Heat doesn't stop the Parkville Cruise

Parkville held their monthly cruise last Saturday night, so as usual, I stopped by to take some pictures.  The attendance was a bit down from the crushing mass of cars that was there last month, but the temperature was hovering at around 100-degrees.  Considering the miserable conditions, and the fact that the Main Street Parkville Association hasn’t figured out how to air-condition English Landing Park, I’d say they did all right.

The Corvette show last month in North Kansas City had maybe five first-generation Corvettes, and this cruise had three of them.  None of them were the same, either.  I kind of liked this ’59, if for nothing else than the color.  The more I see these without the coves two-toned, the better I like them.  This one had modern, Torque Thrust wheels and a T-handle gear shifter, but otherwise looked like a nice car.  I don’t really notice that many ‘59s around either, which makes it even better.  This would be a great car to show off at events just like this owner is doing.

Here’s Steve Mallory’s 1940 Ford coupe.  Steve is a die-hard, old school hot-rodder, and he makes it to a lot of car events.  This car really looks the part, with those red and yellow flames on that black paint.  The three carbs atop that hopped-up Flattie don’t hurt either.  But it’s the little details that set this car apart.  Things like the red and white pleated seat, the nerf bars, and even the white painted firewall all contribute to this car’s authenticity.  I’m sure I’ve called this car out before at other shows, but it has almost become an icon in the Kansas City automotive scene.

I’ve kind of had late-model Camaros on the brain lately, and this red ZL1 is about as good as you can get.  These are the fastest, most capable Camaros ever to roll out of a factory.  I mean heck, it’s got 580-hp and 556-lb/ft of torque blasting out of a 6.2-liter supercharged V8.  Even if you don’t like new cars, you have to respect what a car like this can do straight off the showroom floor.  Zero-to-60 in 3.9-seconds.  That’s pretty awesome if you ask me.  It might not have the nostalgia of, say, a ’68 Camaro SS, but Chevy didn’t do a bad job of paying homage to that as well. 

This “Gasser” look is getting more popular all the time, but this Willys has been a regular around here before the current Gasser phase really got underway.  I’m sure when they dubbed it “Old School” they were referring to the old cars that looked like this in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but this one has been done so long that it really is old school.  The paint and lettering and everything has a comfortable, worked-in look that you can only get from an old, unrestored racecar.  It looks like it might be a little extreme to drive to work in everyday, but as a historic old show car, it does the job.

You can hardly tell when the lid is closed, but from this angle you can clearly see that this Nova is a hatchback.  Chevrolet offered this optional style from 1973 to 1979, and it definitely added to the practicality of the compact two-door sedan.  This one also had SS badging, which didn’t do a great deal for performance, but definitely spiced-up the looks.  For all the youngsters reading this story, think of it as the Toyota Corolla S model today.  Well, except this Nova is way cooler than any Corolla ever will be.  Keep that in mind too, kids. 

The slideshow below has 187 pictures from the September Parkville Cruise, and every car in them is cooler than a Corolla (I guess it’s pick on Corolla day here).  Click this link for a better version.