2013 Basehor-Linwood Project Grad Car Show: Better late than ever

Organizers at the Basehor-Linwood High School Project grad Car Show had a big decision to make.  Keep the original Saturday date, or listen to the rain-soaked weather forecast and move it to Sunday up against the Chiefs Game.  They chose the latter option.  And even though the turnout was a bit lighter than in years’ past, it was still a nice bunch of cars.  Saturday indeed ended up being a washout, and Sunday was one of the most beautiful days of the year.  They clearly made the right decision.

15th Annual Basehor-Linwood High School Project Grad Car Show packed 'em in again

I don’t know how they do it, but this Basehor-Linwood High School Project Grad Car Show packs ‘em in every year.  This was the 15^th edition of this event, and although the car count may have been a little bit down from last year, there was still plenty to look at.

As you can see from the pictures, this is quite a diverse car show.  You might get an interesting car that belongs to one of the high school kids, and it’ll be parked next to a high-dollar muscle car.  Over here you had a car that was built by George Barris in the early ‘50s, and over there was a Yugo (I kid you not).

Several nice cars hiding in the darkness at the Basehor Boys Friday Night Sonic Car Cruise

One thing that I think everyone could agree about during the final Basehor Boys Friday night cruise of the season was that it was dark. Oh, there were cars there, but if you showed up after 6:30 like I did, you couldn't see them.  Curse you, Daylight Savings Time!

Of course, that didn't stop me from taking some pictures. I literally lined up the shot where I thought the car would be, hit the button, and "discovered" the car when the flash went off. Most of the time I didn't even know what color the car was before that point.

Perfect weather draws another huge turnout to the 2011 Basehor-Linwood Project Grad Car Show

When you think of big car shows around Kansas City, events like the World of Wheels, Goodguys, or Ol' Marais may be what come to mind. A small-town high school fundraiser usually isn't where you'd expect to see several hundred nice cars. Which is why the Basehor-Linwood High School Project Grad Car Show is such a surprise.

It certainly didn't hurt that the 2011 event was blessed with breathtakingly perfect weather. I don't know the official car count, but I'd guess it was north of 400. That's like 1,600 tires on the ground, and close to 2,000 if you count the spares.

Everyone happy at the Basehor Boys Park in the Park car show except Mother Nature

Mother Nature can be a cranky old broad when she wants to be. Obviously she woke up on the wrong side of the bed when the Basehor Boys car club decided to plan their big Ice Breaker Park in the Park show on Saturday.

Billed as, "similar to Ottawa cruise," The Basehor Boys were setting their sights pretty high when they modeled their event after the southern extravaganza. And they had a lot of the correct ingredients. The Basehor City Park is a very nice, tranquil setting. The Boy Scouts were busily cookin' up some vittles. And they had music scheduled by the local bluegrass band "The Fairmounters".

Is 'gargantic' a word? Because that's how big the 2010 Basehor-Linwood Project Grad Car Show was

Last year, Basehor, Kan., was one of the coldest, most miserable places that anyone would ever want to be. And yet, the number of entries at the Basehor-Linwood High School Car Show was very large. It was easily one of the better attended car shows of the entire year.

But that great turnout didn't really prepare anyone for what would happen if it had been one of the four absolutely perfect days that seem to occur in Kansas City every fall. But as it happens, one of them fell on Saturday, and this car show exploded.