People driving by Woodland Middle School on Friday were stopping to see about 80 classic cars filling the parking lot for the school's classic car show.

Show organizer Royce Johnston, a teacher and coach at Woodland, said most of the kids are intrigued by classic cars, hot rods and unique cars, and said the car show is a great event for the students to connect with the community.

"We thought it would be a fun, end-of-the-year activity for the kids, so we tried it last year and it just went over so well," Johnston said. "Some of the kids said it was the highlight of the year and so we decided to do it again and invited a few more people from the community to come in and join us."

Johnston, along with School Resource Officer Tom Sparks, had the idea last year while discussing cars during lunch one day and decided to try it. Sparks said this year's show was four times as big as last year.

"It's fantastic for the kids," Sparks said. "We're trying to pass on that auto heritage and (the kids) get to mingle with the older members of the community."

Both Sparks and Johnston are classic car owners. Johnston brought his '66 Chevelle Malibu and '66 Ford Mustang to the show and Sparks brought his 1996 Ferrari F355. Sparks said he is a minor collector and has more classics at home. He is a member of the North Idaho Classic Car Club and is involved in several car shows.

"I enjoy getting people together and letting them mix and mingle," Sparks said. "Car people in general ... they become isolated where they only know their brand and they only meet their own people and I try to get them to see what's amazing in other people's cars."

The cars at Friday's show represented a wide variety of brands, from a 1951 Ford Convertible to a 1970 Chevy Nova SS, as well as Pontiacs, Jaguars, Volkswagens, motorcycles and more.

Dennis Marshall, who sat in the shade near his green and white 1956 Oldsmobile, said he knew of at least three classic car clubs that were present - the Phuddy Duddy Cruisers, the North Idaho Classic Car Club and the Chevrolet Club.

Johnston said a restoration garage in Coeur d'Alene brought a bunch of its cars, and parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors were invited to bring in their cars to show them off and share them with the students.

"The kids here love cars," Johnston said. "I've had several older gentlemen say what a great thing this is because the car collecting community needs some younger kids, and this is a great way to really get people interested and involved."