By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Frank McSorley of St. John Street brought a 1978 VW Westfalia pop-up camper van — and a story — to Saturday’s car show at Manville High School .
The van was bought by his son, Joshua, who intended to bring it back to motoring life.
The vehicle sat a few years, Mr. McSorley said, and his son died in his sleep at the age of 24 in 2010, just days before he had intended to start work on it.
”So we decided to restore it and live his dream for him,” said Mr. McSorley, sitting under a canopy in the hot sun.
Car shows aren’t always about muscle cars and antiques. Saturday’s seventh annual free event, sponsored by the Full Throttle Car Club and the Manville High School Marching Band, had its share of novelty cars and meticulous reproductions.
Mr. McSorley’s VW camper had a Scooby Doo stuffed toy perched on the roof of the cab, giving the vehicle even more of a whimsical quality.
”Adults look at the van and acquaint it with hippies,” Mr. McSorley said. “Kids see Scooby Doo and the Mystery Machine.”
The van, nicknamed “Maggie Mae” by his son, has running water, an icebox, a cabinet that reaches down the frame to allow a suit or dress to be hung, a revolving front seat and original green plaid seat covers. Two can sleep in the upper bunk and two on a folding bed in the main cabin.
Mr. McSorley said the van’s planned itinerary includes places his son had intended to take it — like Sandy Hook as its first lighthouse, and in the autumn, up to West Point, New York.
He’s had it on a shakedown run in his driveway.
”Those squirrels can be vicious,” said the quick-witted Mr. McSorley.
It boasts all of 69 horsepower.
”When you are going downhill with a tailwind, life is sweet,” he said.
Co-organizer Alex Tomari estimated there were 50 cars on display by late morning, and the total edged up to 55 by the end of the day. Many received trophies from the 23 sponsors.
The show was a fundraiser for the band parents, who are raising money for raincoats for high school band members.
Bernie Peach and his son, Kevin, both of Schooley’s Mountain, brought two of their 12 antique Fords to the show. They have 10 different models of the 1930-era Model As, but they showed 1920 and 1909 Model T roadsters Saturday.
”That seat back there is called a mother-in-law seat,” said the elder Peach, pointing to an exposed, uncomfortable single bench behind the main cabin.
Steve Fusco, of Hazlet, showed off his Knight Rider lookalike car, a 1989 Trans Am. He builds them for sale, starting with a base vehicle.
His car on display featured a television screen and push buttons on the dash display That was the look of the car in one of the last season of the 1980’s TV show. This car had been to Las Vegas for a “Knight Rider” festival, and David Hasselhoff has sat in it, Mr. Fusco said.
It has a unique “nose” bumper, custom dash and electronics, oil slick, smoke screen and laser beam.
When he was stressing out at age 24, “the doctor told me to find a hobby. This is it,” Mr. Fusco said.
One of the state’s only members of a “Knight Rider” fan club, he’s a fan from as far back as he could go. He was 9 months old when the show came on the air in September 1982, he said, and he still has a “Knight Rider” Big Wheels toy cycle.

