The Santa Maria
show is the evolution of years of work by Rich and Penny Pichette.
In the early days they had a drive in where the local rodeos hung
out. Rich chose Paso Robles as a central point between San Francisco
and Los Angeles as a great place to hold a car show.
Rich started the West Coast Kustoms and brought the theme of fifties
customs to hot rod scene. They started the car show in Paso Robles
in 1982. Rich and Penny also introduced the Hall of Fame award at
that first show. All of this dedicated to the fifties customs.
This was the start of a really popular car show that developed over
the years.
Eventually as the show grew in popularity, it was moved to Santa
Maria for a variety of reasons. Penny lost Rich to a terrible disease
and has championed the fight to hep eradicate this disease and stills
carries on with the show in Rich's honor.
Thanks to Brian Rusk for the photos of this the 2013 show.
Bob Nugent
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