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Shakey’s Pizza Parlor is the home of a weekly classic car show titled Every Tuesday Cruise Night. Shakey’s is located at 9602 North Newport Highway just past the Division Street “Y”. The Cruise Night has become a casual weekly ritual for enthusiasts of classic cars on the northside.

Father and son owners Steve and Nick Hersey brought back the Shakey’s franchise to Spokane four years ago. They’ve incorporated their passion for classic cars with their business. Steve even brought his ’66 El Camino to display. Shakey’s has been hosting the Cruise Night for the past three years and are encouraged by the weekly turnout. It’s common for the parking lot to be filled with 60-70 classic cars.

My son and I are into cars but we’re also married to a restaurant. Our thought was we can’t get out to see the cars so what can we do to get the cars to come see us. (Steve Hersey)

Photo by SpokaneFocus

Rich DeHart of Spokane Falls Insurance brought out his 1964 Plymouth Belvedere which he’s been drag racing for forty years. He races the car in the NHRA Pro Bracket Series. The car’s elapsed time for the quarter mile is 11.39 seconds reaching a top speed of 118 mph. He also is able to combine his passion for classic cars and his business. Rich actually specializes in collector car insurance and he estimates that he probably insures two-thirds of the cars in the Shakey’s lot for the Cruise Night.

I enjoy the good camaraderie with friends. It’ great place to sit down and talk cars. It’s a friendship and fellowship time. (Rich DeHart)

Photo by SpokaneFocus

Northside resident Dave Batchelor brought out his 1966 Ford Galaxy 500 XL. This car is what he terms an “original survivor”. It has never been painted and has the original interior, motor and vinyl roof which is in outstanding condition for a 47 year old vehicle. Dave also has the original sale documents which indicate that this car was sold by McCollum Motors and has remained in Spokane ever since.

I was born in 1943. Growing up I used to have ’53 Fords and ’55 Chevys and being a young guy I used to race them around the streets. I had a good time. As I get older I feel the need to relive my youth. (Dave Batchelor)

Photo by SpokaneFocus

Every Tuesday Cruise Night is also an opportunity for custom car builders to show off their abilities to bring these cars back to life. Custom car builder Jeff Evans drove up in a particularly stunning example of Spokane fabrication. His restoration work done on a client’s 1968 Ford Mustang was simply impressive. Jeff’s work included literally everything on the car including paint, body, interior and assembly. His client brought in many color choices for the restoration but ultimately they decided upon a color scheme that didn’t initially appeal to the client’s spouse.

His wife wasn’t really happy with the paint color to begin with… but now that it’s finished I’m going to build her one too. (Jeff Evans)

Photo by SpokaneFocus

Families can share in the classic car bug too. Father Ken, daughter Keri and grandson Eric enjoyed seeing the cars at Every Tuesday Cruise Night. Her son has caught the classic car bug already. Last Tuesday as Keri was driving past Shakey’s, Eric saw the cars and demanded her mom drive around again so he could see them.

I think he might be a future race car driver already. (Keri)

If you’re looking for something to do on a hot Summer night in north Spokane your should definitely check out Shakey’s Pizza Parlor. You see loads of cars from Detroit’s glory days and you might make a few new friends.

To see more photos of this event check out SpokaneFocus on flickr. All photos are absolutely free to download and use.

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