The Friday cruise at the Longbranch Saloon proves that things have mellowed since the Gunsmoke days

Back in the Old West, Marshall Dillon spent a lot of time running the killers and the spoilers out of the famous Longbranch Saloon in Dodge City. Many a gunfight, fistfight, knife fight, or whatever other kind of fight took place on those rickety, whiskey-soaked wooden floors. It was a rough place to be sure.

But on Friday nights in Overland Park, the Longbranch is a little less volatile. The outlaws and murderers have been replaced with Oldsmobiles and Mercurys, and the batle of the best gunmen have been replaced with the battle of the best wax jobs. For at this Longbranch Saloon, it's all about the car cruise.

Dan's Longbranch Saloon and Steakhouse has been holding this event every Friday night during the summer for years now, and they always pull in a strong crowd. If you bring your old car there too late, there's always a good chance that you won't be parking in the lot with everyone else.

Some of the advantages to this cruise include food discounts to car owners at the Longbranch, a D.J. who harps on not touching the cars every few minutes, and the playing of The National Anthem, a first at a car cruise for me.

There were quite a few notable cars there. One of the standouts was a '47 Cadillac fastback with a late-model Northstar power plant. A '61 Pontiac Ventura hardtop was also hard to tear away from. And there was a turquoise '69 Shelby Mustang GT 350 that seemed pretty impressive to me.

This was also the first outing for the new Hover Motor Company monthly flyer I'm trying out, so if you're visiting the website for the first time because you found one of those on your seat, welcome aboard.

I'm finishing this story off with a pretty decent slideshow of more than 120 pictures. There's bound to be something in there that you like. But if you have a problem with these pictures, you can take it up at the Marshall's office.