In 1973, a fateful trip to Lodi convinced nine guys who loved cars, to make their passion for old cars official and that became the Over the Hill Gang. The name of the club came from a movie, but rather than cleaning up a lawless town, the nine guys were interested in sharing a love of vehicles. Forty years later, the club’s website refers to the members themselves as over the hill, but originally, it was the vehicles that earned the designation. From the original nine members there are now well over 200, with chapters throughout Southern California, Arizona and Texas.

Part of the growth of the organization comes from the loose membership rules which are:

  • attend two meetings per year
  • have a running vehicle built before 1973
  • go to at least one run with the club

According to member Jack Cox, the relaxed approach of the club, as well as its emphasis on cars and having a good time with them, has attracted members from all around. One of the original members, Bob Sullivan, indicated that, “…we’ve always been fooling around with cars.” “We have a lot of fun,” added Sullivan, “we go to all kinds of stuff.”

For those who don’t go back that far, the group indicated that when it was founded, most car clubs were focused around a particular type of car and those who didn’t have one of whatever the club represented weren’t invited to participate in the club’s activities. This makes the Over the Hill Gang a pioneer among car clubs.

The Over the Hill Gang – San Bernardino keeps one another updated on the many automotive-related events happening around Southern California and beyond. Members frequently go in groups representing the club at several events every week. But more than just attending events, the group is also responsible for at least one event that many auto aficionados have participated in: the Route 66 Rendezvous. They’ve also created Run What you Brung in Rialto as well. The first Rendezvous took place in 1990 at Glen Helen Regional Park, in Devore, with 300 vehicles and about 4,000 visitors enjoying the cars, a concert and a cruise down E Street in San Bernardino. In 1991, the event moved to the National Orange Show grounds and expanded with the help of the Over the Hill Gang car club. 1992 put the event on the map as a major celebration for nostalgia buffs nationwide. More than 700 vehicles filled downtown San Bernardino streets in celebration of the 66th anniversary of Route 66 “The Mother Road.”

Presently, the club is focused on the Veteran’s Memorial Car Show in Loma Linda. At that event, hundreds of cars are shown in the parking lot of the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Hospital with hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for the facility.

If you share the Over the Hill Gang’s vision of a casual and fun atmosphere that celebrates the internal combustion engine no matter what it’s pushing or pulling, you might want to pay them a visit on their website, which can be found at http://othg-sanbernardino.org. If you, or your ride, are over the hill, so much the better, but even that’s not important.

This article was written by Tony Barthel from the Curbside Auto Column and Car Show Calendar. For auto articles, news and an on-line calendar of automotive events, please visit www.curbside.tv.