Monday, June 21, 2021

AACA at Saratoga, my first car show in over a year!

 With everything that's gone on in the world over the past year and a half, I had not been able to attend any car shows, truly my favorite thing to do, since September of 2019. I've know about the AACA Spring nationals at Saratoga since 2018, and had been planning to attend it since I found out about it (originally scheduled for last year). 

Although I was a little disappointed with the turnout, it felt so good to be back at a car show, that even the lower than I expected turnout and the heat wreaking havoc on my health couldn't take away how much fun I had! 

Here are a sampling of photos:

We got there before most of the cars in the show did! 

1911 Maxwell. We saw it drive in and we saw them put the top up.
Late 30s Pontiac
1986-87 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2. A rare 80s car that was made solely so they could run it in NASCAR. Only 200 were built, if I recall correctly. I forgot to look and see if this was a 1986 or 87. There is no real difference other than the year it was built in.

There was a strong contingent of Packards.
You may or may not recall, but back when I created my list of most wanted to see cars, a factory stock Willys Americar made the list. I've seen dozens, if not hundreds, of them that have been chopped up into drag cars or other things that aren't anywhere near as nice as the original was. This was the first stock ones I've ever seen. I took quite a few photos of it.



1932 Chevrolet
1931 Chrysler. A lot of people probably don't know that Chrysler made such luxurious cars in their early days.
40s Lincoln
1947 Bentley



Love seeing the old hood ornaments
1931 Imperial
1928 Marmon 78
1929 Reo Flying Cloud
1911 Packard 30. One of my favorite cars at the show. I saw it drive in, as well. 

1914 Ford Model T
1911 Model T
1912 Maxwell 30. This car was built in Tarrytown, NY. 
A 1932 Detroit Electric, I had no idea they stayed in production that late. The styling seemed older, but I did a little research and discovered that they lasted until 1939! The styling didn't change all that much, I knew it was a Detroit Electric from the other side of the show field, but the date surprised me. 

A 1924 Auto Red Bug. This was the only new brand I saw at the show, and yes, this really is a car! Could you imagine driving this around? I can't! They were in production from 1910 to 1929, and although I've read about them before, I had never seen one. 

Here's a picture of me standing next to it for size comparison. This was my favorite at the show, because it was new to me and such a unique little car. 
1977 Chevrolet Malibu
Some of the architecture in Saratoga Spa state park. My brother walked over to the gazing pool and it was full of tadpoles. 
Unrestored 1917 Buick
1973 AMC Ambassador
The most pristene 1992 Ford pickup I've ever seen...even back in 1992, I suspect.
The brown Cadillac behind this BMW is the only car in the show I missed getting a photo of. I made a mental note to go back and get it, but then got distracted by the oldest car in the show driving in, and didn't remember until I was home.
1920 Dodge Brothers truck
1962 Ford

1996 Chevrolet S10. I remember when these were new. One of my best friends had one, which I've ridden in. Now they have all but disappeared. 
1990 Oldsmobile Toronado
Two identical Barracudas. 
1939 Chrysler
1987 Cadillac wagon, a very rare coachbuilt option. I spoke with the owner and this is the only 1987 he's found a record of...the most of any year he could find between 1984 and 1990 was 12. 
1952 Nash Rambler. I love this car, both the shape and the color.
1951 Ford
1951 Chevrolet
1909 Packard, the oldest car in the show. I saw this car drive in! 


I have always loved the bullet nose Studebakers of 1950-51.
Jaguar
Daimler
1938 MG TA
1953 Jaguar C-Type
1969 Chevrolet
1938 Studebaker, another favorite of mine
1937 Plymouth wagon
1931 Ford pickup
1915 Ford Model T
1940 Ford wagon
An airplane towing a glider
1953 Ford convertible
A 1937 Packard in two shades of green...pretty much perfect. 
1958 Pontiac
63 Mercury, I think. May be 64. I can't remember the details on them and don't feel like digging out my reference book.
Studebaker Avanti, one of three at the show. You can see the white one in this picture also.
1956 Studebaker Wagon. I've always been a big fan of Studebakers and I don't think I've seen this era wagon before.
1957 Dodge Custom Royal
There were two GTOs in this same exact color scheme there.
1957 Ford
A 1954 Kaiser Darrin. This car had been on my "most wanted to see" list, but I saw one in Ohio in 2019, then another in New Jersey last year...there were two here at the show! 

1972 Mustang Mach 1

Overall it was a great show, and I had a great time. It was so nice to be back in a car show atmosphere, which as I stated is truly my favorite thing to do. Aside from that one Cadillac I photo documented every car there, which near the end was a bit of a challenge, due to my health problems. You can tell, looking at my photos, how the quality of the shots drops at the end. I did the best I could. 

Here is the album on my website: AACA Saratoga 2021

Now, naturally since we were that close we made a trip to Lake George as well. I was so exhausted though that we didn't get out of the car, just drove through and then drove home. 


While driving through town, I did discover there's now a comic book store in the village, but I wasn't able to get a photo of it. Will have to check that out at some point. 
I was able to catch a photo of Live, Love, Laugh, the shop that carries cards that I have mentioned a few times, though! I haven't been in there since September 2019 so I hope he still has cards anyway. 


On the way home, I also photo documented the toll booths at the Newburgh-Beacon bridge. I've been through these toll booths thousands of times in my life, they cause a traffic jam every time but they are something I always figured would be there. They are taking them out next month and odds are this is the last time I will go through them. So naturally I took a few pictures. My brother is thrilled that they are going away since he has to deal with them every single day, I'm indifferent, I just like to photodocument things. 
On the bridge
These are the new readers.
Not all of the signs spell the name of my home town correctly, which is embarrassing, but this one does. 




Thanks for reading!


13 comments:

  1. Someone had way too much fun! Glad you enjoyed the day despite the weather. It was and end-of-the-season soccer tournament for my son and it was rough out there.

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    1. It was so good to be back on the show field...I almost went to their 2019 show in Parsippany NJ but it was 106° that day...nope, can't do that.

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  2. Sweet shots of some nice rides. Like the '51s, but I'm biased now :) Took my Buick to a small local show a couple weekends ago, but my phone was too dead to take many pics. Will post up the next time.

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    1. Was that your first show with it? If so congratulations!

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  3. So many cool cars. I think it's cool that car shows today have cars from the 80's and 90's.

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    1. You'd be surprised how many people are not happy about that. There's a lot of abuse heaped on the owners of anything post 1972 in the hobby.

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  4. Great pictures! They make me feel like I was actually there. The Packards are my favorites.

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  5. Billy, Thanks for sharing the Car Show, locally we had a Monday Night Car Show in the parking lot of the local mall, suspended by Covid like so many things have been, still waiting for it to return. I enjoyed the photos so much, will have get out to the album on your website. As always I also enjoyed the travel photos, nice to see other parts of the country.

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    1. Glad you are enjoying them Tom, we had two local cruises each week. One of them is back, but I don't know about the other. It was pretty hit or miss beforehand and they don't update, so you basically have to drive out and see if they are there.

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  6. Wow, so many cool cars. My favorites are the brown and tan 1932 Chevrolet, the 1987 Cadillac wagon that's about 50 feet long, and the navy blue 1931 Ford pickup with the light blue wheels. Nice job getting out to the show and taking so many pictures, Billy!

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    1. Thanks! Funny thing, that 32 Chevy lives right here in Wappingers, but I had to drive 2+ hours to see it.

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  7. Replies
    1. Haha! The exit sign in Fishkill on I84 leaves the S off the end of Wappingers

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