For Brookhaven’s Willie Wilson, car shows are more than justexhibitions of paint, power and upholstery. They’re teachablemoments.

“It brings back fond memories. I just looked at a car with theoriginal motor and shifter, and I was showing my grandson. He’s 14and he’s never seen that before,” he said.

There were plenty of teachable moments in downtown BrookhavenSaturday – about 130 of them. That’s the number of classic carsthat rolled into the city for the Ole Brook Cruisers’ annual Goin’to Town Cruise-in, lining the city parking lots on Railroad Avenuefrom one end to the other. Door prizes and cheeseburgers changedhands all day long as hundreds of people – from Brookhaven toArkansas to Florida – picked and prodded over open hoods.

Brookhaven’s Bobby Washington had aims similar to Wilson’s.Washington brought his deep blue 1968 Cadillac to the show with his7-year-old grandson, Dramarion McNulty, hoping to pass themechanic’s bug to the boy so he’ll pick up the constructive, cleanhabit of restoring cars.

“It costs a lot of money, but it’s safe,” Washington said.

Brookhaven’s James Garcia and his son, Bryan, went truck-to-truckat Saturday’s car show, admiring the work of others and looking forinspiration on their own work in progress, a 1985 Chevroletpickup.

“You get to see people’s work from the ground up, the time spentfrom coming out of the junk yard to this right here,” Garcia saidas he admired a spotless white 1965 Chevrolet truck.

“It brings everybody together – you meet people sharing the samethings you love,” the younger Garcia added.

Natchez’s Gregory Cosey made the trip over to Brookhaven to checkout the classic Chevrolets. He’s a car show enthusiasts, and heknows why the exhibitions are good for the host community.

“It brings people together and it brings a little money into thecommunity, especially on a beautiful day like today,” Coseysaid.

Summit’s Billy Delong brought the same message as Cosey – seek andye shall find.

“It’s good to see a community open up the area to a lot of visitorsand host these kind of events,” he said.