Mucsle Car Nationals 2012

I had the privilage of being able to participate in the 2012 edition of the Mucsle Car Nationals at The Rosemont Convention Center back in November. This show is one of the best of the year. It has only existed for a few years but it has really gained some respect and has attracted cars you will never see outside of museums and private collections. This show also seems to attract old race cars mostly drag race cars but some circle track and road race stuff too. This year The Wanderers Car Club was invited to participate in the show. The Wanderers was a car club that existed in the Lombard and Villa Park area back in the 70's and 80's and has kind of been reborn in the past few years with some of the original members and some others like me who was a little too young to be a member back in the day. We will have a profile on the club here on the blog a little later on in the winter. Take a look at some of the photo's from the show. All the race cars are the real deal and some are restored back to original as raced from there most famous time and some are surviviors. One of the most popular displays at the show was the "barn find" area. Many of these cars are local race cars that where put away by their owners after they quit racing and forgotton about for all these years. Some are VERY rare mucsle cars that where stashed for whatever reason and now that they have been pulled out into the light it was found that some of these cars are highly optioned or performance optioned in such a way that put their production numbers in the single digits. You never know what you might find! I had a great weekend at the show hanging out with old friends from the neigborhood and seeing how people enjoy your car. 

More Auction Highlights

Here is some more From The Auction at Pheashant Run. One of the the most talked about cars after the auction was the saturn yellow Buick GSX. This car was a 100 percent untouched original car. I myself enjoy looking at a "survivior" whether it be a race car, mucsle car, a classic, it doesn't matter. These days the typical mucsle car(1962-1972) are getting old and scarce. Time has not been nice to some of these cars and people seem to really make a mess out some of them. So seeing a car that is that unique such as a GSX in original form is really a treat. There is more photos of the front motor dragster. What you may not realize is that this car was driven by Ron Colson who is another somewhat local racer who made it to the big time. Ron was a hot comodity back in the late 60's and early 70's. A very respected and feared "shoe" in the nitro funny car and dragster ranks across the country. I met Ron and spent some time with him back in the mid 90's when he was a race director at Great Lakes Dragaway. A super nice guy and very humble even though he could do the job better than most. I didn't really figure out how much a part of racing history he was until later on. I see him from time to time at Cordova Dragway. I think he helps out there on big weekends. He still finds the time to come up and say hello and shake hands. Some of the other photos are of cars many may not find interesting or cool but I did. The 87 442 was the last of the "real Oldsmobiles" as far as i'am concerned and still have a cool look to them. These cars are starting to find there place and the prices are rising. This one was exceptionally nice. The 65 442 was cool as it was restored back to the way it was from the dealer. Take a look small hubcaps, small badging no frills 400 cu in with a 4 speed. This car could make a lot of money on the street back in the day.The other one is a the 47 Ford Wood Bodied Station Wagon. I love these because of the Craftsmenship in these cars. Remember these where daily driven station wagons for your family. The SUV of the 40's. If these where still around maybe the minivan would have never been created!.

Making up for lost time !!

Been a while since we have had some action here. After the wheelstand contest I attended The Mecum Auto Auction at Pheasant Run Resort in St Charles. I love Vintage car auctions because of the cars you get to see and the constant action around the auction stage. It's alot like being around a lucky craps table in Vegas. The pictures are a few of the highlights of what I thought was cool. There was a car there that deserves a little explanation. The Q-45 Roadster was there. This car was built by I believe Boyd Coddington Back in the early 90's. This car created quite a stir when it was finished. This was the beginning of the modern style street rod. A style that today I despise. This car took an Infinity Q-45 drivetrain and blended it with a Track T Hot Rod. The result was something that was never seen before. The reason I bring this car up is I had never seen the car in person. After I gave it a once over This car is really a masterpiece and shows the talent that Boyd really had before the Reality T.V show American Hot Rod ruined his persona and made people who work in the Hot Rod industry look like a bunch of backwards idiots and made people believe you could build award winning cars in 2 weeks. Other stuff was there too. Race Cars, Classics, Muscle Cars, You name it you can see it here. The Car of the Auction was the 66 Vista Cruiser. The body on this car was really nice but the car needed a complete resto. The car was customized sometime in the 70's and wore some awful crushed velour interior. But most of the hard parts where there so it would be a great project. Don't know what it went for but judging by the trends of spending money at this auction. Someone got a deal.

2012 Byron Festival of Maniacs

Me and a few of the guy's attended the big wheelstand contest at Byron Dragway a few weeks ago. As would be expected it failed to dissapoint. I will never be able to understand why people who work so hard on making a race car fast and look good would do what these people do but as Ron Leek will tell you This is his biggest event of the year for partipants and spectators. So for a measly 5 large these people turn 50-100,000 race cars into piles of twisted scrap. All for being crowned the official "wheelie king" I personally saw the winning wheelstand. A 65 Barracuda went 630 ft on the rear bumper. I don't think that will be beaten for quite some time. Even though it was cold we enjoyed a great event at Byron. More later.

Like Father, Like Son

A while back it was brought to my attention that Karl's son Kyle(who is now 17) has taken a liking to hot rod cars. In particular his fathers racecar. Karl's 66 Plymouth Sport Fury was put into storage right after his passing in 1999. It was started and fluids changed every so often so the car wouldn't detoriate to a point of no return. A few weeks ago Kyle with a lot of help from Tom Syron rolled the car out of the garage and gave it a once over,Filled up the fuel cell and put air in the tires and checked the brakes. Kyle learned the hard way how to detail a car. For the first time in many years they had the car running and headed to the local cruise night over at the Brauerhouse. It was really cool to see this car back out again. Kyle has many of the same qualities that his old man had. It's awsome to see that he has retained the gearhead gene of the Mortensen family. I hope with some practice Kyle will keep the legacy alive. I dug out some Pictures of the car when it was in Alaska. Karl dragged this car out of a junk yard in Alaska and put his drive line out of his 73 New Yorker he had. The same engine is in the car now. What was really cool was once a month the Fairbanks Lions Club set up a temporary dragstrip and held a race. Karl participated in many of these during his stay in Alaska. Check out the hand written time slip. That is something that you just don't see anymore. It seems Alaska is behind the curve in racing technology by about 50 years! The pictures are from a race that he won his class called super street. Best e.t 13.28 at 106 MPH. not bad for a car put togther with junk parts and a little bit of hard work. Seeing the car a few weeks ago brought back some good memories of getting the car from the military down in St Louis after it was shipped home. Then doing a frame off restoration on the car while adding some serious race hardware at the same time. Kyle seems to be enjoying himself and I hope that someday he understands who his Father was and how involved his family was in the racing industry.

Sycamore Turn Back Time Cruise 2012

We went to the Sycamore Turn Back Time Cruise last Saturday. Great turnout by the guy's. Here are some of the highlights at least for me. My favorite was the 39 Studebaker Coupe. I don't think I've ever seen one in stock or hot rodded form. I will post more pictures soon.

Turn Back Time Festival In Sycamore On July 28

We are going to The Turn Back Time Festival in Sycamore Il on July the 28th Which is a Saturday. We will be meeting at the McDonald's at the corner of Rt 38 and Rt47 at 4:30 PM then we will be cruising to downtown Sycamore. This cruise features a food court and a live band. Show runs from 3-11 PM so this should be a good time. I attended this show back in 2008 it was good then and i know it has gotten alot bigger. Here is some pictures from the 2008 show. Hope to see everyone on the 28th.

It's Miller Time!!

On July 8 I attended The Annual Millers at Milwaukee Vintage Indy Car Event. This is a unique car show. Showcasing vintage open wheel circle track race cars. There is a show and then the cars head out onto the track. The Milwaukee Mile which host the meet is the oldest operating race track in the country. The Mile opened in 1903 and still host a few major races a year. The cars that come to the meet are for the most part restored originals most have history tied to legendary racers,owners, mechanics, etc. As you look at the pictures I have posted remember that these cars where built at a time when there was no CNC milling machines, Laser cutters, Mig or Tig welders or computer aided drafting. Every idea came about from a hand drawn blueprint then carefully machined and fabricated into an absolute work of art. These cars also most of the time carried show type paint jobs and chrome plating , Hand lettering and pinstriping. As you look at the pictures these cars could be considered over-restored but it really is for the most part the way they where. If you have even a little interest in American racing heritage this meet should be on your list.

The 3rd Annual Edgewood Ave. Festival of Independence

The 3rd annual show is now history and it was a success! We had a radical storm on Sunday July 1st that damaged the Garage roof and took out the electric for most of the town of Lombard and surrounding areas. When the party started on July 3rd we still had no power and where running on generators. Thanks to my chopper pal Chris Hartman for repairing our roof right away and Andy Huotari for the use of his generator and portable air conditioner. Thanks to Kevin Vance for the D.J service he provided through the night,Eric Vanberkum for cooking a fantastic meal, and last but not least the Honey Bucket for their porto-john. You guy's who showed cars, a big thanks to you because without participants we can't have a show. thanks for your efforts as I Know how much of a pain in the ass a hot rod can be when it is over 100 degrees. Only got to snap off one picture. If any of you  took some pics send them too me and I'll post them. Hope next year is even bigger and better.