1955 Crown Vic
It was hot and I’m afraid that may have scared off quite a number of cars. I had seen this 1955 Ford Crown Victoria before but just struck up a conversation with it’s owner, Butch. He’s had it a year. The motor is a 292 with a 2 bbl carburetor. He takes it just to shows and has been to one in Wisconsin Dells.
The entertainment was the Paul Avers Band which specializes in country music; here are some of the songs they played at the show.
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It was very hot and humid but the shade helped me a lot. The band in the park was Kashmir, a Led Zeppelin cover band; some of their music is here.
1962 Merc
I ‘met’ a ‘new car’, Brian’s red ’62 Mercury Monterey convertible (I had seen another ’62 Merc convertible on May 24th at Downers Grove and it was the unique taillights that tied them together for me). His son found the car on the Internet and he’s only owned it 4 months. It has a 352 V-8 with a 2 bbl; it’s a good ‘cruiser’. This auto spent 25 years in a garage in Beecher.
The weather played havoc with attendance for this show but the ‘band (the Rockets) played on’. Here is some of their music.
1963 Corvette
Another ‘full house’ at Lombard Cruise Night; and for the first time this season the bank parking lot was filled with show cars. I finally got another chance to talk with Mike, the owner of a great ’63 Corvette split window coupe. Many buddies were there and one was the owner of a fine ’55 Crown Victoria but he was late and didn’t think he could find room for his great car (quite true).
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1958 Corvette
I had forgotten to write about Tony’s orange 1958 Corvette largely because I was so busy with the video (see this post) I shot the day I met Tony. Then Ernie (1937 Pontiac) said ‘I see you’ve ment my brother (Tony)’; I had no idea. Tony bought his Corvette in 1970 for $ 750; it had been a racing car and many parts not essential for racing (wipers, lights, radio) had been removed to save weight. Tony actually raced his ‘vette for a few years until the value began to increase. Then he started to ‘restore it original’ had had a hard time finding some of the ‘missing parts’. Continue reading
1947 Buick Roadmaster
Great weather and another packed house in Downers with cars scrambling to find a parking space. Claremont Drive was the band and they performed their Baby Boomer rock and roll (click here for my videos of them).
This near original 1947 Buick Roadmaster (a bit more here) looked familiar but I didn’t recognize the driver; that’s because it was Dick, Jr.
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1949 Buick Super
Thanks to the great weather, the final car tally was 128. So many familiar cars. I ran into a fellow who has a black Corvette, which I always seem to discover after dark but tonight he had a motorcycle, so I still need shots of his ‘vette. Notice 2 red 1966 Thunderbird convertibles in my gallery; Bill’s differs from Tom’s in the red piping in his white interior.
I recorded Don instructing a teenager on how to crank start Don’s 1926 T-Model (which is discussed more here).
Entertainment was provided by Showcase Classics and some of the songs they played are here.
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Traffic was terrible ON Route 83 – CONTRUCTION but I arrived in time to speak with the band, R-Gang, and get permission to record their fine Rythm & Blues performance. Many of my friends were there and their cars will speak for them.
1963 Bonneville
This gorgeous 1963 Pontiac Bonneville convertible (‘numbers matching’) was for sale, out of reach I’m afraid. It got a lot of attention, especially from other Pontiac owners.
1939 Graham
In spite of a favorable weather radar forecast, there was a little rain in spurts. Mother Nature dealt me a hand of lemons, so I tried to make some lemonade.
My teaser gallery is for the stalwarts who stayed through the precip and then dried off their cars (click here). I know most of these guys very well.
Paul’s friend and DJ Tommy provided the tunes and I recorded some karaoke.
When I arrived about 5, the train station parking lot was already packed close to full with show cars. That augured well for a great crowd. I spoke with Scott Allen of the band as they were setting up who gave me permission to record the performance. My video of the music is here. Tonight the featured cars on Curtis were ‘pony cars’, some of which are in the post header.
It was fortuitous I could flesh out three fabulous ragtops: an ’60 Edsel, a ’57 Bel Air and a ’56 Ford Sunliner.
