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.

The Henry Ford Museum claims to be America's Greatest History Attraction, and they certainly make a good case for that

One of the greatest displays of historic cars and memorabilia in the world is the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., just adjacent to Ford’s Greenfield Village.

You could easily spend a day in the museum alone, because most of the displays are either so historically relevant, or simply so interesting, that it is hard to take your eyes off of them.

The museum’s biggest claim to fame is the infamous ’61 Lincoln presidential limousine in which John F. Kennedy was assassinated. But if you’re looking for a big pool of dried blood and the missing piece of evidence that can once-and-for-all clarify what happened for the conspiracy theorists, you’ll have to limit your search to the grassy knoll. As far as the limo is concerned, soon after Kennedy’s death it was sent back to coachbuilder Hess & Eisenhardt and up-fitted with an armor-plated top, more power, and a fancy new paintjob. The parade car continued to be used by presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter until it was finally retired in 1977. Nevertheless, it is interesting to look at that car and think about what it went through.

Final Downtown Liberty car cruise was a good one. Almost makes you wish 2011 was already here

Saturday night's Liberty car cruise was somewhat bittersweet. On one hand, the turnout was absolutely fantastic. Cars were double-wound all the way around the Historic Downtown Square. They were up and down side streets. They were parked backwards, forwards, and sideways. They were everywhere.

On the other hand, this was the last Liberty cruise of the year. It almost seems to early to bid farewell to such a popular monthly get-together.

This event is a combined effort of the Historic Liberty Merchants, the City of Liberty, and the Mid-America Mustangers Club, and it is easy to see that the work of these groups has paid-off in regards to this cruise.

Big Car Show at the Great Mall of the Great Plains was an excellent way to begin the summer finale countdown

Nobody in their right mind could have spent Saturday anywhere but outdoors, and for the folks that love cars, The Great Mall of the Great Plains in Olathe, Kan., was a nice part of outdoors to spend it. This was what they called the "Big Car Show," and there were quite a few cool cars and trucks on hand to back up this claim.

This was a benefit for the Olathe Police Foundation, so there were some Olathe Police vehicles on hand, including a pretty official-looking ATV, a mobile command center, a motorcycle, and some police cars. There were even a couple of privately owned police cars on display.

The pose

When I was in high school, we had an assignment in our art class in which we had to draw a fashion clothing design in pen and ink. Most of the people in the class went with the typical woman in a fancy dress or debonair dude in a tuxedo.

I drew the guy to the left in the racing suit and helmet. You can date him at about 1990, because of the open-faced helmet, Heartbeat of America sponsorship, and the pair of Nike Air Cross Trainers that had an uncanny resemblance to those worn by the artist.

Is it a good picture? No, it is not. I don't even think someone's legs could bend in exactly that manner. But it is the way his legs are crossed that bring us to the point (however pointless) of this article.

It has been mentioned to me recently that most of the pictures in which I've "posed" with a car feature a very similar crossed ankle position. And sure enough, as I went through some old pictures, that has proven to be a fairly consistent truth, as you will see below.

Big cruises in Liberty and Belton, NASCAR in Canada, car shows, races, and more. Kansas City car events for August 27, 28, 29

The weather is supposed to be all sorts of fabulous this weekend, so there's no excuse not to have some car-crazy fun.  There are a ton of great car shows, cruises, and races going on all over town.  Saturday night, it's north vs. south, as two of the biggest downtown cruises in town go head-to-head, with Liberty for the northerners and Belton for the southerners.  Or look for more organized shows in Smithville, Olathe, and Bonner Springs.

Love racing?  Check out Lakeside, I-35, or any of the other exciting area tracks.  Or, if you just want to stay inside, the NASCAR Nationwide Series makes their annual stop in Montreal, Canada, while the Camping World Trucks are in Chicago.  We've got the full list of Kansas City car events for you right here.

Early Ford concept vehicles featured George Jetson-like space-aged designs

Compared to archrival General Motors, Ford got a late start on their full-fledged styling studio efforts. But throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, Ford designed concept cars became more common and more relevant, eventually leading to some of the most important production vehicles in Ford’s history.

In the beginning, there was Henry Ford. A genius for the ages, Ford managed to build a reputation for simple, affordable, reliable vehicles. It was a formula that worked, and flashy styling, chrome doodads, and trendy paint schemes were never part of that equation. By any stretch of the imagination, the Model T, and later the Model A, were enormous successes.

Chrysler built some of the most beautiful concept cars in history, and some of them were even sold to the public. A history of early Chrysler concepts and their designers, including Raymond Loewry and Virgil Exner

Concept cars have always been a big part of the auto industry. Whether they foreshadow an upcoming model, highlight various ideas that might make it into production, or just feature over-the-top elements just because the automaker can, they have been wowing the public for more than 70 years.

One of the early pioneers of the concept car trend was the Chrysler Corporation. Chrysler was steeped in design history from the very beginning. From the lavish, Art Deco Chrysler Building in New York City that was commissioned by Walter P. Chrysler himself and opened in 1930, to the ultra-streamlined Chrysler and Desoto Airflow cars of 1934 – 1937, Chrysler was always looking for new ways to push the design envelope.