David Peavey is scouring the county and surrounding areas insearch of vehicles, engines and all things related to cars andtrucks for an upcoming transportation show in downtown.

The show, which will be held in the south railroad parking loton Railroad Avenue on Saturday, March 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,is part of the city’s 150th Celebration Committee’s celebration forMarch, which is transportation month. The transportation show willundoubtedly feature many new forms of transportation like flashysports cars, but Peavey said the show’s emphasis will be on itemsof antiquity.

“I’m trying to keep the show away from muscle cars – it’s notreally a ‘car show’ type of thing,” said Peavey, chairman of theBrookhaven 150th Celebration Transportation Committee.

While some muscle cars will fill in the gaps, Peavey is workingtoward securing older modes of transportations, like early modelcars and trucks, early engines and even mule wagons. Peavey is alsoon the hunt for antique bicycles and scooters – anything that hasto do with transportation.

“Anybody with an old engine, car, bike or scooter – bring ’em onout, participate, be part of Brookhaven,” Peavey said. “If you’vegot something, any kind of transportation that’s connected toBrookhaven, come out and share it with the community.”

Peavey will personally contribute several pieces to thetransportation show, such as a 1963 Studebaker, sold originally inBrookhaven, and a 1947 Chrysler, along with a pair of”hit-and-miss” engines from the early days of gasoline power. He isalso making plans to present two old-timey tractors that have beenrestored and a couple of early pickup trucks that remain inoriginal condition.

Items on display at the transportation show only have to berelated to transportation – not modes of transport themselves.Peavey has a small set of window speakers salvaged from the 51Drive-In theater in Brookhaven mounted on the windows of his carsand connected to the radios.

“That went with the history or Brookhaven, too – it went withthe automobiles,” Peavey explained.

As another example of the transportation related, Peavey istrying to bring an antique, gas-powered gristmill to the show – oneof the first to trade in mule power for petroleum horsepower.

Peavey’s efforts to locate the transportation artifacts thatwill be presented at the show have lead him to a few localsurprises and served as a history lesson on the fly.

“I’m kind of excited about it,” he said. “I’ve found some stuffaround Brookhaven that I didn’t even know still existed aroundhere, like those covered wagons.”

The search is far from complete, however, as Peavey has nospecific number of commitments for the display. He is stillsearching, and he encourages anyone who can contribute to the showto do so.

“It’s hard to say what we’ll actually have at the show, I’m kindof playing it by ear,” Peavey said. “With something like this, youjust have to put the word out and ask people to show up.”

Admission to the transportation show will be free, and anyonewho wishes to contribute a vehicle, or any other item connected totransportation in Brookhaven, is urged to contact Peavey at B and OSupply Inc. at 601-835-6811, or at home at 601-835-4646.

Both Peavey and 150th Committee Chairwoman Rita Rich said thedisplay will include more modern cars and trucks, though they hopeto see more classics – cars that are at least 25 years old,preferably older.

“We want to use things that would have some age,” Rich said. “Wecouldn’t just have the new ones, because we’d get too many.”

The transportation display is part of transportation month -March – and each month of 2008 has a different theme. As a preludeto the show, a railroad exhibit, hosted by Jimmy Perkins, iscurrently on display in the Lincoln-Lawrence-Franklin RegionalLibrary.