Barry Thomas’ “Wheel to Wheel”: Sept 29: Just another Saturday?

So, here I was on the first Saturday of Fall, spending an hour at the office, showing a young couple a used car. I don't work Saturday's, but if someone wants to see a car and hopefully, give me their money, well, heck, who am I to argue? While waiting for them, I noticed a couple of very throaty sounding old cars rumble by. Then on the test drive, I noticed a whole lot full of old stuff, sort of like a pop up car show, just up the street from my office. Ok, now my Saturday had even more purpose. Not a big show, but an interesting one. One fellow trailered in this 1969 Yenko Camaro replica. See that motor (how could you miss it?)? Pumping out about 1500 HP, this was one fast ride. Streetable? Good question, but I'd guess unlikely.

Rat rods? They sure don't appeal to me, but they certainly have their following. Just put together the parts to make an interesting end result, purposeful, but not pretty. Touch it? Scratch it? Who cares? Appreciate it? Absolutely.

Old VW buses took on a life of their own after the nutty numbers at the Barrett-Jackson Auction a few years back. So, now every old bus, has the chance to look at a possible show car future. Maybe even be fixed up, like this one.......

If not for those auction results, would anyone have really cared?

Like old commercial vehicles?

I do and there is a Professional Car Society and its members, that collect and restore these old working vehicles. In this case a couple of ambulances, a Packard from the '50's and a Pontiac Bonneville from 1965, the latter belonging to the Toronto EMS (emergency medical service).

Add a few of the cars from the '50's and '60's to the mix, like the '62 Dodge on the right. All tarted up with mags and custom paint. The power plant? A lowly slant six. Go figure. The centre shot car here got my vote for the most interesting. Why? Several reasons.......one, it was a '58 Edsel, two, it was a top of the line four door hardtop and three, it had power windows (not so common back then). I think that I'd lose the fender skirts though, if she were mine. But, then again, maybe not.

How often does one see a restored station wagon, like this '71 or '72 Chevelle? Not so much, as all the interest seems to be in the two doors and convertibles. There is a trend (however slight) towards these forgotten and non sexy cars. I like them, because, like the Edsel, this body style is unusual nowadays. This one wasn't exactly stock, but very nicely modified.

Recognize this one? One of the great drag cars, a 1930's Willy's. Whenever you find one of these cars, there is a very good chance, that it will have that flip up front end and a monster motor. Although you can't see it, the pinstripping was done in a barbed wire motif. Interesting.

One of my favorite cars of all time is the 1965 Chevrolet and this two door hardtop was a nicely done example, although not seen at the old car show, but at my next stop.

This next stop was the annual Fall model car show held by the Group 25 modelers. This car was in the parking lot, but on the contest table was its twin, but in that lovely Butternut Yellow colour, so popular back in the '60's......

Lots of vendors as always.........

One might get lucky and find a long lost desired model, but I've always bought the ones that I wanted, so I already had everything on offer.

Now three shots showing the variety of models being shown.........a garage diorama, a Mickey Thompson Pontiac Grand Am Funny Car, detailed to the hilt and of course, since models replicate real life trends, there were rat rods..........