Cars have always been the center of the life of Ceres native Raymond Lee so it was not a complete surprise when he was honored as a “Legend of the Cruise” at the recent Graffiti celebration in Modesto.

Lee’s name was added to a brick on the Legends of the Cruise Walk of Fame along the Modesto Historic Cruise Route in front of the 10th Street Plaza during a June 5 ceremony. Also added this year were the names of Pete “Kiki” Rodriguez, Don Wenstrand, Larry Pippin, Vito Masellis, Larry Wing and the Regs club. 

“It was very exciting,” said Lee. “I’m really happy to be inducted into the other inductees. It’s quite a big honor for me, particularly just because probably all the guys were just a young kid that was involved with classic cars all their life.”

The 1970 graduate of Turlock High School grew up in the Ceres-Hughson area. His parents, Ray and Mabel Lee ran the Hughson Food Mart in Hughson. The Lee’s lived on a ranch on Prairie Flower Road and he attended grammar school in Hughson through eighth grade. When he reached high school, however, he had to go to Turlock High School since the boundary line for high school was divided down the middle of the street. Those living on Lee’s side of the road went Turlock High, while those on the other side went to Ceres High.

He met his wife, Marsha while in grammar school and they began dating at the age of 16. They had a street rod wedding in 1978.

Lee’s infatuation with cars started as a young kid.

“You know how kids will express their desire for sports and things like that? Well, on my bedroom walls I would have pictures of cars out of magazines.”

Love of the automobiles formed an early bond between Raymond and his father, who was a Porsche and Mercedes enthusiast.

The two worked together to install a new motor in a worn-out 1959 Datsun shop truck.

Lee said that 1959 was the first year that Datsun manufactured their small pickups and his father had bought it new and may have been the first in Stanislaus County to own one.

“That was actually our shop truck for the grocery truck,” said Lee.

When the Datsun’s four-cylinder motor wore out, the father and son customized it by removing the 283 V-8 engine from a totaled 1957 Chevy car and installing it into the Datsun. They also added the Chevy’s automatic transmission. They also added the narrower 1957 Chevy rear-end. The creation was Ray’s first vehicle, which turned heads due to its distinctive sound.

“It was a pretty cool looking truck, actually with small rounded fenders.”

He drove the pickup to Turlock High and often left it parked by the shop with the hood up so classmates could marvel at how he installed a Chevy V-8 engine into that small pickup.

“When I would drive it to the school, all the kids were wondering what that noise was because you could tell it wasn’t a four-cylinder. I took it to the muffler shop and had dual exhaust put on and everything. It was a lot louder than normal. You knew that it wasn’t a stock pickup truck so all the kids wanted to look at it and things like that.”

On weekends in the early 1970s, Ray enjoyed cruising McHenry Avenue, a social setting for hundreds of young people.

“That’s actually how our car club started,” said Lee, who with wife Marsha became charter members of the Modesto Area Street Rod Association (MASRA) in 1975. The MASRA car club was for owners of classic cars dated 1948 or older until bylaws were adjusted to include pre-1973 car owners.

“That has evolved because the older cars, you know, pre-49 are very hard to find now.”

The club organizes the notable Graffiti Classic car show, which takes place the first Sunday in each June at McHenry Village. This event typically draws over 500 classic car enthusiasts.

Like with his dad, cars have been an integral part of his 50-plus-year relationship with Marsha since she also is a car enthusiast. She supports their car building efforts and involvement with the local classic car scene.

When he was 20, Ray totaled his 1966 Corvette after sliding on a sandy surfaced road and crash, with Lee sustaining minor injuries. Ray desired replacing it with another but his dad felt they were too dangerous and didn’t want him getting another. Ray bought a 1965 Corvette anyway and because he was still living with his parents, Ray hid it from his dad.

“I knew my dad would be very upset so when I bought this car I left it at Marsha’s mother’s house. I probably left it there two or three weeks.”

He mustered up the courage to drive it to the store where he worked but didn’t say anything about it. The car attracted attention but Ray pretended for a while that he didn’t know to whom the car belonged. Eventually he broke the news of the purchase to his father.

“My dad just kind of let it go.”

They attend on average of about five car shows per year, going as far as Reno, Pismo Beach, Kernville and Sacramento.

Lee, who retired from Long’s Drugs, is presently restoring a 1966 Chevy C10 pickup for Marsha to drive around, adding a new drive train and interior and installing air conditioning. It won’t necessary be going to car shows.

Over time, the couple has owned numerous remarkable cars, including 1968 and 1969 Camaros, 1965 and 1966 Corvettes, and 1929, 1940s, and 1956 Fords. 

The couple’s daughter Megan is also enjoying the family car endeavors. Her first car was a 1968 Nova, restored when she was 16.