July is usually a big month for car shows and parades featuring classic cars, but the ensemble of 90 cars that wound through Acton last Sunday, July 4 was something special. The Larry Cox Memorial Rolling Car Show was organized by Larry's daughter Pam Breese (nee Cox) as a way for the classic car community to come together to celebrate her father.
(Photo: Larry Cox)
“My dad passed away suddenly on June 15—they discovered late stage cancer,” said Breese. “We had the funeral in June but could only have a small number of people attend. My brother and I grew up as car club kids and still live in the area. We spent so many cruise nights with my dad, so we knew that we had to do something to help his friends and people he'd touched over the years to remember him.”
Breese and her brother Greg Cox came up with the idea of a parade of sorts as a memorial. “It had to be a rolling car show, because COVID restrictions wouldn't allow us to have a gathering,” she said. “It also gave us the thrill of driving our cars in a parade.”
(Photo L-R: Pam Breese, Larry Cox, Greg Cox)
Breese contacted her dad's friends through email and Facebook, but really didn't know what to expect. The cars were marshaled at the Erin Fairgrounds and Breese was deeply stirred seeing the number of vehicles that came for the event. “Everyone who attended and brought a car was connected to my dad in some way. It blew my mind when the cars just kept rolling in.”
Known as the “Ford Man,” Larry Cox grew up at RR#2 Acton and became a race enthusiast at young age, according to his daughter. “He raced regularly at the Acton Speedway during the four years it ran, from 1968 to 1972. Later on, when my brother raced on the stock car circuit, he served as the crew chief for him,” said Breese.
Cox was also a core member of the Tachmen Car Club which thrived in Georgetown from the mid-1970s to the end of the 80s. As part of his hobby, he made trips into the southern US to buy, restore and resell classic cars, including the 1966 Mustang that Breese drove as the second car in the entourage. The post position went to brother Greg driving her dad's 1955 Ford pickup.
The chrome gleamed from polished and shined cars as they left Erin and made their way south from Ospringe towards Acton, passing the old Acton Raceway ruins that can still be seen from the highway. The rolling car show turned on Wallace Ave., and then took a back route through Acton to avoid the construction. The return journey took them through Balinafad to Erin.
“There were lots of spectators along the route as well. It was a day to be happy and smile, not to be sad,” added Breese.
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