DREAM CARS Really hot wheels

By VALERIE BANNER
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HEY'RE NOT JUST MOTORHEADS,they're motormouths, too. They talk about cars, they work on cars, they think about cars -- fixing them, painting them, making them faster, making them "better."
Even though they all share a passion for cars, they don't agree on what actually makes a car better. In many cases, though, understanding the definition of a cool car is as simple as looking at the age of the motorhead.
Teenagers, for the most part, prefer to take a simple coupe and modify it with body kits, paint, neon lighting and speakers until it is uniquely theirs. Baby boomers, on the other hand, are more likely to restore or remodel a classic car that was popular in their youth.
Becky DePanicis and Mike Howe each own their dream cars.
DePanicis' 1972 red Corvette is the car she's imagined owning since high school. Howe, who's still in high school, can't picture himself driving anything other than his 1998 white Mitsubishi Eclipse.
DePanicis, 49, of Niles, said she's fortunate that her husband, Len, 54, had also envisioned owning the same car.
"It's our first classic car and it'll be the last one, too. This is both of our dream car," she said.
Childhood interest
DePanicis said she became interested in cars as a little girl because "there wasn't room in the kitchen." So she spent time out in the garage with her father.
Although she drives her PT Cruiser more often, she said, no other car gets her motor going like her Corvette.
"It's got the curves and the pizzazz that a lot of new cars don't have," she said.
But Howe, 17, of Hubbard, prefers his new car's pizzazz. He said he was inspired to own an Eclipse while watching the movie "The Fast and the Furious."
"I wanted a truck before that and I saw that movie and it warped me," he said.
In addition to the price of the car, Howe said, he's spent thousands of dollars -- not to mention hundreds of hours -- trying to make his Eclipse look like the car from the movie.
"I do it in stages," he said. "I don't have the money to do it all at once. I bought all the stuff that's on my car."
That includes the body kit, suspension, exhaust and other exterior and interior work.
Making the most of it
Unlike Howe, most teens say they don't own their dream car yet, so they try to do the best they can with what they have.
R.C. Byers, 18, of Liberty, and Brandon Protiva, 19, of Vienna, say they often hear criticism of the work they've done on their Cavaliers.
"People who are into muscle cars are like, 'Hey, that's a little four cylinder, what's the point in doing that?'" Protiva said. Then he shrugs, "It's all in what you like."
And he likes what he's done, which includes a body kit, interior and exterior neon lighting, a sound system, adjustable suspension to raise or lower the car and shaving the door handles off. The doors now pop open automatically when he presses a remote control button on his keychain.
"I did it for myself. I wanted something different and I have something different," he said.
He said he just started out with the 1996 Cavalier and slowly made changes to the body, but never had a particular image in mind.
Protiva said he's done most of the work himself -- with the occasional help of a few friends.
"I can take credit for everything I did," he said. "If someone says, 'Who did all this?' I can say I did."
And he said he often gets asked about his car. "Attention comes with the territory," he said.
Mixed feelings
Byers said he gets stopped and asked about his yellow 2002 Cavalier a lot, too, but he has mixed feelings on the attention. "You want to be noticed," he said. "I like watching the old guys go, 'You can do that with a Cavalier?'"
But he said he doesn't always like the recognition. "You get sick of it after a while because you get every idiot telling you what they think," he said.
Byers said he's open to constructive suggestions and often looks in magazines and on the Internet for ideas on what to do to his car.
But he said he does appreciate classic cars. His dad owns a 1979 Corvette. "I would never ever modify that," he said.
Protiva said he, too, can switch gears and appreciate the beauty of older cars. He said he's looking forward to fixing up a 1964 Impala. "I'm trying to have the best of both worlds," he said.
Restoring classics
Mike Yost, 47, of Champion, said he began restoring classic cars in much the same way that Protiva did. He first felt the gasoline flowing through his veins when he fixed up the car he owned as a teen.
"In my day, we did things like jack up the rear," said Yost, who had owned a 1966 Charger. "Now it's the little import car. I don't understand it, but I'm sure my parents didn't understand what I was doing."
Today, Yost owns a 1973 Corvette and makes a hobby of restoring old cars. He said he's owned as many as four classic cars at one time.
"I enjoy the challenge of getting it from this car that needs badly fixed up to a show piece," he said. "Most people restore it and then keep it. My fun was getting it there. There's nothing you can do now [that it's restored] but wash it."
Bill George, 61, of Poland, and Erwin Kornack, 50, of Columbiana, say they also enjoy the restoration journey. But these guys want to share the ride with their offspring.
Kornack has a 1967 Chevelle, which took him three years to restore. "I have always wanted to have a muscle car," he said. "This is where the true power is."
Now that this car is finished, Kornack said, he's got the green light on his next project -- and it's one in which his 22-year-old daughter will help. He said he hasn't found the car yet, but he'd like it to be another 1967 muscle car.
"She's gonna get the understanding of how to customize the way you want your vehicle," he said.
A family gift
George said he hopes his grandchildren will someday understand how important restoring cars is to him. He said he plans to renovate three cars and give them to his three granddaughters as gifts when they graduate from high school.
"I could give them $25,000 when they graduate from high school," he said, "or I could give them a piece of their grandfather and what I'm all about."
George has finished the first car -- a shiny, deep-red 1957 Chevy with a license plate that reads "Julia's" -- but still has a long way to go on the other two cars stored in his garage. He has plenty of time, though; Julia, the oldest, is 4, Jessie is 3 and Kristen is only 2.
"She stood in the car when nothing else was in it," George said of Julia. "She watched it go off the frame to on the frame and has seen the paint and chrome finished. In her short, four-year life, she's seen it take shape."
He said he knows she won't remember much of the restoration process, but he's left notes in parts of the car that describe the work he's done and the trouble he's encountered. He said Julia will find the notes if she ever has to work on the car. He said he plans to leave similar notes in all the cars.
George said his granddaughters know that the cars he spends so much time working on will one day belong to them. When they visit, they ask, "Papa, are you done with our shiny car yet?" he said.
Until he's ready to give them the cars, George said he gets to enjoy the fruits of his labor: he drives the 1957 Chevy around town.
In fact, for most of those who spend hours souping up or restoring cars, driving the finished product is the greatest reward of all.
"They don't start out pretty," said George. "The feeling of accomplishment -- it just feels so good to know what I started with, and now the turn signal works, the gas gauge works, the radio works."
But Daryl Timko, 47, said words can't describe how he feels when driving his 1937 Pontiac coupe. "I just have a big smile on my face."