Great video of car advertisements from the '50s and '60s

You may have noticed that I tend to gravitate toward old car promotional stuff. I love the old advertisements, collectables, memorabilia, and all the stuff that surrounded old cars back when they were new. Maybe that's why I'm running out of living space--too much of that old kitsch taking over the house.

I've always loved this kind of stuff, which is probably why my college education centered around marketing and advertising. No, that's not what my career is in, but I guess I was training to manage my collection and write this blog.

Is 'gargantic' a word? Because that's how big the 2010 Basehor-Linwood Project Grad Car Show was

Last year, Basehor, Kan., was one of the coldest, most miserable places that anyone would ever want to be. And yet, the number of entries at the Basehor-Linwood High School Car Show was very large. It was easily one of the better attended car shows of the entire year.

But that great turnout didn't really prepare anyone for what would happen if it had been one of the four absolutely perfect days that seem to occur in Kansas City every fall. But as it happens, one of them fell on Saturday, and this car show exploded.

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.

Another crack at the Jayhawk, car shows, cruises, and races all over Kansas City for October 8, 9, 10

After all the car stuff that went on last weekend, you’d think we could get a break. Not so! There are more than enough high-horsepower activities in which Kansas Citians can participate this weekend.

Finally, after two unsuccessful attempts, it looks like Mother Nature is going to allow Lakeside Speedway to run the Jayhawk Modified Classic. The Basehor Project Grad Car Show is always a big deal. And several area cruise nights are being held for the final weekend of the season, including the Bass Pro Shops cruise in Independence.

And unlike most years, the weather on this second weekend in October promises to be warm and comfortable, as opposed to the usual climate that only appeals to the Polar Bear Club. Check out the entire schedule below.

Take the edge off my vote for the Internet Car and Truck of the Year

Camaro-2010 winner.  Photo: GM Media

“Where Internet Pros and the Average Joes Pick the Car and Truck of the Year”

That’s the slogan for the nationally recognized Internet Car and Truck of the Year contest, which is going on right now. And here’s something that you probably never would have guessed—I am in the “Internet Pros” category.

I know what you’re thinking, “sure, Craig, you have a nice blog, but you mostly post car show pictures and write about the Dukes of Hazzard. What do you know about picking new cars?”

R.I.P. Stephen J. Cannell. His shows live on, and so do the cars.

Tonight my wife said, "you know Stephen J. Cannell died, right?"

Of course, I knew that.  As if.  In my world, this guy built one of the most enviable careers I've ever seen. I mean, he created some of the greatest cheeseball one-hour cop and detective shows ever shown on television.  Shows that, by the way, I am still absolutely addicted to today.  This is the guy that came up with The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, Hunter, and The A-Team. 

He was able to develop those awesome bits of guilty pleasure, become rich and famous, and actually have movie studios hire real actors, blow things up, coordinate car chases, and televise all this to a national audience.  Seriously, for someone like me who stresses over a measly little blog, this is amazing, fantastic, cataclysmic, otherworldly awesomeness that cannot be explained in words. 

He died of cancer last Thursday, which totally stinks.  But his TV shows live on on television and DVD. 

In keeping with the car theme of this place, I decided to talk about some of my favorite Stephen J. Cannell shows in the context of the cars that were on them.  I'll bet you remember a few of these:

GladFest car show brought lots of happy car lovers to Happy Rock

When church lets out at 11:00 on Sunday, look out, because the Hovers are on the loose!

Today it was straight to GladFest Days in Gladstone, Mo. Craft booths for mom, carnival rides for son, and oh yeah, a big car show for dad. And we smoked through all this in enough time to go see the Challenger steam locomotive on temporary display at Union Station with my wife's dad, a retired Union Pacific man and overall train nut.

It's hard to forget the GladFest car show. A big part of that is because organizers handed out a glossy, bi-fold, color entry blank at nearly every other car show I went to this summer. I keep all those kind of flyers to use in the "Upcoming Events" features, and my folder is cram-packed with GladFest information.

Unprofessional, regular, family-style coverage of the racing at Kansas Speedway

In case you didn't know, Greg Biffle won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway. But Biffle wasn't the only winner in Kansas City, Kan.

Beautiful weather meant that everyone who went to the races was a winner, too. And my family and I were among the hordes of fans that spent some time watching the sensible consumption of high-octane fuel this weekend.

Overall, we had an incredible busy weekend, so getting to Kansas Speedway wasn't really in the cards. But as luck would have it, BHo's school was closed on Friday, so we were able to take in a day of practice and qualifying at Kansas City's racing showplace.