Saturday, September 27, 2014

Personal luxury abounds at the Fontanel Cruise

The picturesque Fontanel in Whites Creek has become a family favorite of ours, and the Thursday night cruise is one of the best around. The event flyer made it seem like last Thursday was the last one of the year, so we made a quick stop over there to have some dinner and check out the cool rides. Luckily, it sounds like they might have a few more car events at Barbara Mandrell’s old mansion, so we may just get to come back out here while the leaves are changing. But for now, let’s take a look at the nice stuff that was there while the sun went down.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Redneck Rumble 2014

A couple weeks ago, the Greaserama car show was held in Kansas City. I had attended most of them, and was feeling bad that there wasn’t something like it here in my new home of Nashville. Several people told me that I needed to check out the Redneck Rumble in Lebanon, Tenn. They assured me that it would fill that void. So off we went this weekend to the birthplace of Cracker Barrel to check out what turned out to be a humongous gathering of rat rods and other stuff. So big was this event that I had trouble even remembering which rows I had been down. Between the cars and the swap meet, I didn’t know what to look at next.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Star cars of the Country Music Hall of Fame

Many years ago my dad and I stopped in at the Country Music Hall of Fame (CMHOF) during one of our visits to the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. I remember that it was a nice little place packed with memorabilia, and a car or two on display for good measure. Since then, they’ve built a new, 350,000-sq/ft. Hall of Fame, with more rhinestones, banjos, and vintage steel guitars than you’ll ever see in one place again. As you probably have guessed, there are also a few country music-related cars in there. That’s Alan Jackson’s ’55 Thunderbird in the picture. Of course you want to see the other cars, so here we go.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Music Valley Cruise-In was about as Nashville as it gets

When you want to visit a really touristy, Nashville location, the Music Valley area is a good place to stop. This is near everything from the Opryland Mall, to Cooter’s Place, to the Opryland Hotel, to go-kart racing, to any number of bars and restaurants. While we were there, we went in to eat at the Nashville Palace, which is about as representative of Nashville as any place we’ve visited since we’ve been here. We watched John England and the Western Swingers. They were a little group of country musicians that all had incredibly impressive resumes. They were great. Oh, and the cars were too.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Old Skool and New Kool Car Show survives the storms

As I was pulling into the neighborhood to check out the 2nd-Annual Old Skool and New Kool Car Show at the Life Church/Broadmoor Family Worship Center, the rains came. I don’t mean a light shower or sprinkle, either. This was a deluge. I could barely see two inches in front of my face, not much less get out and take pictures of all the old cars that were sinking in the grass. But the thing about Tennessee rain showers is, once they do what they’re going to do, they’re done. It didn’t take long for the faucet to shut off, the sun to come out, and the car show to resume.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Art's Corvettes isn't all Corvettes

For car aficionados, Bowling Green, Ky., is known for the National Corvette Museum and the Bowling Green Corvette Assembly Plant. But if you can divert your gaze away from the museum for a moment, you may notice Art’s Corvettes, a classic car dealership that’s located right across the street. The location and name of this place might fool you, because there is a lot more here than just Corvettes. Art’s is an equal opportunity old car peddler, featuring everything from Chevys to Fords. I took a look inside the other day, and here’s some of the good stuff.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Touch of Gold Fall Open Car Show brought hot cars to O'More College

If you wanted to see some of the nicest cars in the Music City last Saturday, you needed to be at the O’More College of Design for the Touch of Gold Fall Open Car Show. This was a great location, with plenty of shade trees, food vendors, and a bake sale. I was having trouble figuring out why it was so hot and humid in the shade, though. I wonder if they can air condition the campus next time. Oh, well. The cars almost made up for it. Sit there at your air conditioned desk and check them out.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Corvette Caravan brings thousands of enthusiasts to the 20th Anniversary of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green

It seems like lately everyone knows about the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. Well, they know a sinkhole opened up under the fancy yellow dome and snarfed down eight Corvettes that were on display. I even wrote a feature about it not too long ago. What people might not realize is that this is the 20th anniversary of the National Corvette Museum, or that they just opened up a brand new road course next to the property. They should know it after this weekend, though, because the National Corvette Caravan hit town, bringing some 5,000 fiberglass two-seaters from all over North America.