Friday, January 4, 2019

Better late than never for the North Ridge Church Car Show

I know I’ve been neglecting my writing duties here lately. Things have been busy, and I’m sorry to say that when I have a little time to write something, I’ve just been too lazy to do it. Take the North Ridge Church Car Show. I was at this thing all the way back on October 27, so I’ve been sitting on the pictures for over two months. It was a pretty decent little car show, too, so there really isn’t any excuse for my not getting this done. I actually drove the truck to White House to participate in this one. It was a cool, overcast day, but actually perfect for an event like this. Here are some of the show cars that caught my eye.

We were parked next to my favorite car at the show. I should have hated it, because it made my truck look like something that was dug up out of a swamp. It’s a stunning ’56 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible in the striking color combination of Sierra Gold and Adobe Beige. The interior was immaculate. It had a tastefully installed aftermarket air conditioning system for when it’s too hot to drive around with the top down. When you look at something like this, it’s hard to imagine that this was the common Chevrolet that you could just go buy at the local dealership. It sure doesn’t look common now.

This ’65 Mustang 2+2 fastback was also a really nice little car. It hard to beat the combination of Wimbledon White-over-Poppy Red, and it’s hard not to like the combination of a 289-c.i. V8 matched up to a four-speed. The modern wheels and tires were OK, but I’d still go with the outstanding stock wheel and double redline tire setup that was represented with the spare. This car had a very old restoration, but it could pass for something that was done last year. As a confirmed Chevy guy, I’m not necessarily the world’s biggest Mustang fan. But I really like the look of these fastbacks, and the interiors are especially attractive.

1949 Willys-Overland Jeepster. You don’t see too many of these around, do you? They only made this first-generation for three years, so there aren’t too may out there. Of course, Willys made their claim-to-fame with the ubiquitous military Jeep, but after World War II they needed to expand their business. They couldn’t really develop a full-on new car like General Motors or Ford, so they came up with this Books Stevens-designed convertible for the civilian crowd. This one was built later in the year, because it has the optional 148-c.i. “Lightning” inline-six, which was an upgrade from the little “Go Devil” four-cylinder that carried over from military service. This one here—as nice as if you were looking at it in 1949.

When a lot of people think about old Dodge Chargers, their minds go to the ’69 style like the General Lee, or maybe the NASCAR-derived Daytona. But the Charger actually came out in 1966. This is a nice Freshman-year example, complete with a 318-c.i. V8 and fastback styling. The fastback on these always looked a little hunchbackey to me, but it made up for that with an incredibly stylish, roomy interior. The driver and all three passengers each get their own bucket seat, and everyone has plenty of headroom. The driver has four cool-looking gauge pods to monitor, and he looks good doing it with sporty wheel covers and hidden headlights.

I’m happy to report that you see this 1970 Buick GS at a lot of shows around Nashville. David Hardy claims to be the original owner, so I’m sure he knows pretty much all there is to know about it by now. Buick Road Wheels might be some of the best looking rally-style wheels ever, and they look even better paired up with this Gulfstream Blue paint. Beneath the twin-nostril hood sits Buick’s wide 350-c.i. V8 with a four-barrel carburetor, complete with factory air conditioning. The seats have been inserted with comfortable cloth somewhere along the way, but it otherwise looks basically in as-delivered condition.

I took pictures of every car at the North Ridge Church Car Show, 123 pictures in total. You can see all of them just by clicking this link.

3 comments:

  1. Its ok Craig,We all get busy this time of year.Larry C. ochrac PC MO.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, guys!

    Good to hear from you, Larry C!

    ReplyDelete