“Well, what’s your handle, son, and what’s your 20?” If you recognize this famous line from the 1977 film “Smokey and the Bandit,” the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) car show on Friday was the place to be.
According to Detective Pete Posada, the main organizer of the event, over 100 cars signed up for the show — 50 more cars than last year. The car show’s 20 — ‘location’ in trucker CB radio slang — was the SUDPS parking lot.
“This car show really lends itself to that opportunity for us to connect with people,” Posada said. “The public perception of the police isn’t always positive, so this is a chance for us to kind of change that narrative a little bit and be out there and engage with folks.”
Posada promoted the event through social media, flyers and word of mouth. At the show, SUDPS officers handed out free shirts, stickers and toy cars. Posada brought his 1957 Chevy 3100 truck to display.
Competition between car owners was tough. While casting their votes for the “Fan Favorite” award, attendees had to choose between classic old-time favorites and sleek modern models, asking themselves if the car’s exterior or what lay underneath the hood mattered most.
The winner of the “Fan Favorite” award was a custom built 2008 Porsche 650 GTRS, owned by Phillip Trinidad. He described how he selected his favorite parts from different generations of the vehicle, and incorporated them together. Trinidad’s daughter, the aptly-named Porsche Trinidad ’26, introduced him to the car show and encouraged him to sign up. Porsche Trinidad and her brother, Roman Trinidad, attended the car show with Phillip Trinidad.
“Our family loves spending time together,” said Porsche Trinidad. “To be able to come out, show up and see [our dad’s] hard work is really exciting and fun for us.”
Roman Trinidad was ecstatic and “really proud” to see his dad win an award at the show. Roman Trinidad and Porsche Trinidad hope to expand their dad’s car collection in the future.
“We’ll buy him one,” Roman Trinidad said. “That’s what we said since we were kids. We used to drive by dealerships and be like, ‘Which one do you want? The red one with yellow wheels? Oh yeah, one day, we’ll buy you that one.’”
Last year’s Best in Show winner, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, took second place this year. Despite taking second, the owner, Daniel McNamara, joked about how the car show’s shirts, trophies and flyers all featured a blue Bel Air similar to his. His car’s features included a Paul Newman chassis and Corvette engine transmission.
“It’s from the era when we cruised down El Camino,” McNamara said. “When we were young, we would go up and down El Camino to meet boys and girls, and go to drive-in restaurants and drive-in movie theaters from Millbrae all the way to Palo Alto, because that’s just what you did.”
Nowadays, McNamara takes the Bel Air on road trips to Reno and Lake Tahoe with his family. When asked for car movie recommendations, he suggested “Ford v Ferrari” and “Grand Prix.”
The Best in Show award went to a 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 fully customized as a Batmobile. The car, which boasts a 1,200 horsepower engine, was built by Isaac Gredinberg. Gredinberg owns 408 Garage, an auto repair shop located in Campbell, Calif.
“The owner is a big fan of Batman,” Gredinberg said. “If you look down the sides, you can see the graphics of Gotham City, and the brakes are done in Gotham for Batman.” The car also had a rollcage and custom one-off wheels.
Gredinberg was “humbled” to win the award, and thanked the judges and SUDPS for hosting the event.
Posada and SUDPS plan to host the car show again next year to further drive community connections between Stanford, SUDPS and the local Bay Area.
“Whether you’re a Ford person, a Chevy person or even a European vehicle person, there’s something we all share in common, and that’s the passion and love we have for cars,” Posada said. “It’s fascinating when you see younger and older generations, and the diversity of people that participate in this culture. It really is about bringing people together.”