, I bought another one,” he said. “I had one in high school, and I wanted another one.”

The car Keiser bought in 2012 wasn’t quite like the one he used to have. It’s a red 1967 with red interior.

And Keiser bought the car through the internet, something that was impossible when he bought his first car.

“When I was a kid, on a Friday night, especially after a football game … you kind of had to wait your turn,” said Keiser. The traffic was bumper-to-bumper when he was cruising in 1973 and 1974, he said.

The main drag had a café and a pizza shop and no stop signs, said Keiser. He and his friends drove to the end of Court Avenue, turned around and drove back.

“Everybody you knew was out driving around,” Keiser said.

Marengo Community Development hopes its periodic car cruises will rekindle the flame of weekend camaraderie on Court Avenue.