Correspondent photo / Russell Brickey Tom Eaton of Canfield shows off the pristine engine of his ‘09 Chevrolet Corvette at the Dunkin’ on Boardman-Canfield Road in Canfield. Car enthusiasts meet for coffee and car talk there every Friday evening.

CANFIELD — A ’22 cherry-red Corvette Stingray pulls into the lot of Dunkin’ on Boardman-Canfield Road around 6 p.m.

Over the next two hours, the Stingray will be joined by a ’65 Ford Galaxie, a Grand Sport Buick, a ’62 Corvette, a ’69 GTO and a dozen other show cars, muscle cars and classic cars.

The drivers carefully back their cars into parking spaces, hood forward, so the cars can be admired. All the vehicles are in spit-shiny prime condition, and all are driven by older men and women, most of whom are retired.

“We’ve worked all our lives for something like this,” said Tom Eaton of Canfield, who drives an ’09 red Corvette. Eaton worked for General Motors for 37 years and Harley-Davidson after that. “All these guys have worked all their lives,” he said. “They’ve scrimped, missed vacations and put their money in the bank, and now they are enjoying it. I’m retired and an empty nester,” he added. “I can afford a great car.”

The car club has no official name and is not exclusive. These owners of top-notch new cars and pristine classics simply gather to talk shop, drink coffee and eat the occasional donut in the company of other people who appreciate a fine ride. Anyone, no matter what they drive, are welcome to come, admire the vehicles and join the conversation.

Many in this group of car enthusiasts have been meeting informally at this particular Dunkin’ for 13 years.

James Hegedus of Boardman drives the Galaxie. He takes a little ribbing when he sits down to talk.

“He’s in the witness protection program,” someone joked at the far table.

“Yeah,” Hegedus said, “I’m Jimmy Dagadonuts.”

“He used to be a hitman,” someone else piped up, “but he kept missing.”

Actually, Hegedus is a professional truck driver, but he has always been good at refurbishing cars. His teal green Galaxie was sitting in the yard of a recently widowed woman who wanted to sell it. Before that, the car had been stored in a garage for 23 years. It needed a new radiator, brakes and gas tank. Otherwise, the Galaxie was in good shape.

The next week was his birthday week, he said, and he planned to take the week off to “hit all the car shows” in the region.

“Cars keep me out of trouble,” Hegedus joked. “And I just hate to see nice old cars go to the scrappers.”

Not all the cars are rescue projects. Some have grown up with their owners.

Ed Costello of Boardman bought his Buick in 1970 when he was 19. He has been driving it ever since.

He has been friends with Jerry Kolesar, also of Boardman, since the two were in high school. Kolesar bought his GTO (which is an abbreviation of the Italian term “Gran Turismo Omologato” for this style of car) when he was 19. The fluffy white bunny toy sitting on the dashboard was a gift to his wife a year later. The bunny has never left the car.

The owner of the pristine red ’69 Corvette Stingray convertible, Bob Willison of Canfield, has been working on cars his whole life. “It’s just something I grew up with and never got over,” he said.

Several members of the car club were quick to point out that the Stingray model was the car featured in the TV show “Route 66,” which filmed an episode in Youngstown in 1961.

On the other side of history, Jeff Columbo’s ’22 Stingray represents the state-of-the-art. He bought his Stingray because of its innovation.

“The looks of it, the major changes that they did — it’s a totally different looking Corvette from what they built before. It just attracted me to the car,” he said. “It is futuristic.”

Bright red and aerodynamic, the car does look like a spaceship from a science fiction movie. Columbo said it could go as fast as 180 mph, but he does not drive that fast.

“If you are not an aggressive driver, you really get good gas mileage, believe it or not,” he said.

The evening included a man who knows something about speed. Tom Martino, owner of Martino Motorsports, has won numerous drag racing competitions. In 2018, he won the PDRA Lucas Oil Top Dragster World Championship, which garnered him a ceremonial key to the city from Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown. The personalized license plate on his silver Corvette reads “Tino C6” for Corvette number 6.

“These are all the old guys that I raced with,” Martino said. “They quit racing and I’m still racing. We just come out and have a cup of coffee and shoot the bull every Friday night.”

Martino had just come back from a drag race in Columbus. His car was “the fastest on the property” out of the 572 cars that were there. Despite being a pro, Martino has been part of this group from the beginning.

“They run the whole circuit. Monday night they are in Louisville — you got to be there at noon to park your car and get a spot.”

Grassroots car events go on every night in Mahoning County, according to Martino. “Every night there’s a cruise somewhere. Quaker Steak and Lube has one. DeBartolo Commons has one on Friday night.”

Many members of the informal Dunkin’ car club had come from Quaker Steak and Lube that evening where they frequently meet, show off their cars and run a 50/50 raffle for charity.

Martino laments that the car culture he grew up with, and which so many people fashion their lives around, appears to be fading out with the younger generations.

“The old timers are still playing with cars,” he said. “Young kids are leasing them.”

Two young men appear about five minutes later, walk through the parking lot, and admire the cars.

“Just look at that,” one of them said, smiling, nodding his head and pointing at the bright orange Dodge Charger.

“If you ever go for a ride in one of these things,” Eaton said, “and the boss is on your butt and the bugs are biting and you don’t feel good, and you go for a ride, you will get a grin on your chin.”

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