Childhood Passion Sparked Monthly New Brunswick Car Show

Frank Karthauser was cruising along Albany Street in his 1957 Chevy pickup when the driver in the car next to him rolled down the window.

"I love your truck!" the guy yelled.

The slate-blue truck has the kind of old-school charm that makes complete strangers call out at a traffic light.

That's part of the fun for Karthauser, who has loved cars since he was a kid.

That passion is one of the reasons New Brunswick has a monthly car show.

The final New Brunswick Car Show of the season is set for Thursday, Sept. 17, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Admission is free, and Destination Dogs will donate a $50 gift card that will be awarded during the event.

The show brings car enthusiasts from across the city and beyond who are hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the classics, something like a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado, an exotic import, like a Porsche 911, or an American muscle car, like a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda. The array of cars that has lined George Street and Livingston Avenue has included everything from vintage-era cars to souped-up hot rods.

Karthauser, a co-owner of Destination Dogs at 101 Paterson St. and a member of the City Market board, was the one who floated the idea of bringing a car show downtown. In the three years since, Pam Stefanek, Donna Bosko and the rest of the City Market crew have built it into one of the popular promotions in downtown New Brunswick.

Karthauser was in a way reaching back to his childhood when he threw the idea of a car show onto the table.

His father, Paul, was a mechanic and body man. When Karthauser was growing up, he learned his way around an engine by watching his dad, handing him tools and eventually getting his own hands dirty.

The Chevy pickup is the truck he had wanted since he was about 17, when he first fell in love with its long, parallel spear-like ridges running down the center of its hood and the open, massive grid-style grille and the single, round headlights housed in deep, hooded bezels integrated seamlessly into the front fenders.

Karthauser, now 53, finally got one through an eBay auction. He placed a bid without really expecting to win, then forgot about it until the email telling him he had won came a week later.

"Oh my God, I have to figure out how to get this thing back from California," he remembers thinking.

The truck was little more than a shell when he got it, although its California life meant it was in relatively good shape. For a while, it sat in the driveway of the New Brunswick studio apartment where Karthauser lived.

Eventually, his father took the truck to Delaware and started working on it. Paul had been diagnosed with cancer and knew he was dying, but he wanted to work on the truck.

Tragically, he never got to finish it.

After his father died, Karthauser took the truck back to New Jersey. Once the COVID-19 pandemic had settled down, he decided it was time to finish the job.

He upgraded parts, got it running and back on the road and handled much of the work himself. Eventually, though, he reached the point where the job was beyond the tools he owned, the space he had and, as he put it, his "knowledge base."

"It took a long time and a lot of money and more than I wanted to spend," he said, after he had to turn the job over to pros.

The truck, however, is finished. And when he drives it, his father is never far from his thoughts. In fact, he still has those moments where he sees something mechanical and instinctively thinks, "I've got to ask Dad about that."

Then he remembers.

So, he plans to take some of his father's ashes for a ride in the Chevy some day.

And although the truck reminds him of his dad, it has also helped Karthauser make new connections.

There was that one time he spotted a purple Dodge Challenger convertible driving through Metuchen. He liked it so much that he followed it all the way to the owner's house.

There, Karthauser apologized for following him and explained that he just wanted to see the car.

After a 30-minute discussion, Karthauser invited him to the New Brunswick car show.

The man has since brought the Challenger to the event.

That, Karthauser said, is what he likes about car shows.

He doesn't spend his time standing beside his own truck waiting for people to ask questions. He walks around, looks at everybody else's cars and asks questions himself.

Some of the same vehicles return to New Brunswick, show after show. Others are new. Some owners travel considerable distances.

And that's how a car show becomes a tradition - although he doesn't always get to enjoy it firsthand.

Owning a restaurant means Thursday nights can be busy. Sometimes he'll drive the Chevy downtown, leave it with Stefanek and Bosko and tell them to call him when it's time to pick it up.

Then he'll check in later. To find out how many cars showed up and how the event went.

Karthauser has spent about 13 years as one of the four co-owners of Destination Dogs, the restaurant that has become one of downtown New Brunswick's landmarks.

When it opened, he said, there were plenty of people who weren't sure a restaurant built around hot dogs would make it.

It did, one Rocky BalBoar (grilled Italian sausage loaded with cheese steak meat, peppers, onions, melted cheese sauce, spicy cherry pepper relish and scallions) and one Gandolfini (Italian sausage topped with pepperoni, marinara, melted mozzarella, spicy Calabrian chilis and fresh basil) at a time.

"There's been a lot of restaurants that have come and gone in that time," Karthauser said. "So I definitely do feel the love."

Story By: Chuck O'Donnell
Photo Credit: New Brunswick City Market