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.
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!.
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.
