Downtown Git Down: Saltillo Main Street hosts first car show

TUPELO – Howard Lee, metal worker, stood proudly by his rusty 1952 Chevrolet pickup truck on Saturday at Saltillo’s Downtown Git Down Car Show.

A metal scorpion designed by Lee sat on the top of the truck while a metallic vulture’s skull stared menacingly from the hood.

Lee bought the truck a year-and-a-half ago and began customizing it for car shows. The truck is still an ongoing process.

“This is considered to be a rat rod which means there’s nothing nice about it,” Lee said. “Anything rough is OK. Sometimes you play into the rough part. There’s no attempt to make the body work look good. It’s kind of a freestyle customization.”

Lee wants to make a habit of showing in car shows as it quickly grew into a passion. The car shows became a chance to meet other people and let them appreciate his efforts.

“It’s really the best of what you did,” he said. “It’s not so much what you like about it but how others like it. You win by just being here and have everybody like it.”

More than 100 custom cars and trucks lined Saltillo’s Main Street, which just became the state’s 52nd Mississippi Main Street Community in February.

Ricky Leathers, a huge fan of Elvis Presley, showed a pink and white 1957 Cadillac, the kind Elvis gave his mother for her birthday.

Beside the vehicle, Leathers set up a cut out of Elvis and a stuffed animal that sang “Hound Dog.” The front tag showed an image of Elvis with the words “The King” boldly written.

Leathers plans to drive around tourists whenever his son, Chef David Leathers, opens his new restaurant, Forklift.

“Whenever I’m driving it, people pass me on the road from every state,” Leathers said. “They throw thumbs up, they wave and they take pictures of it on the road. I’m going to have to prop Elvis up in the back.”

Down the road from Leathers’ Cadillac, Barney Long, employee at Body Shop Supplies, always wanted a 1979 Trans Am after seeing the car fly over hills in “Smokey and the Bandit.”

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