OREM -- UVSC showed off one of society's most lasting marriages Saturday, the union between cars and rock-and-roll.

The pond area south of UVSC's David O. McKay Events Center became a veritable Cadillac Ranch Saturday, with old and new Fords, Chevrolets, Pontiacs and Volkswagons.

Thousands of visitors to the school's annual auto expo were serenaded by J.C. Hackett and his Rock-n-Roll Racket Saturday as they strolled through paths lined with cars from just about every era since drivers stopped fueling motion with hay and started using gasoline.

The expo, the 10th UVSC edition, featured about 500 cars, trucks and even bicycles, while the band banged out classics like "Mustang Sally" from a perch high above.

"There's a camaraderie between all these people that goes way beyond cars," said Wade Christensen, a 53-year-old Salt Lake City man who remembers cruising State Street as a teenager looking for races.

Christensen brought a Fathom Green with two broad white stripes 1969 Camaro Z28 on which he said he put 7,000 miles in 1999 traveling to car shows from Yellowstone to Moab.

He said he first started loving cars when he was 15, following a love begun by his older brothers and friends.

For Christensen, the shows have created lasting friendships. When his wife, Sandy, was in the hospital for seven weeks dying from diabetes-caused complications, friends Karen and Jim Jensen, who the Christensens met at a car show years ago, were there to comfort.

"These guys were there every night," Christensen said.

Car owners paid $20 for the first car entered and $10 for each additional car. Money from the event goes to scholarships for UVSC automotive, collision repair and diesel technology students.

The area northwest of the McKay Events Center housed a swap meet of all things automotive.

There were Roadsters, Chevy Bel-Airs, an old fire truck, Corvettes, Harley-Davidsons, Packards, Mustangs, a 1936 Mercedes convertible, GTOs, Barracudas and even a DeLorean with a license plate stating, "Where we're going we don't need roads," a quote from "Back to the Future."

Several 4-wheel drive trucks were parked high atop a hill as if ready to attack.

Derek Hall, UVSC's director of college relations said there were just under 500 cars registered for the event.

"It (the expo) just keeps getting bigger and bigger," Hall said.