Mt. Juliet was a scary place last Saturday night when the annual Trunk-or-Treat Car Cruise rolled into the Chick-fil-A parking lot. Vintage cars were mixed with scary costumes for a fun night of candy and chicken. This was the first time since we moved here that the old HMC truck was able to wear its Halloween costume (Tow Mater, every year, of course), but there were lots of other great cars and trucks to check out along the way. Here were a few of my favorites.
Here was a classy, yet potent 1965 Oldsmobile 442 two-door hardtop. In the case of this car, “442” meant it had a 400 cubic-inch engine, four-speed transmission, and dual exhaust. And that white ball in the console was connected to a genuine Hurst shifter. This car is understated, but not invisible. I just think it’s a nice car that had a lot of power, but didn’t try too hard to show it off. The colors, the interior, the console-mounted tach, the wire wheel covers, and even the red line tires all worked well together here. Plus, it was just an all-around nice car.
Here’s one of the stars of the show. I couldn’t have told you much about it, but the sheet of paper in the windshield had some interesting factoids. It’s a 1931 Twin Coach. It was originally operated by the Helms Bakery in Los Angeles. It also stated that only ten are known to still exist. I just thought the details were neat. It had real glass and wood display shelves in the back where all the tasty bakery items could be showcased. The driver sat pretty far back behind the engine, and the pedals came out directly under the seat. It looked like it would be a bugger to drive, but that weird seating position was part of its charm.
Now this old car screamed “Halloween!” It is a 1958 Pontiac Bonneville with a Superior Coach hearse conversion. Superior has been in the professional car business for 105 years, and continue to build limousines, hearses, and other special use cars today. Back in the 1920s and ‘30s, rich people often had special-bodied cars made by aftermarket coach builders to differentiate themselves from the commoners. By the late ‘50s, there wasn’t a lot of that going on. But the companies that made cars like this were doing the same kind of high-end custom work, just for a different application.
This ’67 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 was interesting. The front seats were incredibly hideous, but one would assume that it’s because they’re using this car for some type of racing. But other than that, it was actually pretty great. It appeared to be mostly original, and had the dings and scrapes to prove it. It also had a very rare factory Paxton Supercharger. If that has been on there since new, it’s one of only 35 cars that were so-equipped. The owner also claims that it is the longest originally-owned GT350 out there. So when you look at it that way, who cares what the seats look like. If a guy owns a car for 47 years, and those are the seats that he wants, then those are absolutely the seats it should have.
If you like Mopar muscle, here you go. This was a sharp-looking ’70 Challenger. You can definitely see the styling influence in the current Challenger when you look at one of these. This car was Bright Red everywhere you looked, it had the coveted R/T package, and it rode on slotted Rallye wheels. You tend to see more old Camaros and Mustangs around, but once in a while it’s nice to see one of these that’s this nice and finished in such an appealing color combination.
And speaking of appealing, let’s get to the pictures.
There are 248 of them in the slideshow below, or
click this link for a nicer version. Happy Halloween!
Great pics, always.
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