33rd-Annual Oktoberfest Classic Car Show at Wilson Bank & Trust ends the Mid-Tenn AACA 2021 car show season

The Mid-Tenn Region AACA finished off the 2021 car show season with the 33rd-Annual Wilson Bank & Trust Oktoberfest Antique Car Show on the Wilson Bank main campus. This is always one of the biggest car shows of the year in the Nashville area, and the car count and quality didn’t disappoint. With 553 vehicles entered, it was the largest turnout in the history of this show. Perfect weather and strong participation meant that there was something for everybody at this long-running event.

Double coverage of the Mt. Juliet Providence Cruise-In

Every Saturday night throughout the summer, the car nuts gather in the parking lot outside the American Jewelry store in the Providence shopping center, Mt. Juliet, Tenn. My family is temporarily living in Mt. Juliet during a move, so it’s easy for me to run over and snap pictures at this one. For this story, the photo album actually contains photos from two different weeks, July 29 and August 12. That means double the pictures for you to look at all in the same album! It’s hard to tell the difference, though, because they were all taken at the same time of day, and always on a hot, clear night. Let’s take a look at a few of the standouts.

5th-Annual 2016 Goodguys Nostalgia Nationals brings history and hot rods to Bowling Green

Goodguys Rod and Custom shows are usually flashy, highly polished events held at beautiful, state-of-the-art facilities. The Nostalgia Nationals held at Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky., is different. Beech Bend has more character than any of these new places. An amusement park was built here in the 1940s, and still operates today. The drag strip and circle track were added in the ‘50s. The drag strip in particular is like going back in time. At this event, they were running vintage slingshot dragsters, gassers, and even nitro floppers. You sit in ancient, well-worn grandstands. You can just feel the history here. And speaking of history, let’s take a look at some of the historic vehicles that packed the show field.

2015 Gallatin Square Fest Car Show

The annual Gallatin Square Fest is a fun event for the whole family. All around the historic downtown square you’ll find food trucks, craft booths, and live musical acts. There’s going to be something there for everyone. Of course, in my case, that something was the Gallatin Square Fest Car Show, which draws in a nice assortment of old iron to a parking lot adjacent to the actual festival. This year, the weather forecast was a little ominous, which no doubt kept a few participants home. But in reality, the rain stayed away, and it was a perfectly nice day for this popular gathering.

Cruizin' Hendersonville is a success right out of the gate

Car cruise season is officially underway in Nashville, so I decided to start out my coverage at the brand-new Cruzin’ Hendersonville event near the Hendersonville police station. I was actually surprised at how strong the turnout was, especially for a first-time gathering. This thing was well promoted and organized, with a DJ, door prizes, and other perks. The only thing I didn’t like was the position of the sun, because it sort of screwed up the quality of my pictures. But if you can bear the glare, let’s take a look at some of the notable participants.

Vintage hood ornament extravaganza

When I’m out taking all these car show pictures, there are some design elements that I almost always have to stop and shoot.  Hood ornaments seem to be one of them.  I love thinking that some designer said, “you know how we can make this look better?  Put a twenty pound, chrome-plated, flying naked woman on the end of the hood.”  That is just awesomeness right there.  And you can be sure that nothing like that is going to turn up on any new cars anytime soon.  With that in mind, I thought we’d take some time today and check out a few notable hood ornaments from the good old days.

Keeping the flame lit at the Fritz's Cruise in Shawnee

The opportunities to attend a cruise night in Kansas City are just about over, but Dick and Judy Rule are doing their best to extend the season as long as possible.  They organize these gatherings at restaurants all over Johnson County, and usually work in some kind of food discount to participants.  Last Sunday, the action took place at Fritz’s hamburger joint in Shawnee.  So while the cars were gleaming in the late-day sun outside, folks were getting their food delivered with a model railroad train within.  Now that’s an unbeatable combination.

41st-Annual AACA Car Show is rich with history

One of my favorite car shows happens each year about this time in Lawrence, Kan.  Yes, I like hot rods, customs, muscle cars, Corvettes, and so on.  But the Lawrence Chapter of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) is something different.  This is where you find older, mostly original cars.  You aren’t going to see people doing burnouts when they leave the parking lot of this one.  And with this crowd, no one has to remind them not to.  This caters to a more mature clientele.  These are the guys that have been in the old car hobby longer than the rest of us, and know how to take care of an old car better than most of us.

Dad nails the Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Cadillac Car Show in Colorado

I have made fun of my dad’s photography skills for most of my life.  He hardly ever took a car picture that didn’t have half the car cut off.  I just never thought he was any good at it.  But last weekend, dad went to the Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Cadillac Car Show in Colorado.  He was willing to take a camera along, but honestly, I didn’t expect much.  I was dead wrong, though.  I have to give him credit; he took some great pictures.  Turns out the ‘ol man can find his way around a camera after all!

Pontiac Trubute Day brought pretty Ponchos and GMCs to Westfall

It couldn’t have been a more perfect day for the Fourth-Annual Pontiac Tribute Day at the Westfall GMC Truck Center on Saturday afternoon.  There was plenty of sunshine, it wasn’t too hot, and the parking lot was full of fine Pontiacs and GMC trucks.  In all, I’d say it was a pretty successful event for the KC Arrowheads Pontiac Club.

On the anniversary of John DeLorean's death, we look at his most infamous car

Today is the anniversary of the death one of the most famous, and one of the most infamous characters in automotive history. On March 19, 2005, John Z. DeLorean died in a New Jersey hospital from a stroke at the age of 80.

DeLorean had an incredible career in the auto industry. As the chief engineer of Pontiac, DeLorean gets the nod as the father of the GTO in 1964. Then he was promoted to the head of Pontiac, and cars like the Firebird and the Grand Prix were born during this time.

Taking inventory of Hover Motor Company, 1942

Today I thought I’d take some time to talk about something that every visitor to this site has seen, but most of them probably haven’t thought much about.

During World War II, new cars were hard to get. In fact, toward the end of 1942, U.S. automakers quit building new cars for the general public, and converted their factories primarily to the production of war materiel. Basically no civilian cars were built between 1943 and 1945. That is a long dry spell.

So long, Pontiac. You will be missed. Great commercials from a great brand.

When we woke up this morning, the automotive world was forever changed. Pontiac, General Motors’ “Excitement” division, officially went out of business at midnight. All dealer contracts expired, and the brand that brought us the Firebird, the Super Duty, and the GTO, is no more.

For students of automotive history, this is truly a sad day. Who can forget all the great cars that Pontiac produced over the years? Was there ever a better looking car than the ’61 Ventura? Was there ever a better turned-out personal luxury car than the ’64 Grand Prix? Would the Bandit have been the Bandit without his Trans Am?

Pontiac lasted for 84 years. That’s longer than most of us have been alive. And even though you didn’t hear much about it toward the end, it still had a loyal following. Surprisingly, the final new models in the Pontiac stable were among the best in their history. The G8 was a truly world-class muscle car. The Solstice was a critically acclaimed sports roadster. Even the bread-and-butter G6 was a very nice midsized offering, and the hardtop convertible version of that car was like nothing else in the GM stable.

Instead of getting stuck on how unfortunate it is that things were allowed to get to the point where this could happen, let’s take a look at Pontiac’s illustrious past, and check out some of the television advertisements from the company’s glory days.