Custom vehicles and light show highlight first night of ‘Chuco Rig Down’

HORIZON CITY, Texas (KVIA) - Custom vehicles reflect the culture and passion of the people who build them, and will be the focus of the first 'Chuco Rig Down' Saturday hosted by MHC Kenworth.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. lasting until 10 p.m. with builders showing off their work with a light show in the evening using the LED lights that are part of the custom vehicles.

When the sun went down, the light show began as all the vehicles turned on the light fixtures that had been added to every part of the vehicle and even fixtures outlining the built in speakers of some car's interior and truck's trunk beds.

One of the organizers, MHC Branch Manager and car enthusiast Luke Cole, said this was done for community engagement and said what makes him passionate about working on cars himself is the community aspect of it and the chance to show off the fruits of your time and effort.

"It's being able to highlight your your vehicle, the the time, the money, the effort spent in to making it what you want for you," Cole said. "Also being able to bring it to the public to be able to show it off ultimately."

Something another car enthusiast and mechanic, Daniel Garcia, told ABC-7 has been a passion of his from a young age and said the feeling of getting in the garage to begin work on another project is hard to explain.

"It's something that I can't explain, like it's exciting for me like start building the car since this the start, start doing all the process to go and lower, lift or the vehicle," Garcia said. "It's something that I love doing."

That feeling upon completion is something Cole described as 'special' after all the time and effort put into the vehicle taking it from the beginning stages to a finished product.

"It's pretty special after that first start up of a vehicle being torn apart for months, years, the project vehicle and actually being able to bring it in to the public and show everybody all the hard work that you put into it," Cole said.

"You start with the vision and then piece by piece you're able to materialize what you thought it was going to look like," Cole said. "Sometimes your vision changes mid project, but ultimately it's that satisfaction of it actually coming to fruition."

Both men said there was a secondary benefit to their passion, sharing it with their family and making it a sort of family tradition to be passed on with Cole and his two children as well as Garcia and his son.

"You start young, you show them what the hard work, the blood, sweat and tears. What you get, the reward of getting that vehicle accomplished," Cole said. "For my wife and I It's something that we're able to pass on to our children. Hopefully they pass on to their children and just be able to instill that passion into our family."

One project he told ABC-7 he was proudest of is a restoration project on 1969 Ford F-100 he bought form one of his friend's father and said the whole family has been invested to 'get it where we want it'.

Garcia mentioned a similar feeling as his love of cars has spread to his some and said being able bond with him over this shared interest is 'amazing'.

"It feels amazing, I'm gonna be honest with you," Garcia said. "Since he's coming around to me and he like to do stuff, it feels great because I think not all the people have the opportunity to join their son and everything together."

There was even special guest from Guatemala, Sophia Santos, who races in her semi-truck back home which Cole said is evidence of just how far the reach of the car community can be.

This event is free to attend and will continue on Sunday, August 23, from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m. featuring custom trucks and semi-trucks as well as cars with a competition for bragging rights according to event officials.