Hometown happiness at the Parkville Cruise

I’ve been dragging my family to car cruises all over town for years, but the one I almost never miss is the monthly event in Parkville.  For one thing, it usually has a great turnout, and for another, it’s only five minutes from my house.  I can’t even get the truck warmed up before I’m surrounded by fun stuff in English Landing Park.

Check out this ’59 Buick LeSabre four-door hardtop.  These cars were scary hideous, but that’s a big part of their charm.  This was the end of famed GM designer Harley Earl’s tenure, and he went over the top on most of the General’s car designs.  This was a particularly nice one, especially the interior.  If someone told me to list my dream cars, one of these might not be on the list, but after seeing this one, I could actually make a case for it.

Another one I normally wouldn’t go crazy for is a ’69 Dodge Coronet station wagon, but again, here’s one that could make me change my mind.  This one has the mild hot rod treatment, with an understated brown and gold paint job and interior to match.  Everything was broken up with orange pinstriping, and the orange police car-style wheels were a great touch.  It really had a lot going for it—it was cool, it was unusual, and it was just an overall nice car.

The Mid-America Chevelle Club had a few members in attendance, including this Autumn Gold 454 SS.  I know what color it is, because my dad picked up a dealer promo model of this car when it was new, and “Autumn Gold” is stamped on the box.  I used to look at that model all the time, and always thought it was pretty neat.  But it’s even better to see it in full-size.

There also seemed to be an unusually large number of Midyear Corvettes at this cruise.  I’ve actually been to Corvette shows where they weren’t this well-represented.  One of the least flashy, but somehow most interesting, was this ’65 coupe.  I can’t tell you why, really.  It didn’t have many options of note. It wasn’t rough, but it certainly wasn’t pristine.  I guess it just looked like a car that someone could have fun with. 

The Parkville Cruise is held on the first Saturday of most every month throughout the summer.  But if you want to go next month, you’re out of luck.  They always take July off for the Fourth of July carnival.  But if you can’t wait until August, don’t worry.   I actually took quite a few pictures at this one—291.  You can see them all in the slideshow below.  Or, click this link for a better version.