Skip to main content

Flashback Friday



Flashback Friday


This weekend is the 29th annual Nostalgic Indoor Invitational Auto Show in Peoria.  It's a big deal.  Back when I had old cars (I hope to have another someday) I went to many car shows and have the show plates to prove it.  Every one who registers a car gets a metal show plate that has a logo and art work and date of the show.

I went around to places like Laura,  Oquawka, Aledo, Keithsburg, Joy, Wataga, and even remote places like Paw Paw.  I usually took my true show car, a 1961 Imperial Custom Coupe.  It was a rare car and usually drew stares mainly for the unorthodox styling:  floating headlights, high rear fins, stainless on the roof, and a square steering wheel.  And it was huge.  One of the biggest of the era and heavy with 5 gauge steel which lent them to good use on the derby circuit.  In fact many demolition derbys banned them because they were like tanks compared to other cars.

She came from California and we traveled the countryside, never saw another like her at shows and she was truly a great car.  In all the shows I ever went to, this was the only one of my 3 that was ever invited to attend the Peoria Invitational.  Again, that's a big deal.

     


My Imp only broke down once, at the DQ on Henderson Street in Galesburg.  Otherwise she performed flawlessly.  Here she is inside the building that houses the other 60-70 cars invited in 2002.




She had a presentation board (in front of car leaning on bumper) made by Julia Breuer-Jackson, who was a counselor at the Mary who could make about anything.   The color was Autumn Russett and with torsion bar suspension floated like a cloud.




I don't think that car was ever prettier.  Inside was also a Chrysler Highway Hi-Fi.   They were record players Chrysler made as an aftermarket item and records were grooved deeper to allow for bumps in the road as you were driving.  It still didn't work well so it only lasted a few years.   Mine lit up and was installed, but I never used it because needles cost over $400.00.  Mine didn't have a needle.


Picture of a Highway Hi-Fi. 


When I moved here I sold all the cars.  Here it is very difficult to have an old car because  I have no garage and storage costs are high.  I do, however, have some storage options up North.  

Perhaps one day I will either become a snow bird and be able to have an old car again, or maybe just go back up and stay.  I really haven't been the same without old iron in my garage.  What to do, what to do?

Anyway, I didn't win anything this weekend in Peoria, but I didn't have to.  It was about the apex of my old car showing hobby to be invited and have the weekend to gawk and people gawk at my car.  There was a palpable pride this weekend,  of displayer and displayed that will never ever be replicated again.  This is the stuff of memories.  And that is a big deal.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week.  Except for me.  I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers.  These pics need no words.  Why muddy the waters?   They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley.  The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter.  If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one.  But, please, no more.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida.  There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife.  In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride.  He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much.   He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A.   But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here.  If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying.  He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed.  Note the propeller
1 comment
Read more