Staff photo by Fritz Busch Participants in the 20th annual New Ulm Autofest brought their cars Monday to the restored Shell gas pumps next to the Brown County Historical Annex. They include from left, New Ulm’s Lee Knauf in his 1966 Chevrolet Corvair, New Ulm’s Jerry Schugel in his 1956 Buick Century, New Ulm’s Tony Miller in his 1959 Studebaker Ranger, New Ulm’s Ron Ubl in his 1937 Ford, New Ulm’s Floyd Dorn in his 1953 Ford Sunliner and Dan Johnson of Fairfax in his 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III.

NEW ULM — The 20th annual New Ulm Autofest ’22 begins Saturday, June 25, with a free drive-in movie “Smokey and the Bandit” at the Brown County Fairgrounds.

The 1977 American road action comedy stars Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason, Sally Field, Jerry Reed and others.

In case you don’t remember, the show features two bootleggers trying to illegally transport 400 cases of beer from Texarkana to Atlanta.

The Snowman (Reed) drives the semi and Bandit (Reynolds) drives a Pontiac Trans Am to distract law enforcement –called blocking — to keep attention off the Snowman.

The movie was the second highest-grossing domestic film in 1977.

Hot dogs, popcorn, pop and water will be available at the movie. Approximate start time is 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

The car and motorcycle show, with more than 400 registered vehicles each year, begins at 9 a.m. Sunday and continues to 3 p.m. Registration and admission is freed and includes calendars and can coolers and other freebies for the first 350 participants. Drawings will be held all day.

The show will include a model car contest, swap meet and pink ladies garage for women.

The featured display vehicle is a 1963 full-size, customized Chevy wagon, owned by the Ranweilers of Show Cars Automotive of New Ulm. The car won nearly every major custom car award in America in 2020-21, including the 2020 Detroit Autorama Don Ridler Award.

Tony Miller of New Ulm will show his 1959 Studebaker Ranger Sunday.

“It’s a plain Jane without a radio,” Miller said. “I bought it from Brian Kuebler at Sleepy Eye Auto Salvage and Auto Sales in 2016, about a year after I retired from 3M.”

Miller said he had some body work done to the car and plans to add an after-market radio and fix up the interior for comfort.

“It catches people’s eyes. I get a few thumbs-up now and again,” added Miller. “I was born in 1959 and wanted a classic car the same age as me. It’s a fun car. I like working on it.”

Miller said he belongs to the national Edsel Owners Club and has found parts for it in North Dakota and as far away as Pennsylvania.

“It’s sad to see people use them in demolition derbies, because they are so sturdy,” said Miller.

Other Autofest participants who came to the restored Shell gas pumps next to the Brown County Historical Society Annex included Lee Knauf of New Ulm and his 1966 Chevrolet Corvair with 29,000 original miles.

“It was owned by the proverbial little old lady,” Knauf said. “I didn’t restore it. It’s all original.”

Jerry Schugel of New Ulm talked about his 1956 Buick Century.

“I found it in Southern California about 20 years ago and restored it,” Schugel said.

Ron Ubl of New Ulm said he got two 1937 Fords in trade for doing a shingling job in Courtland and made one car from the parts.

“A tree fell on one of them,” said Ubl. “It’s really a Heinz 57 with a 231 cubic inch Buick V6 motor, Chevy Corvair front suspension, Ford Mustang rack and pinion steering, Chevy Nova rear end, AMC Gremlin rear springs and a radiator from a Ford tractor that fit right in.”

Floyd Dorn of New Ulm said he found his 1953 Ford Sunliner convertible in a Dawson salvage yard.

“It was one of a limited number made as the Indianapolis 500 Race Pace Car,” said Dorn.

Brad Johnson of Fairfax restored a 1971 Lincoln Mark III Continental with a 460 cubic inch V8 engine he bought in Redwood Falls.

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.)