Car d'Lane Cruise unites city for 'perfect' evening

Thousands lined the streets of downtown Coeur d’Alene Friday night for the Car d’Lane Cruise, the annual event showcasing classic cars from all walks of life.

“It’s been incredible,” Spirit Lake’s Lori Lind said as a 1970 Gran Torino passed by. “Me and my dad really love this kind of thing. You just can’t beat these old cars.”

An estimated 600 cars cruised the loop from Wallace Avenue down Second to Sherman to Lakeside and back, giving onlookers the opportunity to explore the downtown district’s shops and restaurants.

“We’re going to keep walking down to Sherman,” Lind said, “and look around, partake in food and drink, and have some fun.”

At 6:01 p.m., just after Car d’Lane began, the National Weather Service tracked the temperature in Coeur d’Alene at 81 degrees.

“The weather’s perfect,” Kramer McNett said from Second Street while holding his 2-year-old son, Krider. “Everything’s perfect: the cars, the community, the sunshine. It’s perfect.”

“My dad’s a mechanic,” said Jake Cartwright, a Coeur d’Alene resident who lives one block from the loop and whose wife, Jo, encouraged him to check out his first Car d’Lane experience. “This sort of thing just really resonates with me.”

With 18-month-old Jared Cartwright on his shoulders, the Cartwrights said muscle cars and parenting share some common ground.

“You have to come up with some creative ideas to keep them impressed,” Jo decided, “and there are certainly some creative cars out here.”

One such unique entry was a 1973 Thing, a Volkswagon four-door originally designed as a rugged, light military vehicle but since transformed into a classic convertable. Shelley and Armando Hurtado, 19-year residents of Coeur d’Alene, bought their Thing on eBay in 2017 after it had sat for untold years in a Pennsylvania barn.

“It’s great to see the community come out for this,” she said as she eased the Thing up Sherman, her husband of 24 years relaxing in the passenger seat beside her. “This is just a great opportunity to come out and ride with people who love cars.”

When asked what parallels a classic car finds with a marriage, Armando leaned back and smiled. “She spends money to fix it,” he said, “I cringe, she gives me a look, and I say OK. Then we drive forward, happy as can be.”

While Coeur d’Alene police officers patrolling the streets all reported a peaceful, family-friendly night, the evening was not without its casualties. This reporter counted two classic cruisers needing a push to safety, a Chevy Nova leaking overflowing radiator fluid from under its hood, two crippled muscle cars with what both owners believed were faulty pistons, and a blown fuel pump taking the life of a Camaro that tempted fate with one rev too many.

Otherwise, Car d’Lane went off without a hitch. The Downtown Association estimated 10,000 people showed up for the Friday night cruise.

“People love these cars,” lifelong Coeur d’Alene resident Dave Kelly said from behind the wheel of his ’68 Cadillac convertable. “They define an era. They bring us back to a time where these kinds of cars were a real culture. I’m afraid the next generation won’t enjoy it the way we do today, what with autonomous vehicles and self-driving cars coming. It’s important that we have events like Car d’Lane, that we pass this on to the next generation.”

Kelly’s words on culture resonated with authority, due in no small part to the cowboy hat on his head, the cowskin covering his seats and the roughly 80-inch-long horns on his Cadillac’s grille.

“They’re the longhorns of a bull,” he said. “I was able to get ahold of some, I took the Cadillac emblem off my car and hooked it on. It makes me smile, and that’s the thing: This isn’t just a car. Car culture isn’t just about owning a car. It’s what makes you smile. That’s why people showed up. Nights like tonight make people smile.”