OWASCO - They sat in Emerson Park with their hoods open like patients in a dentist's chair.

Sunlight danced off such jewels as a '56 Mercury Montclair, its white and tan chassis hugging the ground, with chrome grills, like gills protruding from the back doors. Inside, a rainbow shaped dashboard told the speed and other particulars with three layers, like waves from a plop in a puddle. Then there was a ruby red '37 Oldsmobile, with a backseat like a couch. Or a '57 Pontiac Star Chief, white with a brown hardtop and interior.

All in all, 300 showpieces filled the 34th Annual Antique Auto Show Sunday, with car owners and car lovers enjoying not-so-idle conversations containing facts and figures, and memories. The majority were members and officers of the Finger Lakes Region Antique Auto Club of America, who were responsible for putting the whole show on the road to begin with. “We've got ourselves a real hard job, trying to pick the 50 best ones,” said club president James B. Minde. With clipboard in hand, he was busy tabulating points, judging each entrant by the chassis, interior, exterior, and motor.

But he also had time to remember the first car he ever owned, when he was 16 years old. “Hell yes! I wish I had my first car: a '38 Plymouth Rumble Seat Coup. It had the dimmer switch on the floor, and three speed on the floor,” he said. A good car on a date? “Well, mine was a coup (but there was a rumble seat,” he said.

Club member Jim Vitale owned a '53 Chevy four-door Bel Air, when he was 17. “I never miss that car,” he said. Yes -but was it a good dating car?“My memory's a little foggy,” he said. “He's happily married, he wants to stay that way,” answered Minde.

Meanwhile, Ray Walters, of Weedsport, a retired area car dealer of 50 years, was stopped, with his son, Ray Jr., admiring a cherry red '65 Ford Falcon. It sat straight as an arrow in front of them.

“It's very nice. The Falcon was an underrated car at the time. The very early one, when it came out in '64, had a 260 engine. Starting in '65, they had a 289,” he said. His first car was a 1937 Dodge Business Coup.

“It had a radio which was unusual at the time,” said Walters. “I used to play in a country and western band, percussion. There was no back seat. You opened up the trunk and you had all that room.” Ever use it for a date? “A few, just a few,” Ray Sr. said. “Remember, mom#'s going to be reading this,” said Ray Jr. “I remember,” answered Walters.

The owner of the '65 Falcon was relaxing on a bench next to the beauty. Incredibly, he considers it a work in progress.

“We#'ve had it going (the refurbishing) three years now; myself and my sons,” said Jim Van Galio, of Ovid. “It'll never be where I want it. We bought the body in Kentucky: It was in pretty good shape. We painted it, rebuilt the motor, replaced body parts, the chrome.” Despite its value, Van Galio said he's never afraid to drive the Falcon, has done so as far away as Rochester and Binghamton to enter it in shows. And he doesn't particularly care if he wins.

“It's a lot of fun just driving it. It's won maybe a dozen - that's not why I go. There's a lot of nice metal here. I like to look and talk to the people. Those people over there, I was talking to them about their blower. Instead of operating on vacuum, the fuel is pressured. You get extremely better performance,” he said, adding that if he babies the Falcon, he can get 20 mpg.

While his first car, which he bought from a farmer for $100 when he was 14: a 1940 Chevy four-door Deluxe, was nothing special - his favorite was his '68 Shelby modified Mustang, purchased when he was 16.

“It was very nice, very rare. Souped up. My favorite color: red. Guaranteed to go 160 mph from the factory. I paid $6,000 in 1970, and I recently saw one at an auction for $175,000,” he said. Good dating car? “Yeah, they're all good,” said Van Galio, smirking. “I sold it before I met my wife.”

Proceeds from the show will be donated by the club to the area Meals on Wheels program and to Senior Nutrition for Cayuga County.