Car show expected to draw thousands to Aliante Station

Bad news for valet parkers at Aliante Station: All 350 custom vehicles coming your way this weekend are self-parking.

The good news is that the 15th annual Cars, Stars & Guitars Motorhead Festival is expected to draw 10,000 gawkers to its chrome-laden hot rods, classic cars, trucks, bikes and boats.

"Most of us can't remember our first girlfriend, but we all remember our first car," says festival founder Mike Privette, who will display his own restored 1965 Chevrolet El Camino. ("It belonged to my grandfather," he says.)

The owners -- most of whom live in the valley, but many who come from parts of California, Utah, Washington and New Mexico -- come to talk cars and pretend not to envy one another.

"They reminisce and get ideas for their own custom paint and custom interior design," Privette says.

Ground zero for envy will be a 1960s Bubble Ray from Big Daddy Roth, one of the first full-time custom builders. Privette calls it a "million-dollar car."

Cars, Stars & Guitars differs from better-known valley car shows such as Barrett-Jackson, because the wheels are not for sale. However, as Privette points out, any car is for sale for the right price. He recalls a conversation that took place one year between an admirer of a 1934 Highboy and the owner who insisted he wasn't selling: "He said, 'You don't understand. Are you interested in selling this car?' "

All Privette would say is that it ended up changing hands for "quite a bit more" than its value.

Vendors will be on hand selling aftermarket parts, care products and T-shirts, as well as food and drinks. Local cover band HighWire will perform from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Aliante's Access Room. A 12-mile poker run, benefiting Helping Hands of Vegas Valley, launches the show on Friday at 1 p.m.

Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@review journal.com or 702-383-0456.