Auto Love

Published August 2006

Snapshots of the city’s summer car scene

Story by Erica Febre efebre@hippopress.com

Photos by James Cook jcook@hippopress.com

During the late spring, summer and early fall, you’ll find them in the parking lots after dark.

It’s about the cars, but it’s not just about the chrome on the wheels. It’s also about the clubs they join and, more than anything, it’s about friends. Manchester’s parking lots provide the location but the fellowship creates the scene.

The police patrol but there’s rarely any real trouble to be found, only a crowd of people, with their cars – just chillin’, as they say. There are no strangers, only new friends to be made.

A few cars are seriously decked out – equipment under the hood, in the trunk and inside the car’s interior can add up to thousands of dollars. And beyond that are the one-of-a-kind cars with hand-finished detailing. The drivers congregate in the parking lot of Dunkin Donuts on South Willow Street, the parking lots of the Driving Stylez and F-Shop near Dunkin Donuts on the southern end of Elm Street, and Arms Park in the Millyard (all in Manchester). They like to show off their cars, from the top-of-the-line car-show-worthy creations (and many of them have the car show awards to prove it) to the well-used, it-gets-me-where-I-need-to-go vehicles.

Some of the flock has been meeting in these lots for years. They consider it a getaway, something to do after working a 40-hour or 60-hour week. (Friday and Saturday nights bring out the biggest crowds but the cars sprout up like summer flowers on any night.) And for others, it’s all about the car clubs, generating the groups from young dabblers to mature aces.

Smokey-Team Crompton

Mike Whitehead, the founder of Team Crompton, who is better known as Smokey, is serious about his car and his club. Team Crompton is a car club based in Manchester (where Smokey lives) and named after Chris Crompton at Traffic Jamz on Elm Street, who gives the team a home.

Smokey, 33, has been cruising on the streets of Manchester since the early ’90s. He won’t be found idling in the local lots yet his name echoes everywhere.

“I started Team Crompton in 2003 as a way to keep these kids out of trouble. It’s more than just a sticker. It gives them something to do,” Smokey said.

At an expense of almost $40,000, Smokey just about has it all in his ’90 Honda Civic SI known as “the Hatch.” He’s got the wide-set 20” wheels with full air-ride and three LCD flat screens. The trunk is loaded with six 15”subwoofers, shaking the ground and rattling the vanity plates that read “GOIN DEF.” In competition, he’s taken home best in sound quality, decibels (153.6 db) and show twice in the last three years.

DJ Johnson-Team Crompton

No need to check behind the wheel of this creation to realize this car is a lady’s pride and joy.

The pretty-in-pink custom paint job gives that away immediately to all who happen to glimpse this lovely machinery.

D.J Johnson, 22, has been with Team Crompton for two years. Johnson, a Manchester resident, enters her car in show competitions and can also be found racing, wearing her pink helmet, at the drag strip in Epping. In pink letters, the 2002 Toyota Celica GTS front windshield reads “Nopi Chick” and the back reads “Team Crompton.”

D.J. states that she wasn’t like the girly-girls when she was growing up, although she has a pink car now. She credits her grandfather, who would take her to the drag way, for her interest in cars but claims that she was always the tomboy, with a wrench in her hand, not a doll, and greasy oil stains on her skin.

Ben Day-Team Crompton

Ben Day said he wanted to go for something original – a ’91 Toyota Celica GTS.

The “JapRat” is not only a one-of-a-kind treasure but Day, 21, did most of the work himself. From the leopard print interior and, chain steering wheel, to the motorcycle side view mirrors and hand-painted flames on the sides, roof and hood, Day aimed at replicating an old hot rod, or rat rod.

Day, a Manchester resident, has been a Team Crompton member for the last two years. He thinks people tend to associate the club with the wrong crowd, mistakenly identifying it as a ganghe wishes they could see the close-knit family and positive aspects of the club.

“We stick together and look out for each other,” Day said.

Day isn’t a fan of conformity and, on nights when he’s not meeting at Team Crompton’s clubhouse (Driving Stylz on Elm Street in Manchester) the “JapRat” can be found idling among the flock, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Jamie Leto-Team Crompton

It’s good to see another lady on the scene who isn’t just hanging on to her boyfriend’s arm.

Jamie Leto, 26, is one of Team Crompton’s original members. Her 2003 VW Jetta can make a lot of noise, with two Planet Audio amplifiers and 15” subwoofer, artfully placed with two 7” flat screens, in a custom fiberglass trunk, designed by Traffic Jamz. The glittery green fiberglass custom work continues through the dashboard and surrounds a 20-band equalizer replacing the glove-box.

Leto, a Manchester resident, has access to all her audio equipment with a simple touch to a remote, along with 19 green neon tubes glowing throughout this “Girlz Dub,” from the wheels to the undercarriage and over the driver’s and passenger’s feet, where the floor mats also feature the phrase “Girlz Dub.”