Students, longtime enthusiasts bond over love for cars
Apr. 26—From a Ferrari to a kid-sized pink Barbie Jeep retrofitted to run on gas, the 30-plus cars that pulled up to Santa Fe Community College's Automotive Technologies Center were rarities.
About 50 people — car owners, enthusiasts and high school and college students — milled among the cars Friday, peering under hoods, discussing cars' modifications and occasionally googling their prices.
"This is an extremely rare car," MASTERS Program sophomore Thomas Mittler said, peering into a black 427 Cobra with two thick white stripes running down the hood. He and fellow members of the community college's Broken Parts Club estimated the car's value at up to $7 million.
"That's why we're like, freaking out," Roman Garrish, a MASTERS Program senior, said with a smile.
The Broken Parts Club was founded in 2022 as a collaboration between the Automotive Technologies Center and the MASTERS Program, a charter high school located on the community college campus. The club hosted its third annual car show Friday to raise awareness of the college's top-notch auto program and "just to bring a bunch of like-minded people together," said club President Miles Swanson, a 2022 MASTERS Program graduate now working on several automotive service certifications.
Club members doled out trophies for different categories of vehicles, such as imports and classics, based on the cars' condition, operation and history, but what mostly drew entrants to the show was the chance to exchange knowledge and stories with other car enthusiasts, many said.
"One of the things that we really love about this is we have the younger generation that loves cars, but they don't have the money," said Julia Furry, Santa Fe Community College Automotive Technologies director. "They look to the older generation, and these guys are coaching them on how to get a job, how to fix things and how you can grow into owning something like a Ferrari."
The Santa Fe car community's "generosity and desire to help educate this next upcoming [generation] is phenomenal," Furry said.
George Merryweather, a member of the Santa Fe Vintage Car Club who brought his navy-blue 1962 MGA to the show, said his interest in cars has been lifelong. As a child, he had a toy Corvette that he took apart "probably hundreds of times; I like working with my hands," he said.
He restored the MGA himself in 2005 to make it "interstate worthy" after getting side-swiped by a semi-truck in his previous vintage car, which couldn't get up to interstate speeds.
"Having a car like this, unless you have a whole lot of money that you can pay someone to take care of it, you need to learn how to do it yourself, and it isn't that hard," he said.
"If you have the initiative, you can [learn]. ... That's what a facility like this is all about," he added, gesturing to the community college's 17,000-square-foot Automotive Technologies Center.
The $7 million center came out of the college's 2018 bond initiative, and the auto program moved into it in November 2020, Furry said. The program has been expanding and drawing interest since, she said — including from high schoolers.
The Broken Parts Club, while open to any Santa Fe Community College student, has been largely made up of MASTERS Program students who visit the Automotive Technologies Center every Friday to learn how to service cars in lieu of traditional classes that day, Garrish said.
The 15 to 20 club members learn from each other and community college instructors, often doing projects such as updating the transmission or brakes on their own cars, he said.
Swanson said he hasn't decided whether he will pursue a career in auto service, although he will soon have the certifications to do so.
"I don't know if I'll make a career out of cars, but I love cars, and they'll always be a part of my life," he said. "It's in my blood."