Westchester Car Club: 'Cars Bring People Together'

The Westchester Car Club has been a participant and volunteer in the since its existence and this weekend was no exception.

The club consists of about 12 members living in the Bloomfield Township area, each with at least one stunning, old automobile. The car club came to be over 15 years ago as a result of the Woodward Dream Cruise and Birmingham Cruise Event and the requirement to be a part of an official car club to be able to park early.

At the time the club only consisted of a handful of guys, said one of the original members Ken Kamman. They named the club the Westchester Car Club because all the members live in or close by Westchester Village in Bloomfield Township.

Coincidentally, many of the members own Chevrolet Corvettes.

“We are not an organized, rigidly structured group,” Kamman explained. “We are mainly just a bunch of people who grew up in the 50s and 60s when the thing to do was to go out on Woodward and race.”

Working together

Helping out at the Birmingham Cruise Event is something Kamman said the gang enjoys. The group arrives in downtown Birmingham at 6:30 a.m., helps setup, directs traffic and mans the barricades, then goes off duty at 9 a.m.

Though the Dream Cruise and parking in Birmingham is fun for the members of the Westchester Car Club, many said they like the weeks leading up to the event the best.

“Truthfully it’s the weeks leading up to the Dream Cruise that make the event so great,” Jeff Salz said. “When we go out on Woodward, (we) park and get ice cream and are out on the town a lot.”

They still enjoy seeing the variety of vehicles that pull through the Dream Cruise.

“Just being there with the noise of the engines, different colors and shapes of the automobiles and just everything related to cars — that is the whole attraction,” club member Luis Osterberger said. “You see some awesome models going by and every year there’s something more and cars that I’ve never seen.”

Group dynamics

Being a part of a car club is very satisfying, members said. Out of discussions of cars, lifelong friendships blossom. Kamman said all members of the Westchester Car Club are very close, and have even gotten their wives involved.

“Our wives are all very supportive and they are all friends too,” Kamman said. “The social aspect of this hobby brings the most value.”

For most of the members, like Kamman and Salz, an interest in cars started early in life. However for Osterberger, the car culture hit him a little later, when he bought his 1957 Chevrolet Corvette.

“The No. 1 thing I’ve learned through all this is that cars really bring people together and these people are really wonderful,” Osterberger said. “Through them a new culture developed in me. Before I was sort of an outsider.”

Kamman noted that the group is so close that they often times will drop whatever they are doing if one of their fellow members needs help working on their classic car.

“We all have our expertise. Jeff is like a walking historical dictionary. He can tell you if there is a screw on the car that did not belong on a 1960 Corvette,” Kamman said. “I think the fact that we help each other when in need makes the car club even more special.”