Humongous turnout for Nashville Cars 'n Coffee

I don’t get out to the Nashville Cars ‘n Coffee event often enough. It happens early on Saturday mornings. It’s almost an hour away from my house. I don’t have an exotic car to show off. But when I do drag my sorry butt out of bed, this event never disappoints. The movie theatre in Franklin, Tenn., fills up with thousands of cars. And while not all of them are really what we normally cover on this blog, there are so many different things that everyone gets to see what they like. And so, BHo and I set an alarm last weekend, and cruised on up there in my decidedly commonplace ’93 Corvette to hang out with the other half for a while.

You know how I said there was something for everybody? This ’55 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday coupe was unlike anything else at this event, and yet, it was my favorite car on the lot. The very ‘50s colors are Shell Beige and Polar White. Beneath the space-aged hood ornament you should expect to find a 324-c.i. “Rocket” V8, which was good for 202-hp. That was pretty strong in 1955. This example had what looked like a perfect restoration to me. There are so many details here to study. Look at all the chrome, textures, paint, and fabric that went into this thing. Cars really were works of art back then, and Oldsmobile was making masterpieces.

Here’s a cool muscle car that you don’t really hear about too often. This is a 1970 AMC Javelin. This one is a Mark Donohue edition, because the SCCA driving ace designed the large, downforce-inducing spoiler tacked on the deck lid. There were only 2,501 of these, so we’re talking about a rare sighting here. The ram air hood was part of the Go-Pack option, and you can probably expect that those snorkels are feeding into a 325-hp, 390-c.i. lump. It also has a four-speed, which probably makes this Matador Red beast an even bigger blast to drive. You see a lot of Mustangs, Camaros, and ‘Cudas, but when was the last time you saw one of these?

There were thousands of foreign cars at this show. I don’t know much about them, but this particular Porsche was eye-catching. I’ve seen these 1958 356 A 1600 “Super” Speedsters sell at auction for more than $350,000. I don’t know if this one is worth that much or not, but I’m sure it’s out of my budget. It should have a 96.5-c.i. four-cylinder boxer engine with two carburetors pushing it around with 59-hp. They had three colors of blue available in 1958. I think this one is Aquamarine Blue from what I can tell by pictures. With its huge interior tub, this car kind of reminds me of an amusement park ride inside. Amusement park rides are meant to be fun. I’ll bet this was fun too.

Still, even with all the Ferraris and Lamborghinis and other high-priced impressive things everywhere you looked, I just can’t help it—I love old Corvettes. And as Corvettes go in 1966, most people wouldn’t consider this one too exotic. There’s no big block here. Instead, you’ll find an easy-to-drive, easy-to-maintain, and easy-to live with 327 small block with a not-unimpressive 350-hp. A four-speed transmission is controlled by a hot, chrome shift knob. Ermine white compliments that red interior perfectly, and the interior is extra special because the seats are covered in leather instead of the more commonly seen vinyl. These Midyear Corvettes just never get old to me. I love ‘em.

Here’s an outstanding De Tomaso Pantera. I don’t even know what year it is, but it sure is a pretty blue. As Fernando said on Saturday Night Live, “it’s better to look good than to feel good.” I believe that sentiment sort of applies to Panteras. I don’t think they were worth a darn, but you have to admit that this car looks pretty sporty. The idea on these was that you had a mid-engine, Italian-designed exotic with a big ‘ol Ford V8 under the deck lid. You see Panteras occasionally at car shows, and the fit and finish on them is usually not as nice as this one. This just looked well put-together inside and out. Even the wheels were beautiful. Maybe I was wrong—they might be good cars after all.

I took 412 pictures at this event, which you can see by clicking this link. That did not even begin to scratch the surface compared to how many cars were there, but I tried to hit some of the highlights.