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Club created over love of classic cars
By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI
The Mahoning Valley Olde Car Club is an club that brings together people from all around who enjoy classic cars.
The MVOCC was created in 1976 and the charter members were recently recognized for the club being around for 40 years. Pete Draia, Bud Gane, Joe Phillips, Jim Proverb and Dave Bayowski were some of the founding members of the club. The club hosts monthly meetings to talk about the club, events and have a nice meal together.
Draia’s daughter, Dee Tripp, became a member of the MVOCC about 10 years ago after inheriting the love of classic cars from her father. Tripp was the secretary for the MVOCC for five years. Draia, who will be turning 96 years old in August, was active in the club until last year and has three classic cars.
“When they started it was only a handful of guys interested in cars, which grew into a membership of over 200 now. It’s lasted over 40 years so they must be doing something right,” said Tripp.
The members of the MVOCC put a lot of hard work in effort into their classic cars and several members have more than one car. There are various makes and models the members have and display at car cruises.
Many of the car club members are active in other car clubs around the nation. Mike Klem is the regional representative of Ohio and Western Pennsylvania and the Vice President of the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America. Klem helps run the social media for the group and the Facebook page has more than 31,000 people joined.
“We’re just Volkswagen people. We have different shows across the country, there are different chapters,” said Klem.
The MVOCC hosts several car cruises throughout the year at various places around the Northeast Ohio area. They work with senior homes, restaurants and other businesses and organizations around the area. A Fourth of July car cruise will take place at the Austintown Senior Center and there will be food, prizes and more for those who attend.
“I think that’s what keeps the club going is these little dinners we have,” said Rich Posivak, member of the MVOCC. “There’s always a huddle somewhere where guys are talking about cars.”
“The purpose of our club is to promote, educate and encourage the preservation, restoration and enjoyment of antique self-propelled vehicles and related material. We also conduct meetings, tours and programs of all sorts relating to the preservation and history of automotive vehicles,” is the mission of the MVOCC.
There are more than 200 members in the Mahoning Valley Olde Car Club and the members always step up when needed. The club gives the members an opportunity to make friends and create bonds over the shared love of classic cars.