🔧 Reviving rustbuckets | Morning Newsletter

Good morning, Philly. This Wednesday is expected to be sunny, with high temps near 85.

For eight years, the No Kill Car Shelter in Port Richmond has been buying clunkers, wrecks, beaters, and heaps from around the tri-state area — and not so much repairing them as transforming them. Some look straight out of a Mad Max movie.

And the city is on track to clean every block this summer, officials say, amounting to about 18,000 in all. We check in on the progress so far.

Because of tomorrow’s holiday, this is the last Inquirer morning newsletter you’ll receive this week. Paola will be back in your inbox on Sunday. If you’re looking for info on celebrating the Fourth in Philadelphia — and a fireworks weather forecast — read on.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

That’s the motto of the No Kill Car Shelter — but it may as well be “saving old cars, getting greasy, and being weird,” according to the team behind the Port Richmond repair garage where rescued vintage vehicles find new life.

🔧 Brian Smith and Sage Binder don’t care about shiny paint jobs or impeccable chrome. Their cars sometimes look Frankenstein-ed together — but that’s their charm, and often, the point.

🔧 The pair document their work for thousands on social media. And fellow rustbucket aficionados are buying. But mainly, “it’s about keeping as many of these cars going as possible,” Smith told The Inquirer.

🔧 Among their transformed treasures are a 1929 Ford Model A Pickup, a 1961 Chevy Impala Bubbletop, and a 1959 Thunderbird — “just like the one Elvira had.”

You don’t need to be a classic car fan to enjoy this one. Reporter Mike Newall has the story.

I heard the leaf blowers down my West Philly block on Monday morning and knew: The cleanup crew had arrived.

East Parkside, Wynnefield, Haddington, Overbrook and Cobbs Creek are the latest neighborhoods to see the block-by-block cleaning that’s part of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s “clean and green” pledge.

Results so far: One month into the 13-week initiative, the city has swept 5,000 blocks out of about 18,000 total, according to officials. It’s also cleaned more than 1,500 vacant lots, filled 1,800 potholes, cleared graffiti from 850 blocks, and towed 600 abandoned cars.

Ongoing support: Residents told The Inquirer they’re grateful for the program, but longer-term questions about maintenance and sustainability remain.

Up next: West Parkside, Mantua, University City, Southwest, Kingsessing, Eastwick will get block cleaning next week. See the full schedule here.

P.S. Elsewhere in city government, a union that represents thousands of Philadelphia city employees sued the Parker administration Tuesday over the mayor’s return-to-office policy, asking a judge to halt the mandate before it takes effect July 15.

In America’s hometown, you gotta celebrate July Fourth. Check out The Inquirer’s guides to help you plan your holiday:

🎆 Where to watch fireworks in the city, the suburbs, and at the Jersey Shore

🎆 What to know about the Parkway’s Wawa Welcome America festival

🎆 What’s open and closed, from trash pickup to grocery stores

🎆 And perhaps most importantly, what Thursday evening’s forecast looks like

For bonus reading, look ahead to 2026: A local legislator wants to hold a commemorative joint session of Congress at Independence National Historical Park as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations. But the push comes as a new cultural coalition seeks much-needed improvements for the park.

Ala Stanford, whose work on health equity issues in Philadelphia during the COVID-19 pandemic received national accolades, announced her next professional move. What is she doing?

A) Producing a documentary about her work during the pandemic

B) Turning the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium into a for-profit

C) Joining Penn’s faculty

D) Launching a nonprofit to promote children’s literacy

Think you know? Check your answer.

🎹 Grooving to: “Dear June,” the contest-winning song by Northeast Philly singer-songwriter Khalil Amaru.

💸 Paying: Up to 3% more on some airport purchases at PHL because of this new fee.

🐽 Petting: Pigs, goats, and more at these nearby farms and animal rescues.

A “cantina” version of this chain will open in Rittenhouse Square this year — possibly with booze.

BET LOCAL

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Alyssa Opdyke, who solved Tuesday’s anagram: Salus University. Drexel University’s proposed merger with the small, private health sciences university based in Elkins Park has been approved by the institutions’ accrediting agency, per Drexel president John Fry.

Have a great holiday and long weekend if you get one. See you next week!

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.