Adirondack Nationals 2021

 This past weekend was a pretty busy one...I'm going to get two posts out of it. On Friday, my brother took off from work and we headed up to Lake George for the Adirondack Nationals. As you may recall from previous years, the Nationals are my favorite day of the year. I was pretty depressed thinking I wouldn't actually be going this year...we didn't stay in town, so I figured we would just drive by and I'd get whatever I could out the windows of the car. On the ride up we talked about how the temperature was absolutely perfect, 65 degrees, which is ideal. And of course it would be the year we weren't going to walk around the show. 

Well, I'm sure you've figured out by now that's not exactly what happened. When we got into town, it was the least crowded we had ever seen during the Nationals. You could actually see through the people and see the cars in the show! But, even more, we got a parking spot- even though it required my brother to walk almost a mile to the show after dropping me off (I couldn't do that physically AND do the show). And so, I did get to do the show! Not only that, I ended up doing the entire show, not just a portion. Normally I am not physically capable of walking the entire show before my health gives out but the temperature is usually much hotter, and you all know I've mentioned my troubles in the heat. It was the perfect storm, as they say, and I had a ton of fun at the show! Here's some highlights from the show...certainly not all the photos, considering I took over 1300 that day! 

This was what we saw when we first got into town shortly before noon, and it was quite a surprise as it's usually bumper to bumper cars by this point already.

Looking into the show when at the red light...we decided we'd be fools to pass up this opportunity, so my brother dropped me off and went to park.

I stood watching the cars go by until he came back and that was pretty enjoyable in and of itself..

Although I don't care for the rat rod style this is certainly unique

First El Camino of the day! And it's a 1970, one of my absolute favorite El Caminos.

1972 Ford Ranchero

I pity the fool who doesn't get to go to the Adirondack Nationals

Multiple generations of Mustangs

1960 Impala

This used to be a 1968-72 Chevrolet truck

This year was the Year of the Javelin. Every year there's one kind of car that shows up in large numbers, larger than usual, and this year it was Javelins. I counted 7 of them. The usual number at the show? 2 or less.

Some cars cruise that aren't in great shape. If they are running, they cruise. 

First thing I see when we pay and go into the show itself is a 1964 El Camino! 

I really love old Pontiacs, and this is a 1937.

Instead of trying to get every single car in a single photo like I usually do, I took more group shots this year. I also (generally) didn't wait for people to walk away before I got my picture. Getting car show pictures without people in them is actually quite a challenge, and normally I take efforts to get just the cars. Not this year. 

1931 Packard! Not many Full Classics come to this show, and this one is unrestored.

Cars with the Lake in the background

A Blue Chevelle with the Lake behind it- this photo is posted specifically for my Mom.

A 1959 Edsel wagon! There hasn't been an Edsel at the Nationals since 2016, and there were TWO this year! Yes, the other is upcoming.

I really, really like this photo.

The red paint on this was really nice.

A fitting car for the weekend. (These photos were all taken September 10th)

Clear red hood ornament!

A color change Corvette!

A 1971 Torino in metallic green

1963 Studebaker Avanti

Here's the  second Edsel, which is almost completely factory stock. The only deviation from stock is that the paint was pearl. The color on them originally was solid, I believe. I took multiple pictures of each Edsel. This was my favorite car in the entire show. While I love El Caminos the most, I had already seen every one I saw at the show. This is the first time I had seen either of these Edsels.

An Essex, a rarer brand. This is only the third I've ever seen. And it's possible the first one was this same car, I don't remember. Sadly, I've never seen a stock one.

1972 El Camino. Parks in the same spot every year. I photograph it every year. Love. 

1940 Ford

There were three cars under car covers at the show...first time I've seen that. 

1951 Mercury with a 50s vibe

Noticing a theme here...

1948 Anglia

Big 70s Lincoln, very nicely maintained. (Note the owner cleaning it in the photo)

A 1939 LaSalle. Rare sight. LaSalle was the companion brand to Cadillac, and second most popular of GM's companion brands, but it didn't make it past WWII. I've only seen a handful. In case you are wondering, Pontiac was the most successful brand, in fact it proved so popular it supplanted Oakland, the brand it spun off of, and lasted until 2009. I've never even seen two of GM's companion brands, Marquette and Viking, neither of which survived the 1920s, in person. 

And another El Camino! 

Dave and Charity Kindig from the tv show "Bitchin' Rides" were the guests. I didn't want to wait on the line, but I did take this picture of them. My brother and I were in the background when he got the group shot of everyone waving so we may end up on his TV show anyway! They came in from Utah! 

There are not many bright pink cars on the car show scene.

A Cordoba! My dad was a lifelong mechanic and a Cordoba is one of only a few cars he gave up on and got rid of. 

Love that green

I like the license plate

Nice to see a traditional hot rod rather than a modern trend.

Now in the lower lot, another El Camino! This one is a 1969.

1965 Pontiac Grand Prix

Studebaker truck

I just couldn't bear all this excitement!

1964 Dodge van

1959 Chevrolet Nomad

1990 Ford Bronco II. This was actually not part of the show, as the year cutoff is 1979. This was owned by a vendor, and she said she was getting more comments on her truck than the stuff she was selling! 

77 Pinto wagon. You can go years without seeing a Pinto, yet I've seen two within the past few weeks.

Some of the automobilia for sale. If I had the space....

I sat on a bench while my brother went back to get the car. I took some photos of cars as they went by, but I liked this photo more to represent that part of the trip. 

After getting back in the car, we drove through town once and saw lots more cars...

Including another El Camino! 

You never know what you will see in town...

It was a lot more crowded on the way out...

They had the northbound lanes blocked down to one, which caused a massive traffic jam, as you can see here. 

On the way back, we planned to do one of the Places I've Been rides, covering Route 9 from Lake George to home. However, it was getting too dark, so we only did Lake George to Saratoga. This is in Glens Falls.

Cool Insuring Arena, home of the Adirondack Thunder

It's a good thing we pushed off that adventure for a later time, because it got dark before we got home.

Here the sun had just gone down behind the mountain.

Colorful sky at sunset. 

And that was the best day of the year. The Adirondack Nationals is ALWAYS my favorite day of the year, and this year was no different...and in fact a little better than usual because of the fact that going to it was an actual surprise, and the temperature was perfect! There's been years where it was over 100 degrees, which is just brutal. There was one year where I was totally exhausted after 45 minutes. We got there just after noon and left just after 4 PM. The temperature plays a huge role, and this year's weather was perfect. Granted, it's now Tuesday, and this happened Friday, and I'm still hurting, but it was worth it. 

You can see all my pictures from the show here:  Adirondack Nationals 2021

Thanks for reading!