Hendersonville Cruise-In kicks off 2019 at its new location

As a Hendersonville resident and a car cruise guy, I’m always happy when the Hendersonville Cruise-In kicks off for the season. This year, the location moved to the old World Market parking lot, which is basically the Target store off New Shackle Island Road. They hold this event every Friday night during the summer, and they always have lots of really nice cars to look at. I’m always amazed that they can hold this event this often and still draw in so many different and interesting cars each time. Naturally, we took the old truck there for opening night, and came home with a bunch of pictures and stories about the neat stuff in attendance.

28th-Annual Nashville Auto Fest brings the good stuff out of hibernation

When you have an event that has been going for 28 years, you know they’re doing something right. That’s the case with the Nashville Auto Fest, which made its usual appearance at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds last weekend. Sure, there was the threat of bad weather on Sunday, but every building on the property was still full of classic cars and swap meet vendors. You often see some very high-quality machines at this one, and the 2019 edition was no exception. Strong club participation made it heavy on MOPARs and Volkswagens, but there was a little bit of everything at the Nashville Auto Fest.

Great day for the 37th-Annual 2018 Bowen Campbell Car Show in Goodlettsville

For 37 years, automotive enthusiasts from all over the Music City have gathered in Goodlettsville for the big Bowen Campbell Auto Expo at Moss-Wright Park. This year was no different, as a huge group of quality rides was on-hand for a surprisingly pleasant, overcast day. This one is put together by the Sumner County Vintage Vehicle Club, which is sanctioned by the AACA. As usual, these AACA shows attract some of the nicest old cars and trucks around. I don’t really enter my own cars in many of these shows, but this one was close enough to home that I actually entered both the ’63 Chevy C-10 and my ’93 Corvette. My son hung out with me, I talked to people about cars, and overall it was just a good day in the park.

Tons of stunners at the 2017 AACA Wilson County Fair Car Show

When you go to the fair you expect to see a lot of things. Giant watermelons. Big, fuzzy chickens. Shaky carnival rides. Mullets. What you might not expect to see is one of the best car shows of the year. But that’s exactly what you got at the Wilson County Fair during the AACA Car Show that took place last Sunday. I rarely go to an event that has this kind of quality. It’s like the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction got dumped out in a field or something. There are so many top-notch restorations, so many desirable cars, and so many knowledgeable people that it’s an unusual situation indeed that you can get them all together in one place.

2016 First Baptist Church of Nashville Car Show got people to go to church on Sunday

You shouldn’t need a reason to go to church on Sundays, but the First Baptist Church of Nashville offered a compelling incentive anyway. Beneath the downtown skyscrapers and surrounded by Bridgestone Arena, the 196-year-old house of worship hosted a nice little car show after this week’s services. And although it wasn’t the biggest event I’ve ever been to, every car on display was nice. Quality beats quantity every time, and when you put a group of cars like this in a cool downtown setting, it is definitely something worth checking out.

Streetside Classics in La Vergne is where the cars are coming from

If you’ve been following this blog for any time at all, you know there are a lot of car shows out there. But where do people get all those cars? Certainly, some people inherit them, build them, find them in barns. But not everyone wants to go through all the hassle. For them, places like Streetside Classic Cars exist. You can drive right up to La Vergne, Tenn., walk into an air-conditioned showroom, and take your pick from hundreds of detailed, show-ready classics. The thing that got me about this place was how nice most of the vehicles actually were. Whoever they’ve got out there buying these things must know what they’re doing. Of course, I went there and poked around the other day. Let’s check out some of the standouts.

Rev'n Rods & Heartland Music Tour comes in hot to Southaven

My work schedule requires that I stay a few days a week in Southaven, Miss. As luck would have it, the Rev’n Rods and Heartland Music Tour made a stop at the Landers Center, just a few miles from my hotel. This was a touring series that made stops in six different cities. It actually was a pretty big event, with a fancy stage, a food tent for participants, and several big-name vendor displays like GM Performance Parts and Meguiar's. After the car show, everyone had a chance to go to a Restless Heart concert. The car show attendance was OK, not huge, but about as good as you can expect from a Monday afternoon car show on a 100-degree day.

Cars enhance the beauty at the Fontanel

With lush, green trees, rolling hills, and a burbling creek, the Fontanel in Whites Creek is one of the prettiest places in the Nashville area. It’s even better on Thursdays, because they hold their weekly Concert Car Cruise out on the lawn. The weather was a little cool and overcast last week, so the cruise only drew in about 20 cars. That’s an anomaly though, because usually they bring in 100 cars or more. Nevertheless, it was a nice night to eat at the Italian restaurant, enjoy the beautiful scenery, and check out the cars that were there.

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.