Saturday, April 28, 2012

Clouds don't keep the cars away from the Liberty Cruise

How strong is the monthly Liberty Cruise?  As I headed up there at about 6:30 Saturday night, I would have sworn there would be no cars there.  The skies were cloudy and ominous, and there were spits and sprinkles all along the way.

But to my surprise, there were still better than 100-150 cars spanning the entire distance around the historic downtown square.  This may not have been the best car count for this cruise ever, but most any other monthly event would kill for this kind of turnout.

And there were some really nice cars out there, too.  My favorite was probably a 1959 Dodge Coronet convertible.  As time goes on, I've really become a fan of many of the Chrysler "Forward Look" designs, and this was a really nice one.  How can you resist those Chrysler genuine wire wheels?  I don't remember having ever seen the black and white Dodge before, which made it all the better.
There were several stock and slightly modified Trans Ams, no less than two '63 Corvettes, and even a pair of customized Volvos. 

Wagons were well-represented as well, with a nice '72 Olds Vista Cruiser, a '60 Chevy, a '55 Nomad, and even a Corvair long roof.

The Mid-America Mustangers is the host club for this monthly event, so it's no surprise that the Mustang is the most common nameplate at this event.  From new to old, from rare to common, there are a bunch of them.

We went straight to the cruise after BHo's basketball game, so I drove my '96 Impala.  I think people wonder why I even bother, because it's not exactly a '57 Chevy.  It doesn't get a lot of lookers.  I did have it cleaned up pretty nice before the rain spotted it up, though, so I guess that's something.  I still think those old Impalas are really good cars. You watch--I'll hang on to it for another 15-20 years, and it'll draw as much attention as that '59 Dodge (assuming I can still buy gasoline for it by then).

Thanks to the overcast skies, I was able to take some of the nicest pictures I ever have at this cruise.  Normally there seems to be so much glare out there when the sun sets that I'm either battling my own shadow or just can't get a decent shot at all.  Check out all the pictures in the slideshow below.

3 comments:

  1. When we got there around 4:30, there were no parking slots available around the square at all. I was really surprised. We initially parked on a side street. Then there was a little real rain, and a lot of folks took off. We left about the same time you arrived because of a flaky circuit breaker on the headlights and vacuum powered windshield wipers. Didn't want to get caught in any cloudburst. [1950 Black Packard].

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  2. I'm surprised. I really didn't think anyone would be there as bad as the weather looked. They must be doing something right there to get this kind of turnout!

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  3. Craig:
    I saw that post photo and just KNEW that if I read down, I'd find the words OLDS...VISTA...CRUISER.
    God, I miss those wonderful autos...

    You folks out there take marvelous care of such classics!
    Keep up the great work.

    Happy Motoring.

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