Gary Ghertner's Time Machine

Lombard 8-03-2013 Post

Posted on 08/05/2013 by gsghert01

The band was a Beatles tribute group, American English, and the show was packed with cars and the concert audience. Here are the Beatles performing some of the songs covered at this event.

1958 Olds 98

Oldsmobiles from the 50s are very special to me because the first family car I can recall was my mother’s 1958 Olds Ninety Eight. I’ve created pages for Rick’s ’56 Olds Holiday 88, Geno’s ’56 Olds Ninety Eight and Jim’s ’57 Olds Starfire. At this show I bookended mom’s car by meeting Al and his red four door 1959 Oldsmobile 98. His dad had bought it in 1977 and it was kept many years in a barn in Iowa. The interior and exterior are original!
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, CruiseNight, Lombard, YouTube_Links | Leave a comment

Downers Grove 8-02-2013 Post

Posted on 08/04/2013 by gsghert01

Rain threatened and that must’ve scared cars away and the scheduled piano player didn’t make it either. I’ll ‘borrow’ some oldies music from another show here.

1959 Mark IV

The first car of interest to me at the show was Chris’ 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV. He found it 8-9 years ago on the night of a Downers Cruise Night as the ladies looked at the other cars. The car has 24,107 original miles, largely attributable to the first owner having declared it too big to drive in the city so he stored it under a tarp in a heated garage for 35 years. He’s created his own web page here and he owns the copyright to all his photos there. He’s the 5th owner of this car which has a 430 cu. in. V-8 and a 4 bbl carburetor producing 350 bhp. This 5200 pound vehicle is almost 19 feet long.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, CruiseNight, Downer's Grove, YouTube_Links | Leave a comment

Wood Dale 8-01-2013 Post

Posted on 08/02/2013 by gsghert01

Great weather contributed once again to an overflow turnout at Georgetown Square. Flashback 50s DJ Tony spun the oldies (listen here for a few).

1955 Crown Victoria

Tony bought this white 1955 Ford Crown Victoria with a bubble top in 2003; he’s only the second owner. The original owner was from Oak Park and his daughter sold to Tony because she knew he would properly care for the Crown Vic. It has a 292 cu in motor with a two barrel; the transmission is a two speed Ford-O-Matic. The daughter remembered this car only as solid white.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, CruiseNight, Wood_Dale, YouTube_Links | Leave a comment

Westchester 7-29-2013 Post

Posted on 07/30/2013 by gsghert01

It was an absolute madhouse at Westchester with perfect weather and a great rock ‘n roll band, the Stingrays (click here for some of their music I recorded). Show cars were parked all the way down in the Dominick’s lot and a ’58 Edsel was in the Burger King lot.

Loud Malibu

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, CruiseNight, MyVideo, Westchester | Leave a comment

Lombard 7-27-2013 Post

Posted on 07/28/2013 by gsghert01

The weather was threatening but I saw plenty of my friends. On Park it was ‘pony time’ and there must’ve been a dozen Mustangs surrounding three Pontiacs. The band was the Saracens and they played 60s music; they formed their rock band in the 1960s and have gotten back together! Here are some of their tunes from Saturday.

1955 Porsche 550A

Two ‘new’ cars caught my eye at this event. One was a 1955 Porsche 550A Spyder streetable race car that he bought in 2004 after he retired from racing Porsche’s. He bought the car from someone in Seattle and had it shipped here. It has no top, radio or side windows, only the essentials to race. Tom raced at tracks like Sebring and Elkhart Lake from 1983 to 2004 with a professional license for the enjoyment. This is the model of car that famous 1950s actor James Dean was driving when an accident took his life on 2-08-1955.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, CruiseNight, Lombard, MyVideo | Leave a comment

Westchester 7-22-2013 Post

Posted on 07/27/2013 by gsghert01

The band was a new group, Blast From the Past and they were hot (click here from some examples).

Trent’s blue 1936 Ford Club Cabriolet was one of the first cars I started shooting in 2010; he just told me this year that his buddy Jim’s black Ford Cabriolet (with a rumble seat) was also a 1936 model. Trent’s car is very rare as only 4,400 of those were built. Nonetheless they could have been ‘separated at birth’ in Detroit.

1936 Fords

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, CruiseNight, MyVideo | Leave a comment

Wood Dale 7-25-2013 Post

Posted on 07/27/2013 by gsghert01

This was the first cruise night of Wood Dale’s 2013 season I’ve been able to attend although I did go to an earlier event and that time I arrived just as ‘the heavens opened up’ with a downpour. Tonight the music was provided by Flashback 50s DJ Tony in his ’57 Chevy DJ booth.

1960 Corvette

Tom drove his numbers matching, restored original 1960 Corvette; the upholstery is just like original. The motor is a 283 with a 2 barrel.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, CruiseNight, Wood_Dale, YouTube_Links | Leave a comment

Bensenville – 7-24-2013 Post

Posted on 07/26/2013 by gsghert01

1976 Eldorado

I ‘met’ a 1976 original owner Cadillac Eldorado convertible and it’s owner, Charlie. It turns out he’s been involved with the Shriner’s for years and had entered the Shriner’s Medinah show (that I attended on Sunday in Addison), but was unable to attend. This car has a 501 cu. in. motor with a 4 barrel carb. Wally Phillips on WGN talked at length back then about convertibles being outlawed so Charlie had to have one. He ordered all available options available except the remote trunk release and because everyone else was getting everything, this car took six months to deliver. When the dealer called there was still snow on the ground so Charlie delayed taking possession of the Caddy until it was warm enough for the snow would melt. This car takes part in many Shriner’s Big Wheel Parades and only has 41,000 original miles. This convertible has never ‘seen’ snow.

1961 Catalina

A number of Pontiacs gather in the west parking lot at Bensenville and one is Rich’s blue ’61 Catalina convertible. The motor is a 389 cu. in. He’s added three 2-bbl carburetors, which could’ve been ordered from the factory when the car was new. He’s owned it since 2011 and finished it last year.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, Bensenville, CruiseNight, MyVideo | Leave a comment

Medinah Shriners 7-21-2013 Post

Posted on 07/25/2013 by gsghert01

This was a new show (in Addison) for me but this was their Seventh Annual Benefit for Shriner’s Children’s Hospital. I was surprised to see so many familiar cars and owners.

1956 Mercury

This one ‘new’ car to me of great interest was Gil’s red and white 1956 Mercury Montclair convertible. This gorgeous Merc was restored from ’91-’93 and Gil bought it in 1995. At first he was scared to drive it. The motor is a 312 cu in with a 4 bbl; this produces 30 extra horsepower than the standard engine. Everything works, even the clock.

Click here are some of the songs we heard from the ‘DJ’.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2013, Addison, Car_Show, YouTube_Links | Leave a comment

Forest Park 7-23-2013 Post

Posted on 07/24/2013 by gsghert01

Constitution Court filled up pretty good and the band, Smith & McMann (I had misspelled them all last season. My sincerest apologies to the band) entertained us with country and rockabilly music (click here).