Monday, August 20, 2012

A great car show and a great Royals game highlight the Crusin' at the K event

It was Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet Sunday when we fired up the old truck and headed to the Crusin’ at the K event during the Kansas City Royals game at Kauffman Stadium. Well, technically, I had the tacos, and there was no pie involved, but otherwise, it was exactly like the old advertising slogan.

At any rate, a number of old cars and trucks gathered together for what actually ended up being a pretty big car show. Then, there was a fan vote to select five cars that would get to drive around the warm-up track on the field before the game. We brought my truck’s Mater face Halloween costume to try and garner a few more votes, but alas, it was not meant to be.

That’s OK, though, because there was plenty of other stuff to see and do throughout the day. I actually hadn’t been to Kauffman Stadium since the $250-million renovation that took place there about five years ago, but I am here to tell you that that was money well spent. The place is impressive to say the least. Everything from the fountains to the gift shops to the kids’ areas will knock your socks off. It’s such a nice place to spend an afternoon.

There was lots of fun stuff going on at the car show, too. One guy had a really great ’74 Dodge Monaco that was done up like the Bluesmobile, giant loud speaker on the roof and all. He was even wearing his Elwood costume, and let BHo get his picture taken in the car with his extra hat. He didn’t make it to the ball field, but I was secretly hoping he’d get enough votes, seeing as he dressed up and all. Maybe Royals officials didn’t want him out there, just in case “the motor—we’ve thrown a rod” caused oil to spray all over the place.

You could see that there was a lot of car club participation at this event, which makes sense, because it was a great club activity. Chevelles and Corvettes were particularly prevalent throughout the lot. The Kansas City Corvette Association just had their big event of the year the day before at the Great Mall, and the Mid America Chevelle Club is going to have their big show in a couple of weeks at the same place, so this was a nice between events event for both of them.

Another car that we see around occasionally, but never have a problem checking out again is the little black and beige beauty in the picture here. It was constructed out of a ’77 MGB, but it was perfectly fused with other parts, mostly from a ’34 Ford, to make what the builder intended to be a French-looking creation. It’s powered by a 3.4-liter Chevy V6, and Jaguar bumpers, Oldsmobile taillights, and a ’48 Plymouth steering wheel. The owner’s name is Dan Root, and the car is called the “Racine”, which means “root” in French. It really is an amazing, well-proportioned little creation. It also was one of the cars voted onto the field, which was a well-deserved honor.

And check out this big old brown ’42 Hudson sedan. On one hand, these tubs are about as ugly as an old car can get. But yet, it’s a lovable kind of ugly. This was an extremely nice car, full of all kinds of great Art Deco touches. I really enjoyed looking at the early ‘40s cruiser, and could picture the family and me taking it for a leisurely cruse in the country on a nice day. And it’s definitely different than all the tri-five Chevys and early Mustangs that permeate most car shows.

Everything about this day was nice—the weather, the cars, the location, and the game. The Royals even trounced the Chicago White Socks 5-2. A great time was had by all.

The slideshow below has 282 pictures from the Crusin’ to the K car show. Take a look there, or click this link for a better version of the slideshow.




4 comments:

  1. Definitely a fun event - great recap and gallery here Craig, thanks for doing it. I was there with my red 2011 Mustang GT and definitely had a blast!

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  2. Some great looking cars, but I thought this was 'Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and CHEVROLET' [?]. Whats that Ford and that interesting MG thingie doing on the field? And why didnt that Rampside get to go? And no midyear Corvettes?! Where is justice? [Guess its too late for me to vote, huh? :) ]
    Well, at least y'all trounced those #$% white sox!

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  3. I hear ya', man, but the voters had spoken.

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  4. Thank you so much for taking some amazing photos. I'm very proud to be the owner of that 1975 AMC Gremlin. It's hard to believe I've had her 13 years now. First Car!!!

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