Muscle Car City museum in Punta Gorda fuels dreams of the past - St. Pet... http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article980974.

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Muscle Car City museum in Punta Gorda fuels

dreams of the past
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Bill would dismantle By Michael Kruse, Times Staff Writer
Florida's growth In Print: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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Testing Rick Treworgy's Muscle Car City opened Reddit Del.icio.us Newsvine
Grounds its doors for the first time Tuesday ADVERTISEMENT
The morning at 10.
latest
industry Inside are 175 cars. A lollipop-red '62
being outsourced to Chevy Bel Air, a light-blue '66 Impala,
India is clinical drug and a mean black '67 Pontiac GTO with a
trials. And any license plate that says GR-RRR! The long
number of tragic bars of high fluorescent lights shine
things can happen bright on the buffed-up hoods.
on the way to your
medicine cabinet. "These cars, they're not just cars,"
More special reports Treworgy said. "Like putting a saddle on
a bolt of lightning."
Video report
These days, of course, the American
Paycheck to auto industry is listing at best. The auto
paycheck blog Jalopnik.com calls it the
Bay area "carpocalypse."
residents
who find Back in the '60s, though, when Detroit
was one of the biggest cities in the
Latest News
themselves country and not some real-time case
struggling to study of urban decay, Ford had its
survive paycheck to Mustangs, Chevy had its Camaros and
paycheck. Chevelles, and Pontiac had its GTOs. The ADVERTISEMENT
More video reports '64 GTO, some say, started the so-called
muscle car era. Three-alarm fire Family, friends One nation
Multimedia report in Feather remember under Obama?
"Take the smallest, lightest body, and Sound destroys Marvin Renslow
Barbie the biggest motor you can get in there, 12 units
turns 50
and let all hell break loose," said Bob
We
Merlis, who writes about cars in
celebrate
Automobile Magazine and on the Huffington Post.
her sense
of fashion and iconic

1 of 3 3/11/2009 4:14 PM
Muscle Car City museum in Punta Gorda fuels dreams of the past - St. Pet... http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article980974.ece

style while checking

out other celebrities
who are turning 50. The Beach Boys sang about muscle cars. Burt Reynolds drove a Trans Am in Smokey and the
More multimedia Bandit.
reports
Muscle cars started to disappear in the early to mid '70s. Stiffer safety regulations. Stricter
emissions standards. Higher insurance rates.

In its time, though, "the muscle car era had a sense of magic to it," said Peter De Lorenzo, the
publisher of Autoextremist.com, a longtime auto blog. "The Cold War seemed to be fading into
the rearview mirror. The muscle cars were keeping with the national psyche at that time.

"Big horsepower," he said, "and big dreams."

But now, in early '09, Florida has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country, and last
year Charlotte County had the sixth-highest job loss in the state. The number of people
receiving food stamps in the county jumped 113 percent. The director of the county's homeless
coalition placed an ad in the local paper asking for high chairs.

Treworgy has lived here since '59. He has white hair and is 60 years old. He made his money in
real estate and land development and he owns some pieces of several area restaurants.

He started collecting these cars in '73. He's been thinking about opening a place like this for 20
years. He says maybe now's not the greatest time.

Or maybe it's just right.

"I've lost money in the stock market, and I've lost money in real estate," Treworgy said. "I
really haven't lost money in these cars."

Last year, he bought the old Wal-Mart, cleaned it out and brought in his collection. He says he's
going to have weekly car shows and cruise-ins and billboards on Interstate 75 up to the Georgia
line. An official grand opening is scheduled for next month.

On Tuesday, though, he just opened the doors, to see who'd come. Ten bucks to get in. Thirty
for a pass for the year.

The parking lot started to fill up, with Mercurys and Cadillacs, with license plates from Maine,
Massachusetts and Michigan. A man in cowboy boots and a rugby shirt made to look like an
American flag walked in. Stiff-legged men in jean shorts and Velcro sneakers and women in
sandals carrying sequined handbags moved from car to car.

Sheila Walas stopped at the long-finned blue '59 Impala near the far wall.

"Senior prom," she said.

She was here with her husband, Bill Walas, and they're from Rhode Island and winter in Punta
Gorda. She took a snapshot.

"Same color," she said. "Same everything."

"Yep," he said. "Tropical turquoise."

"I remember my blue dress with the white, with the crown," she said, "feeling like the cat's
meow."

"You see the couples," said Kathy Sweck, 67, from Port Charlotte, and she took her elbow and
nudged her partner, Dan Kennedy, 64, "and they remember the back seats."

At Muscle Car City, up front by the register, the line was long.

The people wanted in.

Staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Michael Kruse can be reached at
[email protected] or (727) 893-8751.

[Last modified: Mar 04, 2009 09:57 AM]

14 comments Follow comments with RSS

hans from sarasota Mar 9th, 2009 11:50 am

late 50s and early 60s were the days you could get away with dragging your buddies up and down
the streets of Sarasota in your rod without getting caught because there were few cops at the
time. Was that great !

Nick from N. Ft. Myers Mar 6th, 2009 8:26 pm

I remembmer as a kid in Long Island,the Plymouth Superbirds were all lined up on Montaulk Hyw
.Flourescect blue, lime green, hemi orange,,,etc. I wonder those cars sold for bavk in the days ???

Nick from N. Ft. Myers Mar 6th, 2009 8:05 pm

I would LOVE to see another Gremlin X, Levi package,6cyl. stick,,,, I drove one of these back in
the early 80s. Maybe not a muscle car (unless it had the 409), but Everbody knew the AMC
Gremlin!

Stan from So Portland,Maine Mar 5th, 2009 8:49 pm

Coming down in April and anxious to see it all !

chuck from Dunnellon, FL

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Muscle Car City museum in Punta Gorda fuels dreams of the past - St. Pet... http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article980974.ece

Mar 4th, 2009 5:12 pm

Also the 351 boss mustang. Garlets has a few nice cars at his place in ocala. Resist the "northern"
pronunciation, its not poon-ta gorda its pronounced pon-tah gorda.

Ken from Nowhere, Alaska Mar 4th, 2009 3:03 pm

What about the greatest of them all, the Hemi-Cuda or the Plymouth Superbird?

Sue from St. Petersburg Mar 4th, 2009 2:07 pm

I had a '67 GTO way back when and I miss that car every day. If I knew then what I know now,
what a difference there would be! LOVE IT!!

Raye M from ST. Petersburg FL Mar 4th, 2009 1:59 pm

Own a 1970 Challenger RT -- 426 HEMI. Today I have an 09 Challenger 6.1 HEMI. Next monthwe
are going on a road trip to Punta Gorda. Glad that Rick Treworgy has been able to save these
cars.

Kenny from Fort Myers Mar 4th, 2009 1:11 pm

As a 2004 Mercury Marauder owner, I get to enjoy the last of the Muscle Cars. This collection will
remind people that WE invented the car - drove the passion and made icons out of steel and
rubber. I think this may restart the American car interest.

Garry from Tampa Mar 4th, 2009 11:47 am

Ihave fond memories of modifing late '50s & early '60s machines for street racing in Detroit. Had a
buddy with a full race 7 leter overhead cam Ford in a rusted out Mercury shell that made more
money on a Saturday racing than he did working 40 hours.

D from St. Petersburg Mar 4th, 2009 10:39 am

address, phone number, website? thanks

Bob H from Brooksville Mar 4th, 2009 10:01 am

Nice article, but you didn't have to go as far as Punta Gorda. Tarpon Springs has a nice
showroom/museum, Classic Corvettes and Collectibles. Great place to spend an afternoon.

David from Clearwater ,Fla Mar 4th, 2009 8:41 am

I think that your business is a great tribute to the American spirit and to American inguienety.
Thanks for your contribution.

Scott from Sarasota Mar 4th, 2009 8:29 am

Best use of a Walmart I'VE ever heard.

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