Quite the variety at the July Liberty Car Cruise

You really couldn't blame anyone for staying home from the monthly Liberty car cruise Saturday night. Between all the road construction around town, the intense heat, and all the other things that people can spend their time with, standing around with your car might be the last thing you want to do.

I had just gotten back into town, and even I admit, I thought about staying home. But I'm glad I didn't, because I definitely would have missed out. It was one heck of a turnout, and there were lots of great cars to look at all around Liberty's historic downtown square.

The Sunday Gladstone Hy-Vee Cruise is the place to go for Maid-Rites

Toward the end of last year, the Sunday Gladstone Cruise presented by the Cowtown T’s wasn’t really pulling in a big field of cars. I hadn’t been back this year, and assumed that with as stinkin’ hot out as it was, no one would be there.

Luckily, I was wrong. It wasn’t the Cruise of the Century or anything like that, but there were actually quite a few cars and people hanging out in the Gladstone Hy-Vee parking lot.

Abandoned Corvettes at the annual Hooters Touch of Glass Corvette Show

1983 was the only year since 1953 that Chevrolet did not offer a production Corvette. 1983 was also the year Prince introduced the song Little Red Corvette, which was, in fact, not about Corvettes.

I bring this up because this weekend, the Touch of Glass Corvette Club hosted a Corvette show at the Hooters in the Legends. And instead of being strictly a show about Corvettes, this gathering may have been more about … hot wings.

38th Annual Ag Hall of Fame Show N' Shine brought rows and rows of great cars to a beautiful and interesting location

The Annual Show N' Shine at the Ag Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, Kan., is a real tradition here in town, and a nicer place to hold a show you'll never find.

This is the 38th year for this event, which is hosted by the Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of Kansas City. As you might imagine, there tends to be a large contingent of old Chevy pickups there, but that certainly isn't the only thing that makes it in.

History of the Cadillac wreath and crest logo, and never-before-seen photos of the Cadillac and LaSalle Club Grand National Convention

I admit, I do think old Cadillacs are cool. They just have so much chutzpa. Not many companies could pull off the outrageous fins of the late-‘50s, the Texas oil man swagger of the Eldorado in the ‘70s, or the “I don’t give a crap get out of my way” Escalade of today. But Cadillac makes it work. And they have been for more than 100 years.

Even Cadillac’s logo is audacious. While most cars abandoned using someone’s chrome-encrusted family crest decades ago, Cadillac’s complex, ornate jigsaw puzzle of boxes and rectangles in a Superman-like shield surrounded by laurels does not suggest “subdued” by any means.

CAF Air Expo at the New Century Air Center brought you back to the 1940s with cars, trucks, big bands, and historic World War II aircraft

Of all the events we went to this weekend, we probably had the most fun at the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Annual Air Expo, which took place Saturday and Sunday at the New Century Air Center near Olathe. There were tons of things to see and do, and all of it had the net effect of taking you back in time 65 years. It might have been hot out, but this event was cool to say the least.

Outta' Control Hot Rods car cruise in Platte City was not as unruly as the name implies

Last weekend I saw event organizer Larry Colstion at a different car show, and he reminded me that I needed to get up and check out the action at the Platte City monthly cruise again.

But then I remembered that the name of the host car club is "Outta' Control Hot Rods and Cruisers," and I started getting worried. I mean, I don't know if I'm wild enough to hang out with people that are so out of control that they name themselves something like that.

Vintage Thunderbird Club of Kansas City cook some pretty birds in the Thoroughbred Ford parking lot

People generally tend to visit Thoroughbred Ford in northern Kansas City to look at current model cars and trucks. But on Saturday, the attraction was a car that Ford doesn't even produce anymore--the iconic Thunderbird. The Vintage Thunderbirds of Kansas City (VTKC) club was on hand with a nice little display of examples from various points in the car's history. And while a '56 T-Bird has little in common with a '96, they still enjoy getting together and enjoying the legacy of one of Ford's most recognizable nameplates.