Platte City Cruise continues to satisfy

Platte City has one of my favorite car cruises each month.  Maybe it’s because I like Pizza Shoppe.  Maybe I just think the Outta’ Control Hot Rods crew does a good job.  Maybe it’s just because I like old cars wherever they are.  I can’t explain it exactly, but that orange water tower seems to call my name on the third Saturday of every month.

This looked like a pretty decent ’66 Pontiac Lemans.  It’s not a GTO, and it wasn’t pretending to be a GTO.  That makes it better in my book.  I actually like those little hash marks on the front fender of a Lemans better than the plain GTO fender.  This one had 326 badges, so I assume that was what was under the hood.  Of course, it had an aftermarket floor shifter, so I guess you can’t tell without looking.  I just liked seeing it there with the vinyl top and full wheel covers.

This is a 1917 Willys-Overland.  I probably couldn’t have told you that by looking, but there was a sign with that painted on it nearby.  This car turns up at shows and cruises all the time, and normally it has a crowd around it.  The fact that I was able to get an unobstructed photo is unusual.  The owner always has old tools and other props on display with it.  And while I wouldn’t be interested in driving it to St. Louis, it’s certainly a fun conversation piece.  Just think—this car is 96 years old!

If you were in the market for a nice ’79 Coupe DeVille, this one happened to be for sale.  These had a huge, 425-c.i. engine that wheezed out a not-so-huge 180-hp, but they were adequate for the late 1970s.  My dad owned a few Cadillacs from this era back in the day, so everything looked pretty familiar in there to me.  Can you imagine Cadillac building a car like this now?  Me neither—but I’m glad there are still a few around to bring back some memories.

Also from the class of ’79 (and also for sale) was this 10th Anniversary Trans Am.  I really think the silver interior was pretty in these, and the wheels and paint scheme let people know they were looking at something special.  That 6.6-litre sticker and shaker hood was connected to a 403-c.i. Oldsmobile-derived V8.  They only made 7,500 of these, so this was obviously the only one in the parking lot.

As usual, there was lots of good stuff to look at in Platte City this month.  You can see everything in the slideshow below, or click this link for a better version.