Westchester Cruise Night 8-6-2012 post

Sal, my son's guitar teacher with the lady in the bobby sox and white bucks

Sal, my son’s guitar teacher with the lady in the bobby sox and white bucks

What a grand night for Cruise Night in Westchester with the rockin’ 50s-60s Oldies band The Ragtops, click here for YouTube videos of songs they covered. Of course thanks to Paul for putting on this shindig. Incredible weather, friendly people and terrific cars. I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but the dancing blonde, with pigtail, polka dots, capri-length jeans jeans, bobby sox and white bucks but didn’t want her face on the internet. She was perfectly attired for the 50s-60s scene.

Check out the after dark Harley shots at this link.

Mike brought his ’65 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport and he parked next to his long time friend Joe with his ’69 Plymouth Roadrunner. The ‘Coyote Duster’ has a 426 cubic inch hemi motor with 425 hp. Joe says it’s built ‘light and cheesy and fast’; he’s had this car 8 years. It has two 4 barrel carbs and four on the floor.

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Wanted – Info about these interesting cars

I have met the owners of four of these cars and want to dig deeper into their vehicles with more photos and the stories behind the cars. I met Ernie (’37 Pontiac Coupe); Jerry, ’66 GTO Convertible; Jim, ‘.70 Ford LTD Country Squire; Tom, ’70 Lincoln Mark II and spoke with the owner of the Gran Torino ‘Starsky & Hutch’ car but the owner of the silver 1940 Buick Eight has eluded me (but not my camera lens!).

*Update*

I spoke with Ernie at Downer’s Grove about the dark grey ’37 Pontiac Business Coupe and met John who owns the grey ’40 Buick Special Business Coupe and will work on the car page. Also, I’d omitted mentioning Geno’s two tone ’56 Oldsmobile 98 Coupe; I’d spoken with Geno when I saw his car at my first Lombard Cruise Night in June but that was before I had the idea to do my ‘car stories’.

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Forest Park Cruise Night 7-24-2012 post

My event photo gallery is now online at this link (as of 8-13-12) and music is here.

Here is a teaser gallery from July 24, 2012 Cruise Night in Forest Park.

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Berwyn Cruise Night 7-31-2012 post

Someone told me recently about Berwyn’s cruise night (1st and 3rd Tuesdays) so I gladly attended. And it’s nearby. Showcase Classics conducted the show and played CDs; click here for YouTube videos of some of that music.

My photo gallery is now online at this link.

Saw some friends from earlier shows. Charles (’64 Corvair), Carol (’65 Mustang) and Rich (’56 Oldsmobile Rocket 88). I met three ‘new’ owners; two of whom I’d seen before (Jim & Tom) but I hadn’t taken any notes. Leo, ’28 A Model Ford (brief story of Leo’s car and some photos are now online here); Jim, ’70 Ford Country Squire; Tom, ’70 Lincoln Mark II. I want to flesh out the stories of Jim’s Country Squire because (read here); Tom’s other vehicles are convertibles and I want to find out more.

Rich reminded of an anecdote about his Oldsmobile and the History Channel which I posted here along with a TV ad for a ’56 Oldmobile 88.

Here’s a teaser gallery of six cars (many more photos to come).

Showcase Classics ran the show and provided recorded music; some of which you can hear below from Youtube. If you only have time for one of these videos, do checkout the Isley Brothers Shout.

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Westchester Cruise Night 7-30-2012 post

Once again, Paul outdid himself with a great show and a great band, The Meteors. Eariler this season I went to Westchester but, due to technical difficulties, I have no pictures of that night. So I’m adding an ‘extra helping’ of the long list of oldies tunes they played. Click here for YouTube videos of music the Meteors covered.

I’ve uploaded the event’s photo gallery  here.

1958 Plymouth Savoy

1958 Plymouth Savoy

I zeroed in on four cars this week:

  1. Rich’s 1958 Plymouth Savoy Hemi (I thought I had earlier photos of this car but not so). He has a 331 Hemi engine from a ’55 Chrysler (the hemi having been dropped that option in ’58). The interior has all been updated and he took out the push-button gear shift in favor of a console mount.
  2. Jim’s 1939 Graham Two Door Combination Coupe
  3. Bob’s ‘cherry’ 1955 two-tone Chevrolet Bel Aire Coupe (this beautiful car has a juicy story too)
  4. Herb’s ’65 Formula Five Cobra but was confused by another one with the same paint scheme.

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Westchester Cruise Night 7-9-2012 post

Self Portait

Self Portait

Great show in Westchester and many thanks to our gracious host, Paul Gattuso, and his tireless efforts that assures a great Cruise Night at 31st and Wolf Road. I’m posting some teaser shots and some YouTube videos of songs covered by the Blak Swan band (click here for music). On  30 July, I posted my event photo gallery here.

I ran into some friends I’ve met at this summer’s cars shows: Frank, ’51 Pontiac Chieftan; Rich, ’56 Olds 88; Herb (’65 blue Formula Five Cobra which I shoot Cruisin’ at Lombard and Westchester); Jim & Carol, ’65 Mustang Coupe; the owner (whose name I don’t yet know) of this rare ’39 Graham Hollywood ; and John (and his wife) who brought his blue ’55 Buick Special.

Please read further for a ‘teaser gallery’ of my photos and music.

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Wood Dale Cruise Night 7-19-2018 post

Inclement weather and the threat of more rain dissuaded the DJ and all but a few stalwart car owners from attending. My son and I were in the area so we stopped by to look around.

The DJ being in absentia, here are some instrumental tunes I’d have requested:
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Lombard Cruise Night 6-30-2012 photo gallery now online

The 'Elephant Car"

The ‘Elephant Car”

I finally ‘caught up’ with June car show photos, the photo gallery for June 30th in Lombard is here but have seven six  events from Westchester, Riverside, Lombard (2 3), Brookfield, Wood Dale (weather pretty much washed out this event) and Forest Park to edit, process and upload.

 

 

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Brookfield Car Show 7-22-2012 post

I saw Mike (’65 Turquoise Impala Super Sport) last night in Lombard and he mentioned today’s Brookfield Car Show and even though he gave me directions, I had to resort to my iPhone’s map feature. Mike was there as was Charlie (’64 one-owner Chevrolet Corvair, but no Corvair today). I’d guess there were 200 cars or more.

Please read further to see some ‘teaser’ photos and listen to YouTube videos of some of the CDs played by Showcase Classics. the show’s organizer.

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Lombard Cruise Night 7-21-2012 post

1970 Ford Station Wagon

1970 Ford Station Wagon

It was a great time at Lombard Cruise Night last night; Flashback 50s DJ Tony played dozens of oldies. As I was headed to the event traveling on Roosevelt Road through Maywood, I saw this big old Ford station wagon with antique plates and at a light, ascertained he was indeed going to Lombard Cruise Night.  His passenger asked ‘wanna race’ but I demurred. (I actually did get there first!). It’s a 1970 Ford Country Squire station wagon with a 390 V-8 but the owner was not by the car in the bank lot so I have no more information now.

My photo gallery for the event is now online at this link.

I spoke with several of the owners of cars I’ve shot in depth (see the cars of Frank (’51 Pontiac), Jim (’65 Mustang) and Mike (’65 Impala Super Sport) because the cars were special to me (I like red and chrome and the cars of my youth) and I had a chance to learn more about the vehicles. The first ‘family car’ I recall was a big black 1958 Oldsmobile 98 that my mother drove and I’ve seen 55, 56 & 57 Oldmobiles at Lombard. Every car has a story and if you see me at a show, tell me about your car.

Please read on for a sampling of the music heard at the show as performed by the original artists on YouTube.

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