My doctor said I would be lucky to see my next birthday.
I was 50 pounds overweight and totally out of shape.
I'm Rob, a lifelong food enthusiast.
I love cooking, baking, eating, and everything associated with it.
My life was literally in my hands.
I could continue with my bad food habits or eat healthy.
The choice was mine.
If I could do it, anyone can, but old temptations keep coming back.
Staying healthy is a constant battle, but I'm determined to win the war.
I'm Rob Kircher and this is Better, Health, and Greater Well.
It's the one show that's all about living a smarter, healthier lifestyle and all the
wellness cooking that goes with it.
Today I'm at this amazing event.
It's the Cool Cruisers of Naples and they were formed in about 1989 and they have about
225 members.
I want you to meet a gentleman here, he's a very interesting guy.
Roger, how are you?
I'm great.
How about yourself?
Good.
And Roger, you told me you were a little bit of everything.
You were like the past president at one point.
Yes.
I have been the president of the club.
I've been on the board of directors for umpteen years, but right now I just do what I want
to do and I'm not an officer and one of the things I like doing is putting together events
like this and for two reasons.
One reason is we do it for the car people so that they can get together, show off their
cars to other people in the club.
Second reason is we raise money for children's charities.
Now today we're not raising money here.
This is a picnic for the car people.
However, all of our cruisans that we have are actually held to raise money for children's
charities.
We also act for other organizations such as wounded warriors and first responders and
veterans organizations, but primarily we're focused on children's charities.
Well, one of the things I love about your group is a lot of things you just said is
that you do a lot of work for the local charities, which I think is absolutely fantastic.
The other thing I like is the fact that you give members a place to go.
In other words, our show is about health and wellness and so if you've got folks who could
be home sitting on the couch, for example, but what you do is you get them out of the
house and you get them involved in a sport that just expands their mind and increases
their social network, if you will, and so on.
It gives them a place to go.
Correct.
Correct.
And some of our cruisans are held all over Collier and Lee County.
We have, for example, the first Sunday of every month, we're up at Miramar Outlet Mall
and again, we don't charge anybody to show their car.
We don't charge any spectators, anything, but Miramar actually donates to us for our
children's charities in exchange for being the draw.
They advertise that we're going to be there and people show up to see the cars.
Roger, thank you so much.
I want to go on to some other folks, but I appreciate your time and we appreciate what
you guys are doing and, like I was saying, my audience primarily is baby boomers, so
they remember a lot of these cars.
Every one of them is a work of art.
So that's the way we look at it, anyway.
So that's why we do this.
We love doing this and we are car people.
Well, I'd say it's something I can say like my audience is going to love it.
Roger, thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
We appreciate it.
Guys, I'm here with Tom Lynch and Walt Tester and this is the outgoing president and the
incoming president, if you will, of the cool cruisers.
And Tom, tell me a little bit about the car.
This is your car over here.
Tell me about this.
Right.
Well, it's a 37 Ford Cabriolet, and for those who might not know what a cabriolet is, that's
a roadster with roll-up windows.
So it's a two-seater.
It's got windows, which is a big deal in 1937, particularly in the middle of the winter.
It's been modified a little bit on the outside in that it's got different wheels, but pretty
much everything you see in the outside and in the cabin itself is all original 37 Ford.
It's been repainted, but it's all original stuff.
It's absolutely beautiful, I'll tell you that.
Is it for sale?
I'm for sale.
My wife's for sale.
My kids are for sale, right?
But not the car, right?
It would take a lot of money to get me to part with it, or a funeral director, one or the
other.
The engine is not a flathead that was in it when it was originally built, but it's a 1957
283 small block Chevy out of a 1957 Corvette.
That didn't make it around the corner, I guess, something.
The rear end is from a 59 Corvette, and the original transmission, which was a standard
shift, came out of that same 57 Corvette, but it's now got an automatic transmission
in it because I'm too old and fat to be shifting.
What's interesting about what you just said is that it's sort of a combination of a lot
of things.
It's not really an original car, which brings me to Walt, because Walt, one of the things
about the club that I understand is that you don't have to have that, you don't have
to have that perfect classic car.
It could be the kind of car that Tom is talking about, or in this case, this is what, your
56?
Correct.
Okay, so as far as members are concerned, there is no real criteria for being a member.
First of all, you don't even have to have a car to be a member.
We're just a collective group of folks that like to enjoy classic cars, and we have like-minded
interests, and that's what we do.
We donate some money to charities, but the first and the root is that we love cars.
Everyone has a different style, different flavor of car, and we have various cars.
If you look around here and you see everything from cars up to almost 100 years old to brand
new ones.
What I love about your car, first of all, is the sound of your engine.
It's a muscle car, and when I was a kid, 56s were right up there.
My car is considered a resto mod.
It has a 350 Chevrolet engine and it's pushing about 350 horse, and it's got a positive traction
rear end and a $700 for automatic transmission with lock-out overdrive, so it's nice to cruise
on the interstate and the back roads.
It's very comfortable car to ride in, and it does have a good sound and it's an iconic
look that I prefer.
Well, what you just told me, it does go down the road, right?
Oh yeah, it goes down the road as fast as you want to go.
Or sometimes faster than you should go, but still yet, you know, it's made to cruise around
and just have fun, and that's why we are called the Crew Cruisers.
And what is that little saying that you have about the Cool Cruiser?
Don't be a loser, be a Cool Cruiser.
I love it.
I love it.
Well guys, thank you so much.
I got to tell you something, we love what you're doing here.
I love the fact that you get people off the couch and you give them, you know, a great
hobby to be involved with, but I also love the fact that you do a lot for charity, so
I appreciate it very much, and I'm sure the community does.
You guys are doing great work.
All right?
Thank you.
All right.
