AUBURN — Rain is always a drag at the drive-in. If you happen to be sitting in a car made of cardboard, it could be a disaster.

Fortunately, at the Auburn Box Car Drive-in Friday night, the people who showed up for the evening movie were able to haul their cars, trucks and boxes indoors where it was dry.

Because they are made of cardboard, you see.

Ben Ebersole was styling in a tiny truck he made himself. The 6-year-old designed it to hold as many pillows as possible because at the drive-in — even an indoor one — you can never be too comfortable.

“I can fit 10 pillows in here, including six stuffed animals,” Ben said. “I’ve got headlights and taillights, too. The headlights I can control from inside.”

The rig wasn’t quite big enough for his mother, Karen, but that was OK. She sat off to the side, waiting for the start of “Angels in the Outfield” on the big screen set up in the gymnasium at the Auburn Recreation Department.

“They sent out an email to let us know about this,” Karen said of the event. “I thought, ‘What a cute idea.'”

The gymnasium was filled with more than a dozen cardboard vehicles. There were race cars and tanks, pickup trucks, Jeeps, a pink Cadillac and at least one purple bus.

It was the second year for the Pat’s Pizza Box Car Drive-in Movie Night

Adrien Melanson sat in a bright-red cardboard pickup truck with “Ford F-150” scrawled on the back. The truck sat on a four-wheeled wagon for mobility and it was one rig that might have survived the sudden thunderstorm outside — Melanson had wrapped his ride in a red tablecloth, which would have provided at least some protection against wet weather.

“He worked hard on it,” said Darlene Melanson, Adrien’s mother. “He’s got quite the creative mind.”

She had that right. Adrien’s truck, with its flip-up hood and a plastic engine inside, was plenty creative enough to win the night’s top prize.

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