2017 Horsepower by the River 6 brought all the cars to Carthage

When you hit November, big car shows are hard to find. But obviously, Shawn Cook and the rest of the organizers of the Horsepower by the River Car Show didn’t get the memo. The 6th installment of this event brought nearly 300 cars to the Smith County Agricultural Center in Carthage, Tenn., and everyone enjoyed the nice weather, the model car show, and the swap meet. The only real complaint was that the lot was infested with bees. I guess they didn’t know it was fall either. There were several impressive choices, so it was tough to decide what to write about. But don’t worry—I’ve come up with a few.

Convertible Dealer Promo models. Drop top fun no matter the weather

As I’m sitting here typing this, temperatures have dipped below zero here in Kansas City.  We are definitely not experiencing convertible weather.  But that doesn’t mean that we can’t check out some cool convertibles.  Back in the day, Dealer Promotional Models (often referred to as “Promos”) were 1/25th-scale replicas that depicted the colors and body styles that were available on new car showrooms.  They were often given or sold to prospective new car buyers or their kids, and they made a tangible reminder of just how stylish a new car could be.  So on this cold wintery day, I decided to focus on convertibles.  Many of these cars have belonged to my dad since they were new, while we picked up others along the way.  But we both enjoyed digging them out to present to you.

Tables of talent at the Heartland Model Car Nationals in Overland Park

Model cars are great, aren't they?  You can build or own anything you want, and it really doesn't matter how weird or crazy it is.  Nobody wants a '57 Chevy Bel Air with a six-cylinder in it, but put one in a model and it's kinda neat.  Likewise, most people don't have a stock-appearing V8 Chevette, but in a model, why the heck not?

For skilled model builders, the only thing that limits what gets produced is their imagination, and honestly, there aren't many restrictions on that.  So it can be a real treat to go where some of the best modelers in the Midwest have gathered to check out the Heartland Model Car Nationals.  As in most years, this was held at the Overland Park Convention Center, and there were lots of great models to see, critique, and even buy if you are so inclined.

Introducing the Thursday Drive-By

I am not even close to being a technophile, but I run into great car stories and pictures on the Internet all the time. Between the various blogs I follow, to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, there is enough material out there to waste hours that I should be doing something else.

I thought it might be fun to do a weekly column called the “Thursday Drive-By” where I pick maybe five stories that I hope you’ll like from various online sources, then providing the link for you to check them out yourselves. Of course, then I discovered that it takes longer to put all of this together than I was expecting. There’s just so much good stuff out there to choose from! Anyway, I’ll give it a try this week, and if you guys like the idea, maybe we’ll make it a regular, or at least semi-regular feature in the future. Check these out and see what you think!

2011 Everything on Wheels car show was the biggest indoor car show in Kansas City all weekend

The Everything on Wheels indoor car show at the Metropolitan Community College Event Center was definitely different. It was billed as "Kansas City's Premiere Indoor Car, Truck, and Motorcycle Show," and I'd say compared to all the other indoor car shows in Kansas City this past weekend, they were spot-on.

OK, so the people that promote the World of Wheels in February don't have anything to worry about. There were, oh, 100 cars on display. Many of them were from the school of gargantic, shiny wheels or the lowrider world. There were also several late-model cars and trucks with modifications purchased in the bling aisle of the local Auto Zone.

The 12th Annual Midwest All Truck Nationals brought trucks and truck fans from all over America to the Riverside Red-X

They say that one of the dangers of owning a pickup truck is that all your family and friends will ask you to use it to haul things for them. If that's the case, Riverside was the location of the most popular people in town, because the 12th Annual Midwest All-Truck Nationals was wall-to-wall trucks.

For the past few years, this event was held at the E.H. Young Riverfront Park, but that location is still suffering from the ill effects of too much water and not enough riverbed. So the festivities were moved to the grassy lot out behind the eclectic Red-X general store. I haven't been to this exact location since the old Riverside Stadium dirt track resided on this spot.

Corvette dealer promo models showcase America's Sports Car in 1/25th scale

Kids who love cars tend to gravitate toward car-related toys. Then, when they grow up, they often buy real cars. But sometimes, they still have a place in their hearts for the miniature cars they played with when they were kids, and a new form of automobile collecting strives.

Some of the most collectable, and often the most valuable, scale vehicles out there are dealer promotional models. For the purposes of this article, these will be limited to the plastic, 1/25th-scale cars that were originally sold or given away at new car dealerships.

Heartland Model Car Nationals. I won't be entering any time soon.

Every once in awhile, I like to work on a model car. And when I'm done, I usually think they look OK. But then I go to something like the Heartland Model Car Nationals, and I realize that my modeling talents have a long way to go.

Hosted by the KC Slammers modeling club, 2011 marks the 20th year for this model show and swap meet. The most talented model builders from the area, as well as some of the more prominent model car dealers from the Midwest, packed the Overland Park Convention Center for some small scale fun.

Chevrolet and the Indy 500 both turn 100, and the Chevy Camaro is once again the pace car

The Indianapolis 500 is held over Memorial Day weekend, so I figured it was time to do a little Indy 500 pace car trivia. 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 ten 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.

Pace car promos lead the way in 1/25th-scale racing collectables. Includes photos of rare and unusual models

Since the Daytona 500 is this weekend, and I'm feeling kind of racy, it seemed like a good time to take a look at some pace car promotional models. Plus, I Photoshopped all these picture montages, and they were sort of going to waste on the tiny format, popup-riddled Examiner page, so let's revisit them here.

If you're a scale model collector, pace car models may be a good place to direct your attention. Pace cars are interesting in-and-of themselves. They also fit in if you collect racecars or other racing memorabilia. And in the case of the examples shown here, they can be right at home in a promotional model collection.

Remember your old cars with a scale model

Like most people, I sometimes miss the cars I sell. Usually, I get rid of them for a good reason—like the new one is better—but still, I get attached to them.

Of course, unless you have unlimited funds, you can’t keep ‘em all. And since that is the case, maybe the next best thing is to pick up a diecast or build a model of your long lost prized possessions.

I got in the habit of building a model of whatever car I own years ago. Truth be told, my models aren’t show winners or anything, but they mean something to me. I still find myself studying my old models and thinking about what it was like to drive that car, or I think about the fun places I went in that car. I’m pretty sentimental anyway, so it doesn’t take much to send me into dreamland.

Model kits from the 1950s and '60s. Who builds these things, anyway?

Whenever I go to the hobby store, or to the craft place with my wife, or anywhere they sell 1/25th-scale plastic model kits, I always wonder if anyone ever actually builds them anymore. Real life people that I talk to about them say things like, "I used to build them as a kid. I think my mom threw them out a long time ago." Most of the kids I see now seem to be more into electronic games and test messaging than something that takes the patience of model building. Who is supporting this hobby?

And yet, there is a bigger selection of models than ever before, and some of these kits are more detailed than the older versions ever dreamed of being. There are aftermarket parts and custom spray paint colors, tools and materials that can make a model kit look like a real car.

Car & truck toys of the '50s and '60s may have been from a simpler time, but they're not that simple

Back in the 1950s and '60s, there might not have been Wii's and Nintendos to occupy kids time, and cars and trucks didn't have lights or computerized voices, but that didn't mean there weren't some pretty killer interactive toys back then.

Many of the toy cars of the late '50s focused on repair. Certainly, real cars and trucks weren't as reliable as they are today. It wasn't uncommon for the patched tube in a bald retread to give up the ghost, forcing a roadside delay. Overheating was another common problem, so kids were used to seeing mom or dad dumping a little water in the radiator.

'60 in scale. Dealer promo model cars from 1960. Can't buy the real car? Try a promotional model.

1960. Charlton Heston won an Academy Award for Ben Hur. The Flintstones first appeared on TV. And Elvis Presley returns from Germany after a two-year stint in the Army.

In the automotive world, designs were starting to get a little cleaner, a little more understated than the last couple of years. They're still big, chrome-encrusted, and glamorous, but you can see the impetus of the subdued '60s starting to take hold. Think about a '60 Cadillac. It's still very big. It still has big fins and a heavy chrome grill. But compared to a '59 Cadillac, it's a pretty sterile design.

If you like the transitional style of 1960, but can't afford a huge warehouse full of cars, there's a way to collect the year's greatest hits in the palm of your hand.

Vintage 1/24th-scale Monogram stock car model kits are fun collectables for NASCAR fans

It seems like NASCAR diecast models are everywhere today. You can get a nicely finished version of pretty much every car out there, and usually every special paint scheme. There are so many different diecasts are available, it would be virtually impossible to collect them all.

It wasn’t always that way, though. In the 1980s, if you wanted a scale model of your favorite driver, you pretty much had to build it yourself. And the most popular; and arguably best 1/24th-scale plastic model kits were made by Monogram Models.

Monogram had been building kits since the early 1950s, but the stock car business really took off with the introduction of a new NASCAR line in 1983. At the time, these kits were state-of-the art. They had features and details never before seen in race car kits. Even the construction of the chassis and the way it mated up to the body was similar to the way a real racecar was built.

Dealer promo models - the early years. 1947 - 1953. The beginning of plastic promotional cars

1949 Oldsmobile Promo

If you have a promotional model car collection, the first question most people are going to ask you when they first see them is: “did you build all those?”

Dealer promos are among the most valuable, most sought-after scale model cars ever made. And yet, the average person has no idea what they are. Today, we’ll try to explain how promos fit into the scale model puzzle, and we’ll take a look at some early examples in the slideshow below.

Promo models were cast in pot metal for many years before our story starts. They were usually coin banks. These high-quality, durable miniatures were sold as far back as the 1920s or ‘30s, and nice originals tend to bring good money today.

Topps World on Wheels collector cards - for kids that weren't into baseball

Collecting baseball cards is a favorite American hobby, but as we’ve determined here before, some people are too into cars to have time for other sports.

For those people, I would like to introduce the Topps World on Wheels collector card series. Produced between 1953 and 1955, these vintage bubblegum cards are popular among card collectors and car lovers alike.

180 different cards were produced for this series, but the last 20 are the most collectable. It is possible that the series was supposed to stop at the 160 mark, but they proved to be so popular that a limited run of new cards were produced.

50-year-old customized '40 Ford model kit survives in spite of the temptation to play with it

When I was a kid, my dad’s childhood bedroom was still in my grandparent’s house. There was a big glass case in there that held several model cars that my dad built back in the early 1960s.

One of the models that always stood out to me was this’40 Ford Sedan “Kustom”. I mean, it was purple, and it had eyeballs. Plus it was sealed behind glass, so it was completely unattainable, and my dad sort of freaked out if I got near the glass. It was the forbidden fruit of model cars.

I got the last laugh, though, because through the course of everyone moving and moving out, packing, boxing, and unpacking things along the way, the model has taken residence in my house for more than a decade now. And I can play with it anytime I want to, thank you very much.

The only bad part is, it’s too cool to play with.