OLATHE, Kan. — Matt Hartigan has a front-row seat to creating memories with his grandchildren inside his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.
“Well it's very special because it's the three of us,” he said.
Hartigan is known as Papa by his Brooke, Ben and James, the youngest grandchild.
“He just turned three and we are best friends,” Hartigan said.
Just like his Papa, James gets to cruise around in his very own miniature 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.
"I get to be cool with Papa,” said 3-year-old James Falk.
Hartigan has loved cars all of his life
"I talked about cars and I watched TV about cars. It was cars, cars, cars,” he said.
The original owner of the car, Marcy Hoff, bought it her junior year of high school. After decades worth of memories and work to restore it, she eventually decided to sell the car since she wasn't getting it out more than once a year.
That's when it caught the eyes of Hartigan.
“This is the special one, so when it came up, I grabbed it,” he said.
Sunday the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air glistened in the sun next to James' miniature model at the Stone Pillar Vineyard and Winery's Father's Day Car Show.
“So we decided with the car show we would do it together. So we've both got pink shirts, and he's got his 57 and I've got my 57,” Hartigan said.
