It was 19 years ago on Labor Day that Mick Stolarozyk bought his 1971 Mercury Comet GT, which he proudly displayed at Rynearson Stadium on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026.
Over the past 10 years, Stolarozyk has taken his Comet GT to as many car shows as he could. This year alone, he said, he hopes to participate in 100 shows. He has also been a regular at the Thursday cruise nights in Ypsilanti's Depot Town over the summer.
Stolarozyk said he stumbled on the Comet by accident at Houghton Lake that Labor Day. The car had come from Arizona and had been involved in an accident. A golf ball was stuck in the windshield, and the engine barely started. Stolarozyk did the natural thing: He immediately called his brother, who was a mechanic hobbyist, and brought the Comet home.
The brothers spent four years, and 4,000 hours of work restoring the Comet. The work included hunting down parts across five different states to bring the car back to working order. Still, they are even now looking for a new grill.
The two Stolarozyks changed parts, commissioned the creation of custom seats (made from 1970s couches) and painted the Comet to resemble Mick's first. He drove a 1971 Comet when he was serving in the U.S. Air Force, 55 years ago.
Even the 8-track tape player is now functional in Stolarozyk's Comet.
His brother now also has a clone car of the vehicle he drove 55 years ago and sometimes joins Mick Stolarozyk at car shows. Stolarozyk loves bringing Hot Wheels, candies and plushies for kids attending the shows, in part out of a hope that he can inspire them to one day get a classic car as well.
Last week, Stolarozyk said, he’d learned that a kid he gave a Pontiac Hot Wheel to 10 years ago now drives life-sized Pontiac. Over the past 10 years, he said, he's given away 45,000 Hot Wheels.
Drew Streeter joined the show with his 1984 Ford Mustang GT Convertible, which he's had for eight years.
Streeter said he has dreamed about owning the Mustang since high school, when he saw his teacher drive it. Over the years, he would always talk to that teacher about his car, with admiration and desire. 30 years later, that teacher sold the Mustang to Streeter.
Drew Streeter shows off his 1984 Ford Mustang GT at the Eastern Michigan University football game Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, during EMU Cruise Night. The Mustang once belonged to one of Streeter's teachers. Eventually, that teacher sold it to Streeter.
Now, Streeter said, he drives the Mustang to shows only. This is the third year he has participated in the EMU Cruise Night.
Also on display at the EMU stadium were a Mitsubishi adorned with MAC conference flags, a 3-year-old Corvette, and a 2000 Yamaha motorcycle.
Many of the car fans perusing Cruise Night show were impressed by the vehicles in a more unusual category: handmade or customized hot rods.
Dave Jaskot, who owns a bright yellow hot rod that resembles a truck from the front, said he was by no means considered a mechanic when he got started on his ride. Jaskot and fellow hot rod builder Clayton Wanca were introduced to the event by Neil Herman, director of football operations at EMU.
Wanca wasn't a mechanic by profession either but said that didn't stop him from building his own car from scratch.
His blue rod is so safe he can drive it to Chicago and back with no problem, he said, adding that the car has gotten 23 out of 23 on the safety inspection. Wanca's ride is made from the cab of a Volkswagen Beetle, a tractor grill, a forklift heater, and many different other pieces that took him a year to find. He then spent a winter and part of a summer to assemble it, and its unusual features.
The car's windshield wiper fluid is stored in a wine bottle. There's a dragonfly and some bird feathers attached to the grill. Stickers and other hidden finds can be found in a number of places.
Wanca, who just started a garage called Shady Business Kustom, said he spent the whole week before the event driving the car around with a sign about Cruise Night at EMU. He said he cared more about sharing smiles and conversations than getting votes in the car contest.
Marc Pasko, an electrician, is another car enthusiast who displayed his custom ride. He said he found the shell of the car on Facebook Marketplace and loved it so much he had to buy it. The car lacked electrical, wheels and seats. The engine compartment was completely empty, so Pasko taught himself how to weld.
The vehicle has car doors made of stop signs, chains around the windshield, and skeleton hands that hold rearview mirrors. There are Jack Daniels stickers and studs decorating the vehicle, including on the stick shift. Notably, the car can be operated manually or with an automatic gear shift, depending on how it's set up. Pasko and the car are known as Bad Rattitude on Facebook and YouTube.
Bad Rattitude also won the trophy for the best car at the Cruise Night event.
Car owners participating in the event received two football game tickets, and an afternoon talking about their cars.
Several of the car owners said they are planning to be at some future events in the area like Cruisin' to the Barn at the Baker Cruise Barn on Tuesday nights in Carleton, Michigan, about 25 miles southeast of Ypsilanti; and the Ypsilanti Depot Town shows held on Thursday evenings during the summer months.
The Carleton, Michigan, events are Tuesday nights at 1268 Crafton Road in Carleton.
