Tonganoxie Days puts on a nice car show ... when it doesn't rain

It seems like every year when it’s time for the Tonganoxie Days Car Show at VFW Hall #9271, it rains.  And every year, I say something like, “they had a good turnout for the rain, but just imagine what it could have been if the sun was out.”  Well guess what.  When they held the show last Saturday, the sun was out.  And guess what else.  There was a park full of nice cars.  Turns out this can be a top-notch show with a little help from Mother Nature.

So what was good?  How about this ridiculously nice ’70 Ford thee-quarter-ton Camper Special?  This thing was every bit as nice as any high-end show car there, right down to the period-perfect camper shell.  You can tell someone loved this truck.  There’s no other explanation for a rig like this to be this nice.  It took up a fairly big piece of real estate on the show field, but it was worth every inch.  It was really different, and all the better for it.

Aside from also being an old Ford pickup, this little ’41 had nothing in common with the one above.  But that didn’t make it any less cool.  Most Ford fans would think this was a ’40 because the beak looks just like a ’40 Ford car, but this design actually carried over one more year on the trucks.  And that’s a good thing, because I think it is one of the best looking designs ever.  This one still had its green-painted flathead V8, bias-ply tires, and an under-dash radio and heater.  It was a good representation of what this truck would have been like before the hot-rodders got a hold of it.

This is a ’95 Impala SS.  I have a ’96 Impala SS, so my radar hones in on this one every time I see it at a car show.  It’s certainly a lot nicer than mine at this point, and I believe it is safe to assume that it is not a daily driver.  This one is somewhat modified with hand-painted pinstriping, shiny panels under the hood and on the dashboard, custom wheels, and a billet steering wheel.  It was one of the newer cars at the show, but if you’re into these old B-Bodies, it’ll get your attention.

Finally, here’s a car that I wouldn’t have even been able to identify without the sheet in the windshield.  It’s a 1926 Jewett, and it was a companion model to the Paige.  This car came with a 40-h.p. six-cylinder engine that was manufactured by Continental.  I don’t know much more about it except that it’s a great looking little ‘20s car, and the spark plus look like they’d be a snap to change.

You know the rest—208 pictures in the slideshow below, click here for a nicer version.