August Parkville Cruise - Still going strong

You know, the very first car event  I ever wrote a story about was the Parkville Cruise at English Landing Park in Downtown Parkville.  At the time I said it was a really strong event, and four years later, I can report that it still is.

This might have been the first weekend in months that it wasn't 178-degrees in the shade.  Of course, it looked like it was going to rain all day, and there was plenty of humidity.  I got to the event pretty early for a change, and took up residence under the farmer's market canopy.  I figured I would stay dry if it rained that way, and I got to watch most of the cars come in.

And there were a bunch of them.  For example, I never realized that I was a huge fan of '67 Barracudas.  But then there was a white one on the end with a white and red interior, ruby red stripes, and red line radial tires, and I gotta' tell ya', that thing was impressive.  Something about the color, the 273-c.i. "Commando" V8, and the overall presentation of this car really stood out.  Man, it was slick.

There was a '32 Ford Highboy Roadster there that I don't remember having seen before, but it was another standout.  This one was finished in blue, with sort of a mustard yellow interior and engine theme, and it had a nicely detailed flathead with all the right speed parts.  This retro/traditional look is really coming into vogue on hot rods these days, and I certainly don't have a problem with it.  It looks like something someone would have driven in the early-'50s--only nicer!

I wasn't the only '63 Chevy truck on the premises for a change.  A big, old one-ton Chevy with a long flatbed showed up a little later, and it was something you couldn't miss.  Save for the bed, this thing was dead original.  And the thing that made it really stick out was how loaded it was from the factory.  It had the full Custom Cab treatment, with chrome grill and bumper, and even the rare red Custom Comfort seat option.  I suspect that this was originally built as a motor home and not a farm truck, and the living quarters were just replaced with a wooden bed.  Neat truck, though--and I would love to have that grill for mine.

There were dozens of Corvettes in Parkville.  A bunch of them showed up together, and covered a big space in a side lot.  But there were others everywhere.  There were lots of great ones, but one with the potential to be the greatest.  A '67 convertible with a 427 hood and sidepipes rumbled in early.  This car was a work in progress, and a long way from being finished, but imagine the possibilities ...

There was a '74 Chevy short bed pickup that had a lot of curb appeal; a '68 Shelby GT500KR that I have to assume is worth a few bucks; what appeared to be a real '55 Cameo Carrier pickup that had rotted away outdoors for many years, but appeared to be slowly brought back from the dead; and a wild Fiero with an exotic body replacement and a Cadillac Northstar V8 under the rear deck.

This is the only car show I made it to this weekend, so I took a whole bunch of pictures--333 of them to be exact.  Check them out in the slideshow below.  Or for a better version of this slideshow,click this link.