Happy times at Happy Days Dream Cars

Some of the best places to go look at old cars in the Kansas City area during the winter are at the dealerships that specialize in them.  This week, my dad and I went down to Warrensburg, Mo., and checked out the inventory at Happy Days Dream Cars.  The selection was a little light because they recently sold several of their cars at the Mecum collector car auction in Kansas City, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t several interesting things to look at.  Let’s check out a few of the cars that could be yours come car show season.

Hendrick Chevrolet was crammed with Corvettes

The weather this weekend left something to be desired, but there were still some car gatherings around if you knew where to look.  Take the KCCA Corvette Show at Hendrick Chevrolet in Merriam.  Yes, it was a little cool.  Yes, it was overcast and damp.  But that didn’t stop dozens of Corvette owners from attending this benefit for Camp Quality.

Cool dusty classics hidden in a warehouse at Koury Investments

The Kansas City area is full of cool secret car stuff, if you know where to look.  This week I had the opportunity to visit one of those hidden gems, when we made a stop at Rich’s Classic Cars in Grain Valley, Mo.  When you look at this place on the outside, you’d never guess you’d find all the great cars inside.

Owner Rich Koury has been buying and selling cars for 40 years, and when you visit with him, you realize that he really enjoys the hobby.  As we toured his inventory, he was ready with a story on each and every car.  He’d tell you how long the guy owned it before him, where it came from, and sometimes even the dealership at which it was originally sold.

Not much, but not bad at Wagner's Classic Car Sales

If you read the big car magazines or watch the Speed Channel, you are probably familiar with the otherworldly classic and muscle cars bringing the six-figure money. And maybe you said to yourself, “Sheesh, I’d like to see those kinds of cars in person.”

It turns out there is a place in Bonner Springs, Kan., that specializes in those very types of cars. On any given day, Wagner’s Classic Cars will have a fresh supply of Hemi Cudas, 409 Chevys, and magazine-worthy customs.

Dreaming of the good life at Drivin' Dreams

Taking a drive through southern Missouri can be an enjoyable opportunity for car aficionados. Once you get away from the big cities, the houses might be few-and-far between. But when you do see one, there are often lots of interesting old vehicles parked around the property.

As someone who lives in a typical landlocked sub-division that is tightly controlled by a homeowner’s association, I’m actually a little envious of people that can spread whatever junk they want all over their property. I’d love to have a lot full of beater cars that I could putz around with.

Can't pick a favorite at the KCCA Corvette Show at Superior Chevrolet

All together now: Craig’s favorite vehicle is the … Chevrolet Corvette. Yes, I do love them. Small, two-seat Chevy sports cars stuffed with some of the most powerful V8 engines on the planet—what’s not to like. If I had won that record Power Ball a few weeks ago, I’d own five or ten of them right now.

But I didn’t win, so I don’t own any. That’s why I have to get my fix of Corvettes from other places. And in the Kansas City area, there was no better place to feed that need than Superior Chevrolet, where they hosted the annual Kansas City Corvette Association (KCCA) show. And as usual, a fine field of fancy fiberglass graced the main lot.

Wagner's Classic Auto Sales is the place for shiny things in Bonner Springs.

If you’ve got some time to kill and want to go see a few really nice old cars, you could do a lot worse than checking out Wagner’s Classic Car Sales in Bonner Springs. I like make it a regular stop, because the cars are always changing.

When you’re looking at my pictures, you may notice a disproportionately large number of them devoted to one ’59 Impala. Clearly, I was smitten with the small-block/Turbo Glide/factory air machine. Some of that had to do with the colors—sparkling Cameo Coral Metallic and Snowcrest White over a stunning Inca Silver interior.

Life in the fast lane - A look inside Fast Lane Classic Cars in St. Charles

If you are watching the Barrett-Jackson auction coverage from Scottsdale on the SPEED channel this week, you may notice a few commercials for Fast Lane Classic Cars in St. Charles, Mo. And seeing as they’re right down the road apiece from Kansas City, now seems like a good time to find out what that place is all about.

Fast Lane is a pretty big place, with two indoor showrooms, an outdoor used car lot, and a comprehensive gift shop. There’s a large variety to cars to look at, but the majority of them are your mainstream Mustang, Corvette, ’57 Chevy fare. That’s for good reason, because this is a dealership, and there will always be customers for the classics.

Cool photos of a 1963 Corvette dealership display during Grotewold Chevrolet grand opening celebration

Today, I have some interesting pictures from the 1963 grand opening of Grotewold Chevrolet in LeMars, Iowa.

The pictures themselves have an interesting history, as they were among a stack that was to be thrown out when the Chevrolet Zone Office closed in 1986. My dad was a district manager there, and grabbed a big handful of pictures for me because he thought I’d think they were neat. Most of them were of dealerships that the district managers took to put in the file. I’ve featured some of them before on my Examiner page, and I really do think they’re fun to look at.

Welcome to Hover Motor Company. Let's sit down, light a cigar, and talk some cars.

Hover Motor Company. What is that anyway?

Back in the 1930s, my granddad, Robert Hover, opened his first Hover Motor Company used car lot in Colorado Springs. He was in business through the 1970s, until he finally gave up to enjoy the sedentary life. And that's where I came in.

Our family used to visit my grandparents in Colorado pretty often when I was a kid, and the dominant conversation was stories my dad and granddad would tell about things that happened involving the car lots.

I vividly remember one story in particular about what kind of damage certain animals will do to a car when you hit them.

You see, the car lot was mostly run granddad, dad, maybe some of dad's friends, or a small cast of characters that worked for peanuts. They would go all over the middle of the country and buy cars they thought they could make a little money on. So they'd ride the bus, take the train, or drive out and find something, and either drive it back home or flat-tow it. They did this quite a bit, and spent a lot of time driving at night. So they had the opportunity to clobber their fair share of creatures.