Trunk-or-Treat at the Mt. Juliet Chick-fil-A Cruise

Mt. Juliet was a scary place last Saturday night when the annual Trunk-or-Treat Car Cruise rolled into the Chick-fil-A parking lot. Vintage cars were mixed with scary costumes for a fun night of candy and chicken. This was the first time since we moved here that the old HMC truck was able to wear its Halloween costume (Tow Mater, every year, of course), but there were lots of other great cars and trucks to check out along the way. Here were a few of my favorites.

Biggest Parkville Cruise so far this year

Several years ago, if you wanted to go to the monthly Parkville Cruise, you needed to get there early if you actually wanted to park your car.  But lately, it hasn’t been that tough.  Oh, the turnout is usually pretty good, but you can usually end up with a good spot relatively easily.  But that wasn’t the way things went on the first Saturday in August.  When I got there at about a quarter-to-five, there was virtually no place to park.  We ended up circling the lot several times before settling on a place that we probably shouldn’t have been.  This turnout was huge, even with the threat of rain in the area.

Nearly 200 fine Fords occupy parking spots at the Bass Pro Shops in Olathe

Kansas City has a lot of great automotive traditions.  From our auto assembly plants to our local car racing, this cowtown keeps the wheels turning.

We also have several significant, long-running car shows here.  And for 28 years, one of those shows has been the Mustang and Ford Show, presented by the Mustang Club of Kansas City.  Held at the Bass Pro Shops in Olathe, this is the show where all the high-interest Blue Ovals, both old and new, gather each and every year.

Carroll Shelby dead at 89

One of the most colorful and revered figures in automotive history has passed away.  Carroll Shelby died on May 10 at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Texas.  He was 89.  The cause of death was not disclosed.

For more than 50 years, Shelby's influence has been clear on race tracks, in the performance car world, and more recently in the realm of classic cars.  Let's take a quick look at the career of this giant of the automotive industry.

Why are all those Shelby Mustangs and Cobras worth so much at Barrett-Jackson? The story of Carroll Shelby

For the better part of the weekend, I’ll have my TV glued to the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. This is a similar to the Mecum auction held in Kansas City’s Bartle Hall earlier this month, but the eyes of the collector car world tend to focus on this big dollar dog & pony show.

One name that pops up regularly, both at our auction and the event in Scottsdale, is “Shelby”. It’s almost like every other car is either a Shelby Mustang, a Shelby Cobra, or some kind of fake Shelby (the experts like to call these “tributes”, “clones”, or “recreations”, but let’s just call a spade a spade here). And one thing you quickly realize when watching these events is that tacking that word to a car is similar to selling it with a briefcase full of money in the trunk. Shelby cars tend to bring the big bucks. But why? What makes a Shelby Mustang, for example, worth exponentially more than a basic Mustang? What is the appeal?