What a difference 32 years makes.

Back in 1992, Charlie Halford was part of the police department command structure when cruising went sideways in Manteca due to outside influences.

Halford recommended to the council back then during a special meeting that the council pull the plug on legal cruising, which they did.

On Tuesday, as a council member, Halford seconded the motion to get rid of the city’s anti-cruising ordinance that essentially was negated when the California Legislature passed a law last year and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed that prohibited local jurisdictions from banning cruising.

The motion was made by Councilman Jose Nuno, who in his 20s dabbled with cars designed to participate in the cruising culture.

Nuno promised to “clean the dust off his car” that’s in his garage and join a weekly Friday night cruise now taking place in Manteca at 6:30 p.m. that starts in the Cardoza Center parking lot at Louise Avenue and Main Street.

The repealing of the ordinance was simply clearing the books of a law that is no longer legal to have in California.

But for Rocky Insogna and others, it was more than that.

Insogna noted it was a “big step” on Manteca’s part as he pointed out there are “still a lot of cities that haven’t” removed their anti-cruising laws even though they can no longer legally be enforced.

Manteca, when it pulled the plug on cruising, did so several years after Modesto made the same move.

Manteca was the only jurisdiction in 1992 in the Northern San Joaquin Valey that  allowed cruising.

On Tuesday, Mayor Gary Singh and Nuno floated the possibility that the city should have some type of official cruise event to embrace the cruising culture that has become more family orientated as the years have passed.

Councilman David Breitenbucher was among those cruising Manteca in his younger days. He said the cruising was originally done on Main Street in the 1970s before it shifted to Yosemite Avenue.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com