Revving up memories

PORTAGE | Ruth Jones remembers being crazy about cars even as a 4-year-old kid.

She knew she was in love with her husband, Bob Jones -- her high school sweetheart -- when he bought her and customized a 1966 Chevelle.

The couple have been collecting and customizing classic cars and trucks throughout their marriage. They cruise in the vintage vehicles -- and just enjoy them.

"It's the American hobby. ...and cars bring back so many memories," Ruth Jones said.

Their fascination with cars has taken her and Bob around the country, including Fairmount, Ind. to the James Dean Days Car Show there.

"We've met the neatest, fun people," she said.

It's a love affair with cars that has included their two grown sons and now their two grandchildren.

"It's been a family affair," Ruth Jones said.

Bob Jones' current project is a 1941 Ford truck he is customizing inside the family's spacious garage for granddaughter, Tori Jones, a Portage High School freshman.

"I love customizing; it's everybody's personal design," Bob Jones said.

For Ruth Jones, it's all about the finished product and showing it off at the many car cruises throughout the area.

She has fond memories of cruising down Broadway in Gary in the late 1970s and early 1980s in their 1956 Chevrolet and 1972 Buick Skylark.

"We'd take the boys and cruise up and down Broadway," she said.

Although both Ruth and Bob Jones love their customized cars, they say it's the wonderful people they've met is a huge draw.

"The camaraderie of people with cars is incredible," Ruth Jones said.

She said part of the car cruise draw -- at least for the two of them -- is reliving their youth. The days of driving to teen hangouts like Nicks in East Gary and the Blue Top in Highland.

"A lot of those we meet at the cruises grew up together and we can talk about those days," Ruth Jones said.