Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Last weekend I actually participated in a car show!

Popcorn. We'll come back to this later.

The show was the Spring Fever car show, held in the Niles section of Fremont. It's a historic downtown type area that closes off several streets to allow the cars to be displayed.

At least I got a dash plaque.

I thought that I might just attend as a spectator, but I would have to park quite a distance away from the action. I thought, why not just pay the forty bucks entrance fee and park right in the show? 

The organizers said that they were expecting at least 200 cars and it seems that they certainly hit that mark.

One of my Wife's close friends has a husband that is a real car guy. His name is Rick, and we are about the same age, and his experience with cars and motorcycles are similar to mine. 

It looks just as good in person as it does in photos.

Over thirty years ago he built himself a very nice '40 Ford coupe and he's held onto it ever since. I've seen it covered, and uncovered in the garage, but I've never seen it on the street. I had been telling him about my Plymouth and he suggested that I take it to the Niles show, since he would be there with several friends and their cars.

While I like my Plymouth, it is definitely not a show car, but I do take it to Cars and Coffee events. It is presentable enough.

Niles is approx. 30 miles away. I considered driving on surface streets to get there, I'm very familiar with that route, but I decided to take the freeway. The show starts early, many attendees would be there before 7:00 in the morning and check in started at 8:00. 

I took US101 north from Capitol Expressway to I680 North to Fremont and exited at Auto Mall. Then I took Fremont Blvd to Mowry and headed east to Mission Blvd.

Freeway cruising speed for my car is 55 mph. It still has acceleration available to 70+ mph. I stay to the right, and let the other traffic pass me on the left. And do they! But I haven't had a problem with other drivers tailgating me, they see the old car and just swing out to pass me. However I'm careful to stay out of everybody's way. The Plymouth purrs along contentedly at 55 mph. and it feels comfortable and controllable. I often drive at 50 mph. on local expressways and back roads like Monterey Road, so the freeway isn't much different, except that I don't have to shift gears all the time for stop lights. 

I arrived at 7:30 got my dash placard, and found a spot on one of the side streets. I watched the streets fill up with cars on display. 

I'd say that most of the cars were either legitimate show cars or very close to being show cars. The show was open to all cars of any age, so there were many late model Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes, and other performance cars. There were also very clean examples of millennial cars from the late 90's through early 2000's on display. 

I took off to take a quick walk through, I found Rick and a couple of his friends parked on Niles Blvd, They were waiting for another friend that was on his way there. They were saving a spot for him. That's pretty common, people saving spots for the others in their group. 

The '40 was parked next to a '40 sedan.

It seems that many people settle in for the day; they bring drinks and food.

I chatted for a while, but since I'm there to look at cars, I took off down the street. I found an old garage that had been converted to a small museum. There was a huge banner hung out front for the Yerba Buena chapter of the Antique m\Motorcycle Club of America. 

Inside the building were several antique motorcycles and cars. Vintage bicycles hung from the ceiling.

Outside I spoke with a friendly gent who explained that several more members of the club were riding down on their bikes later that morning.

I took a look around inside and would return later with my camera. 

I went back to where my car was parked and talked to the people seated behind their cars. On my left was a white '63 Chevy Impala. Next to that was a '68 Pontiac GTO painted a very nice deep green. It turns out that the GTO was owned by the guys parents and he inherited it from them.

On my right was a VW camper van that was nicely restored.

This car really caught my eye.

Across the street was a mean looking chopped Model A coupe hot rod. It was a period build, flat black, with a dropped solid axle up front, with drum brakes and bias ply tires. The engine was a Buick Nailhead that was topped with a mid 1950's,double scooped Cadillac air cleaner. Holding up the rear was a set of air bags, which since they weren't visible, didn't disrupt the early build vibe.

I returned to the garage to photograph the bikes inside. I'm going to include more photos of interesting vehicles that I saw in a future post.

A very sharp Knucklehead.

Here is one of the bikes that was ridden to the event.

This an early '40's ULH; an 80 inch flathead.

The owner rode up from Morgan Hill.

The owner told me that when he bought the bike it was 
powered by a knucklehead engine. 

What about the popcorn? 

In some ways I don't see the point of a car owner paying for the privilege of displaying their car. I can display my car and look at other cars for free, at a Cars and Coffee event. Sure, some owners could be in contention to win a trophy. But I prefer the casualness of the C&C, as well as the fact that the event doesn't take up your whole day. 

I remember one time the Boy Scouts were selling popcorn and candy in front of the local Lucky store. A small jar of popcorn was over ten bucks! I told the adult behind the table that it seemed pretty overpriced. He answered me pretty honestly; "This isn't about getting a good deal on popcorn, you're making a donation." I felt a bit dumb and plenty cheap after that! 

So I guess that's the way to look at participating in a car show. You are giving the organizers 40 bucks  and donating your time, and the use of your car to attract spectators to the show. Spectators usually enjoy free admission. The organizers donate the money to a charitable cause after subtracting their costs for the event. Other people donate their time to run the different aspects of the show. Most of the time, the businesses in the area see more customers and make more sales, which is a benefit to the merchants.

As a participant you are papered with flyers advertising upcoming car shows. These flyers usually have a registration form printed on the back. Another forty bucks or so for the privilege of letting people look at your car! However, some shows do offer a T shirt to go along with the usual dash plaque. And there's a chance to win raffle prizes, as well as the lucky exhibitors who will go home with a trophy. 

I realize that most shows are put on by car clubs or community organizations trying to raise money for a charity or some other kind of community benefit. The fact that car owners agree to the use of their cars for display participation, is a very generous gesture of civic mindedness made by individual car owners. I applaud the owners for that.

Though I don't know that I'll be participating in many other shows in the future, it might be easier to just donate some money instead.