The 20^th Annual C.A.R.S. Club Motoring Festival at McPherson College will take place Saturday, May 4 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The student-run car show attracts rare vehicles from across the country. Last year more than 400 cars entered the show. This year’s event will again feature unique vehicles and special guests including Donald Osborne.

It all starts on Friday, May 3 when Osborne will be the guest speaker at a dinner event that kicks off the car show weekend. Osborne is a regular contributor on Jay Leno’s Garage on CNBS, and What’s My Car Worth for MotorTrend TV. He lends his considerable knowledge of car valuation to organizations such as the Historic Vehicle Association and RM Sotheby’s. Additionally, Osborne studied opera at Hartt College of Music in Hartford Connecticut, and is a talented singer.

Car enthusiasts are encouraged to participate in a Cruise-in also on Friday beginning at 6 p.m. on Main Street in McPherson. This event serves as a sneak peek at what will be on the show field and an opportunity for any car or motorcycle owner to display their rides in an informal show in downtown McPherson. There is no entry fee required for this fun event.

The Motoring Festival gets into high gear on Saturday. Cars will be let onto the field at 8 a.m. and a day full of activities is planned including demonstrations, tours of the Automotive Restoration facility, a Model T build, McPherson College and McPherson High School Jazz Bands performances, and food trucks, up until 3 p.m. when awards will be announced. A complimentary trolley will also be available for rides from campus to Main Street on Saturday. Pre-registration is open online until April 22 at a discounted rate. Registration is also available the day of the show.

This year’s show will feature an entry from Barn Find Hunter, Tom Cotter. Cotter digs through barns and garages in search of buried automotive treasures. He is the author of several popular Barn Find books and is a regular video contributor to Hagerty’s online media. He recently collaborated on a 1962 Ford Country Sedan station wagon with two McPherson College alumni, which will be part of this year’s show.

Other feature cars include a 1952 Ferrari 212, a 1914 Peugeot Indianapolis race car, and a 1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda. The Motoring Festival brings a diverse field of vehicles together that includes cars, motorcycles, bicycles, tractors and even military vehicles. From the concours-quality vehicles to the unique and unusual to the student area that features works in progress, there is something for everybody.

A scholarship honoring the legendary female racecar driver, journalist, author, and photographer Denise McCluggage was presented for the first time ever at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance to McPherson College senior Emma Critz during the gala dinner on March 9.

Critz was selected for the inaugural scholarship out of the automotive restoration program; however, the scholarship will be available to all women at McPherson College with interests similar to McCluggage’s such as journalism, art, photography.

“I’m honored to have been selected for the scholarship,” Critz said. “Denise McCluggage was such an interesting person and I was so surprised when my name was announced as the recipient. It is definitely the highlight of my time at McPherson College.”

When McCluggage passed away in 2015 she left instructions to develop a scholarship in her name that would encourage other women to pursue their dreams. The initial funding for the scholarship was provided by the Santa Fe Concorso and it was developed this year as a senior capstone project by Abigayle Morgan, a senior majoring in automotive restoration with a minor in communication. Morgan had the opportunity to introduce the scholarship and announce this year’s recipient at the Amelia Island event.

“Being in a room full of longtime friends and competitors of Denise McCluggage was an awesome experience,” she said. “I was thrilled with the amount of support people expressed to me for the scholarship.”

Morgan is leading a fundraising campaign to guarantee that funds will be available to support women at McPherson College through the McCluggage Scholarship. For more information about the scholarship, please go to www.mcpherson.edu/denise-mccluggage.

McPherson College will partner with the Ferrari Club of America to provide scholarship support, internship opportunities, tooling, and student experiences for automotive restoration students.

The Ferrari Club of America is the largest membership organization of Ferrari enthusiasts in the world. The organization comprises 6,500 members in 40 chapters across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The club’s Annual Meeting event draws hundreds of Ferraris from around the world that participate in a concours, rally and other events.

“We are pleased to partner with an organization that understands the importance of encouraging the next generation of auto restoration craftsmen,” Amanda Gutierrez, vice president of automotive restoration, said. “Collaborating with the Ferrari Club of America and its extensive membership base across North America will offer many opportunities for our students.”

This year four students from McPherson College were invited to attend in The Ferrari Club of America Annual Meeting where they participated in judging meetings, seminars, and served as apprentice judges for The Ferrari Club of America International Concours. They also had the opportunity to visit the historic Watkins-Glen racetrack.

In its announcement, the Ferrari Club of America stated it plans to support scholarship through voluntary member contribution as well as club fund raising events, donate tools and foreign cars or engines, and support efforts to establish internships and future employment opportunities for students.

“McPherson College stands alone as the only school to provide a bachelor’s degree in restoration technology and its students are looking to apply their skills and learn in a world-setting,” Randy Steyer, FCA National Secretary, said. “Our members know companies that can provide quality learning experiences for these dedicated, passionate, and skilled students.”

For many of the participants in the Summer Institute program the road that leads them to McPherson College begins with a great car story.

The Automotive Restoration program at McPherson College has hosted the Summer Institute for more than a decade. It offers five-day long workshops scheduled over three weeks where car hobbyists and professionals can concentrate on a specific skill area and gain hands-on learning from the program’s faculty.

It has been 16 years since Kevin Throneberry from New Mexico first came to the Summer Institute to take a paint class with his father-in-law who was a mechanic. Back then, the two were interested in learning new paint techniques. His father-in-law passed away late last year, leaving him and his family an extensive car collection to maintain. Throneberry decided it was time to return to the Summer Institute and brought his 15-year-old daughter, Jade, with him.

“Our biggest concern is how to maintain and fix anything that might need fixing,” he said. “We have a lot to learn.”

Jade’s interest in cars comes from spending hours with her grandfather watching him and helping him work on his cars and from knowing that as the oldest of the kids, she will have to help pitch in to maintain the collection.

“I mostly handed him wrenches,” she said about helping her grandfather. “I have a lot to learn and feel like my brain has expanded two times its size after taking this class. I’m sure we will come back next year, probably for three weeks, and bring my brother.”

Jade and her dad spent two weeks at the Summer Institute taking paint, sheet metal and drive train classes. Although Jade said she learned a great deal in her classes, her favorite part of the Summer Institute was learning to drive a Model T.

Another common thread among Summer Institute participants is enjoying time with family. The three generations of Tanner family, who travel from Massachusetts and Virginia, started coming to the Institute together last year; however, the youngest member of the trio, Cole, has been coming for the past three years and will begin his freshman year in the Automotive Restoration program this fall. But it was a car that ultimately introduced them to campus.

“I had a 1974 Porsche 914 as a teenager,” said John, Cole’s dad. “I had a picture of it and Cole always gave me a hard time for selling it.”

Cole and his grandfather, Eric, decided to track down the car. They were able to locate it in Georgia and talked the owner into selling it to them. After finding the car, the Tanners joined the Porsche Club of America and started going to events where they met Paul Russell, a long-time supporter of the Automotive Restoration program and a member of its National Advisory Board. Russell encouraged Cole and his family to look into McPherson College.

Cole, who will bring a 1929 Model A with him when he comes to campus this fall, says he loves coming to the Summer Institute classes and has enjoyed getting to know the professors. His dad agrees.

“It’s great to see teachers with such passion for what they do,” John said. “It’s infectious. I can see why their students are so successful.”

Sharing a passion for cars also brought the Casas family to Summer Institute this year. Eddie Casas, who participated in Summer Institute last year, brought his three sons – Eddie, age 17; Jacob, age 15; and Joshua, age 13 – with him this year and spent three weeks in paint, 3-D modeling and design, and advanced paint classes. The self-described “hands-on” family not only took advantage of all the classroom and lab experiences, but also took an opportunity to look for a new project to take back to Texas with them.

“We got out of class early one night and drove to Ottawa to buy a trailer then on the way back to McPherson stopped and purchased a 1952 Chevy panel truck,” Eddie said. “We didn’t get back until after eleven that night, but that’s the joy of it, having an adventure, and sharing it with my sons.”

The Casas call their panel truck the “McPherson Project” and hope to complete it and bring it back to show off at a Summer Institute in the future. “It’s a very meaningful project to me,” Eddie said. “We bought it together and will work on it together. We are really excited about it.”

The Casas brothers each had a favorite course from the three they took this summer, but did agree that the best part was interacting with the faculty, working on projects, and not sitting through lectures.

“It’s a great experience,” Eddie said. “The professors are very knowledgeable, which is one of the things that brought me back.”

The McPherson College Summer Institute classes are held in June of each year. Course descriptions and registration can be found on the college website at: https://www.mcpherson.edu/autorestoration/institute/