Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Mid West Camarofest celebrates its 25th anniversary in Riverside

If you have an event that hangs on for 25 years, you know you’re on to something.  Last Saturday, the Camaro Club of Kansas City not only celebrated the 25th anniversary of their Mid West Camarofest show, but they had a record number of entries.  The E.H. Young Riverfront Park in Riverside, Mo., was full of Chevy’s high-performance four-seaters.  Let’s take a look at a few of the standouts from this hot but happy show.

This red ’87 IROC convertible would have only been a year old at that first Camarofest show.  But it looks like it’s only a year old now.  This car has a lot going for it.  The condition is obviously a big part of it.  I don’t know how it could be any nicer.  And the red leather interior was unusual even when this car was new.  Leather used to be reserved mostly for Corvettes and Cadillacs.  Not very many Camaros came this way.  I like these cars anyway; but I really liked this one.

There are usually several ’69 Camaros at a mixed-make show, so you can imagine how many show up to a Camaro show.  There are some really nice ones, though, like this Hugger Orange RS/SS that was parked on the bricks.  I don’t know if it was the color combination, the wheels, the 350 under the hood, or a combination of all of it, but this car was really attractive.  The vitamin C was strong with this one under that hot Missouri sunshine.

Back when the Camaro went away after 2002, people wondered if there would ever be any enthusiasm for these cars again.  Those questions were answered in 2010 when the Camaro returned to showrooms.  Now, these current-generation cars are as plentiful as the old ones, and people are still modifying them.  Take this awesome ZL1 convertible.  Sitting on gorgeous chrome wheels, this supercharged beast was dazzling.  The ‘60s engine flags were kind of a neat touch.  This car was flawless.

Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids, Mich., has a storied history of beefing up new Camaros before they send them off the lot.  They only made 104 of them between 2000 and 2002, including this one.  With all the work that was done on the engine, suspension and exhaust, plus the emblems, stripes, and other touches, these were pretty expensive, custom-built cars when they were new.  This is the kind of car that will break the bank at classic car auctions for years to come.

There were around 180 cars at this show, and I took 284 pictures.  So I think I got most of them covered.  Take a look at the slideshow below, or click this link for a nicer version.

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