Mike Pearson, 49, of Wapakoneta, restored this 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass 15 years ago.
Jim Krumel | For The Lima News
WAPAKONETA – Some people collect autographs on cards, photographs, and jerseys.
Mike Pearson, 49, of Wapakoneta, has an autograph collection on the 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass he restored. It includes a half dozen signatures from prominent people in the automobile world. The signatures can be found on his car’s glove box, dashboard and window visor, each of them standing out like a trophy.
“It’s something different that you don’t see in a lot of other cars,” he said.
He got the autographs at car events in Dayton and Cincinnati.
Tony Stewart, the four-time NASCAR champion driver and current team owner, has signed his name on the glove box of Pearson’s car. So has Dennis Gage, the handlebar mustachioed host of “My Classic Car,” a weekly television show that captures America’s love affair with automobiles.
Among the prominent car designers who have put some ink inside Pearson’s car are Gene Winfield and Chip Foose. Winfield designed cars for such movies as “Blade Runner,” “The Blues Brothers,” “Batman” and “Back to the Future.” Foose’s specialty designs earned him a spot as the youngest member to be inducted into the Hot Rod Hall of Fame. He’s been part of two TV series: “Overhaulin’” and the “Ultimate Car Build Off.”
Providing that Pearson’s wife Tracey doesn’t mind, one autograph he would like to get is that of Linda Vaughn. She’s been described as the “preeminent beauty queen of stock car racing” and “The First Lady of Motorsports.”
Pearson has owned the ‘72 Cutlass for 15 years. His brother, Brian Wright, found it for him in Columbus.
“Brian had a ‘69 Cutlass and turned me into an Oldsmobile man with this car. I was always a Camaro man prior to that, but there’s no going back,” Pearson said.
The Cutlass was in need of a complete restoration when Pearson bought it, something he did in honor of his father, Jerry Michael Pearson.
“Dad was a car guy. That’s where I get my love of cars from. He had a Plymouth GTS that probably costs more than my house. I think he would have enjoyed this Cutlass, though.”
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