3rd-Annual Pink Christmas Car Show at Rivergate Mall brings good cars together for a great cause

I like pretty much any car show, but they’re even better when they support a good cause. Such was the case with the 3rd-Annual Pink Christmas Car Show, which was held last Saturday at the Rivergate Mall in Goodlettsville. This event supports breast cancer patients and survivors.  There was a nice group of cars gleaming under bright sunshine, live music, food vendors, swap meet booths, and more. You could tell that the show organizers really put some thought into this one. I was on my way up to Kentucky for the Somernites Cruise, but I couldn’t resist stopping at the mall on my way out to see all the nice cars the locals had to offer.

Never-ending fun at the Hot Rods on Beale Street Cruise

Former president Jimmy Carter was spotted on Tuesday night checking out all the great rides at Hot Rods on Beale Street. That’s the power of staging a car cruise on one of the most iconic streets in America--you never know who might show up. And why wouldn’t they? This is one of the most exciting, highly charged car events I’ve ever been to. It’s more like a big street party. Sure, the cars are great, but it’s the food, the music, and the people that make this one special. That doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore the cars, though. As usual, I snapped and bunch of pictures and have a few opinions on several of my favorites.

2015 Nashville International Auto Show

November means auto show season in Nashville, so we headed out to the Music City Center last weekend for the 2015 Nashville International Auto Show. This is one of the smallest new car shows I think I’ve ever been to. It also boggles my mind that Elvis’ Solid Gold Cadillac is on display just down the street from here at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and there was not one trace of Cadillac at this show. There were also quite a few more cars than I have pictured, but I made the determination that they were not interesting enough to feature. If you want to see Hyundais and Hondas and stuff like that, you’ll have to hit this show yourself next year. If you like sports cars and American pickups, you’re in the right place.

Fun stuff from the Mt. Juliet Chick-fil-A Cruise

Mt. Juliet is the place to be every Saturday night, because the Providence Chick-fil-A hosts a weekly car cruise. It’s an interesting venue, because they get tons of participants, but it’s in one of the busiest areas in town. ’57 Chevys share space with ’95 Tauruses. Car lovers dodge Dodge Caravans trying to bomb their ways through the drive-thru. The D.J. competes with the traffic. If you’re looking for a relaxing, casual cruise, this isn’t it. But if you like looking at a diverse and interesting selection of hot rods, classics, and muscle cars, this is definitely where you want to go.

Return to the Hendersonville Cruise

Check this out. I’ve been a Nashvillian long enough now that I’m actually starting to hit some of the car stuff for the second time. Friday night, it was a repeat visit to the Hendersonville Cruise, where I got to see a bunch of different cars that I hadn’t seen before. This is a pretty big event, and organizers try hard to make this a fun, family get-together. Door prizes and kids dancing to the Hokey Pokey are all pretty nice perks, but as you know, I’m there for the cars. Let’s take a look at some of the standouts.

Fontanel Cruise packs a bunch of cars in at Barbara Mandrell's old place

The big car event in Nashville last Thursday night was the weekly cruise at the Fontanel Mansion. Like most of these places, I had never been there before, and didn’t really know what to expect. What I found was one of the coolest places to have a car event I’ve been to in a long time. The Fontanel was originally Barbara Mandrel’s 27,000 square-foot log home, but now it’s used for private events. There are zip lines, restaurants, an amphitheatre, the world’s only Goo Goo Clusters store, and much more. And everything is surrounded by rolling hills, lush grass, and green trees. It’s really pretty out there.

Very nice cars at Cars and Coffee

Cool Springs is a very nice suburb south of Nashville.  And to go along with the very niceness of the area, the cars are very nice as well.  Every Saturday morning, a group of very nice people get together with their very nice cars for their Cars and Coffee event behind the Carmike Theatre.  Last Saturday, the only fly in the ointment was me, snapping away with my little camera.  And so, here are a few of the cars and trucks that stood out to me.  I hope you have a very nice time reading about them.

What's new at the KC Classic Auto Display in Lenexa?

As much as I have been enjoying working on all these new car reviews lately, I still need to look at old cars once in a while.  But since it just snowed here in Kansas City, it’s not likely that we’ll be going to any car shows any time soon.  Luckily, there are places like the KC Auto Display in Lenexa where you can go check out old cars no matter the weather.  So that’s just what we did recently.  Most of these cars are for sale; some of them are just being stored.  But there are some really interesting things hiding in this industrial, warehouse-style building.

The "last" Camaro. A look back at the 2001-2002 Camaro SS

A decade ago, most people thought the Camaro was gone forever. There was no replacement in the works after the 2002 model year. There were disputes between General Motors and the St. Therese, Quebec assembly plant involving, among other things, the use of the Camaro name itself. It was a bleak time for fans of Chevrolet’s entry in the Pony Car wars.

And yet, if a person was looking for affordable performance, the Camaro was an unbeatable deal.

2014 Camaro SS convertible test drive review. Pure evil

Off in the distance, the vile shrill of a banshee pierced the silence.  Then I saw them, the white halos, cutting through the darkness like lasers.  But these were not the halos of angels.  Before my eyes could even focus, there was a flash of blood red, as evil as the devil himself.  And then it was gone.  My heart raced as I contemplated what I had just seen.  Was this the apocalypse—a lost soul escaping from hell to exact its revenge on all humankind?  No, but it was close.  This was the 2014 Camaro SS convertible.  This is a car so powerful, so unruly, that Satan would use it to pick up his date.  Wicked and wonderful, the new Camaro SS is temptation on wheels.

KCI Airport Cruise: nice cars, nice prizes, nice weather

As summer comes to an end, we start getting more “must attend” car events to wind up the season.  One of those is the KCI Airport Cruise, which took place last Saturday night at the Ambassador Building near the airport.  As usual, there were tons of cars and tons of great door prizes.  Add the beautiful weather, and you’ve got the recipe for a huge event.  The Hovers did their part, as my dad brought out his old Corvette and parked it right next to my truck in the crowded parking lot.

Mid West Camarofest celebrates its 25th anniversary in Riverside

If you have an event that hangs on for 25 years, you know you’re on to something.  Last Saturday, the Camaro Club of Kansas City not only celebrated the 25th anniversary of their Mid West Camarofest show, but they had a record number of entries.  The E.H. Young Riverfront Park in Riverside, Mo., was full of Chevy’s high-performance four-seaters.  Let’s take a look at a few of the standouts from this hot but happy show.

Camaro history for the birthday girl

When my family goes to car shows, my wife’s favorite cars are ’67-’69 Camaros.  She is also starting to take a liking to the late ‘70s Z-28s, and she thinks a new Camaro might be fun to have too.  To summarize: my wife likes Camaros.  And today happens to be her birthday.  I’d love to buy her a Camaro as a gift, but I can’t afford that.  I can, however, provide a brief history of the Camaro in her honor.  For Maria, let’s take a look back at Chevrolet’s popular Ponycar.

Beautiful Sunday at the JDRF Advance Auto Parts Car Show in Shawnee

It seems like there aren’t as many organized car shows on Sundays, but there was a look one last weekend at the new Advance Auto Parts store in western Shawnee.  This was a benefit for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and they did their cause proud with a parking lot that was overflowing with shiny machines.  It was a great opportunity to get out and enjoy the perfect weather, check out some great cars, and maybe even pick up a case of oil or a pine tree air freshener.

Quite the variety at the Sam's Club Car Show in KCK

Last weekend while I was taking pictures at the Tonganoxie Days Car Show, someone handed me a flyer for the “first annual” Sam’s Club Car Show, which took place at the Sam’s Club in Kansas City, Kan.  I thought that sounded interesting, so this weekend I grabbed the camera and headed out to The Legends.  It was a pretty hot and muggy day, but they still got a nice turnout for their first-ever event.

Midwest Camaro-Fest draws more Camaros than the rest

I’ve always been a big Camaro fan. I’ve owned several of them over the years, and I miss every one of them after they’re gone. So how is a closet Camaro lover supposed to get his Camaro fix when he doesn’t have one in the driveway?

Well, around here, you can get your fill of Camaros at the annual Midwest Camaro-Fest, which is hosted by the Camaro Club of Kansas City. This is the premiere show in the area for Chevy’s popular Pony Car, and was held this year in the history downtown square of Independence, Mo. I’ve been going to this event for at least the last 11-12 years, and even entered a car or two along the way, so I can tell you firsthand that this club works hard to make this show the big success that it is.

Corvette ZR1 is the most powerful production car ever to pace the Indy 500. A look back at Chevy Indy pace car history

The Indianapolis 500 is this weekend, and since a Corvette ZR1 was chosen as the official pace car this year, we're taking a look back at Chevrolet Indy pace car history. Of course, Indy is the oldest running race in the U.S., and among the most respected in the world. More than any other, Chevrolet has been the car chosen to pace this historic event, including the past eleven years consecutively. And even before that, brothers Louis and Arthur Chevrolet, competed in the very first Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 1911.

It may seem like the first Chevy Indy pace car was the 1967 Camaro, because that’s the one you seem to hear about the most. But actually, bowties took the helm twice before that. Way back in 1948, a Chevy Stylemaster convertible was used as the Indy pace car. This stately Stovebolt was appropriately decorated with colorful pace car graphics that encased the entire side of the car. Then in 1955, the first year of the popular small-block Chevy V8, a red and white Bel Air convertible led the field.

2012 Chicago Auto Show, and a Blues Brothers update

Chicago, Illinois. A bit of our automotive history died this week near the windy city, while the world got a glimpse of our automotive future.

The biggest story, of course, is that demolition has finally begun on the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, near Chicago. Even if you don’t recognize the name, you probably know this mall because one of the most memorable car chases in movie history was filmed on location there. Who can forget that crusty ’74 Dodge Monaco barreling through the Toys ‘R Us and leveling kiosks in the 1980 hit The Blues Brothers?

The Woodward Dream Cruise brought out the biggest and best of the collector car world

We have lots of car shows and cruises here in the Kansas City area, and some of them are pretty darn good. But none of them quite measure up to the granddaddy of them all—the Woodward Dream Cruise, which was held last weekend in Detroit, Mich. Organizers claim the event draws in some 40,000 classic cars, and 1.5-million people from all over the United States, and all over the world.

For such a monstrous event, it had pretty basic beginnings. It was started in 1995 as a soccer field fundraiser. But Woodward Avenue is in the epicenter of the American automobile, and 250,000 people showed up that first year alone. The lightning was out of the bottle, and the cruise has been going strong ever since.

2011 Midwest Camaro Fest defies the odds

Originally, it was supposed to take place in the tree-lined E.H. Young Riverfront Park. But then the park flooded. Then, it was moved to the Red X store parking lot in Riverside. But there were thunderstorms. Big thunderstorms. Two nights in-a-row. Water stood in the parking lot. The power was out in the Red X. Lunch was not served.

No doubt about it, the Midwest Camaro Fest was snake bit. But it was far from dead.