A former auction house and storage building is now the home to the Classic Cruisers Car Club of Bladen County.

Members of the club will hold an open house, car show, and poker run this Saturday. Admission is free for spectators. Representatives of a number of area cruising clubs are expected to attend. The car show costs $10 to enter and is open to anyone. Awards will also be given to clubs with the most members attending.

"We're excited," club vice president Stewart Norris said. "We hope a lot of people turn out to see what we have happening here."

The Cruisers' clubhouse is located on N.C. 87 west, near the city limits.

The open house begins at 9 a.m. Registration for the car show and poker run also starts at 9. The poker run-where participants draw cards from different locations to see who gets the best hand-is from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. It is open to anyone with any kind of vehicle, not just drivers of classic automobiles and trucks.

"We're expecting some motorcycle riders to attend," said member and secretary Lynn Worthington. "We want everybody to come out and see the club house and enjoy themselves."

Prizes will be awarded at 3 p.m. for the car show and other events scheduled for the day.

Food and drinks will be sold throughout the day.

When the group first rented the clubhouse, Norris said, the building was in need of cleaning and general repairs.

"The toilets were sitting out in the middle of here," he said, standing in the center of the main room.

Classic car and racing posters and memorabilia decorate the walls. Tables are covered with checkerboard tablecloths. Members salvaged a set of cabinets from a burned-out house and built a kitchen area which fills one side of the airy structure.

The club also restored an office in one end of the building. The walls feature photos of classic cars and a large logo for the Classic Cruisers. The floors in the office are also checkerboard patterned.

A bulletin board in the main room has photos of members' cars and thank you notes from some of the many groups supported in part by the CCCC. The 55 members of the group regularly participate in fundraisers for Bladen We Care, the Empty Stocking Fund, Toys for Tots and other charities.

A car show sponsored every year by the Cruisers drew 175 participants to the front yard of Fuller's Barbecue in 2001. This year's car show is scheduled for Aug. 10.

"People have already been calling about whether we were having the show under the shade trees again," Worthington said.

The club meets once a month at the clubhouse, Norris said. While the clubhouse is used for meetings and events, it isn't used as a garage or storage facility.

"This is just a nice place for people to come and get together and talk about old cars," he said.

For more information about the open house or the Classic Cruisers Car Club, contact Norris at 862-2573 or Worthington at 862-8503.

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