Lake George Card recap part 3: Overview, cards at the car show

This year's Adirondack Nationals was, by far, my favorite car show ever. I accomplished something I never thought possible- but it was set in stone as my favorite even before the show officially began. Why? Because I got to go for a ride in a 1972 El Camino! I had never even had a chance to sit in an El Camino before, let alone go for a ride in one. It set the bar for best show ever, and this year has been a really good year for shows to begin with! (In this year alone, I've gotten to go for a ride in a 1913 Ford Model T, a 1945 WWII Jeep, and the 1972 El Camino, and I got to sit in a 1955 Chevrolet!) The show season is winding down, but this year is going to be very tough to beat.

Then the show actually started, and I accomplished something...I should say, WE accomplished something, that I never thought possible. Between my brother and I we photographed every single car in the show on Friday. I never thought that would ever happen, the Nationals are just so big. They are the second largest show in New York state, and in the top 5 in size in the entire Northeast. I've always known, at the Nationals, that I can't hope to get every car, just take what looks good to me- or what good photos I could get. (it's actually hard to get decent photos some times- the cars are close together and there's usually people milling about, including car owners in folding chairs next to/in front of the cars). I had been talking with my brother beforehand and we came up with the plan to get every car. And we did it. I took more than 2400 photographs over the course of the week, and my brother took 836, just of the car show alone. One of the things that makes the Adirondack Nationals so unique, and so interesting, is that the show goes on long before it officially starts. It starts Thursday, and runs through Saturday. We got into town Monday and there were already a few dozen classics in and around town. And there's really two shows going on at once- the cars in the show itself, and the cars on the street, which is everything post-1979 and anyone who waited too late to get a registration. You can't see all of both (especially as the cars on the street are always cruising) but we set our sights on the show on Friday, and got it done. I'm not going to post a whole lot of photos- I know most of my readers are not really car folks...but I will post some, and the link to all of them on my website here:
Adirondack Nationals 2019 

 This is the El Camino I got to go for a ride in. I saw 24 different El Caminos in town, the all-time record, and I know there was at least one more I didn't see, because I saw a picture of it online.

 I actually spent some time at night in town, something I don't really do too often. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, it gets a little too crazy and rowdy for me, and way too crowded. But on Tuesday night, when this is from, it's fun.

 This won Best of Show. I understand completely.

 This was the rarest car in the show...a Rockne. Yes, named after the football coach, it was a companion brand to Studebaker, and lasted only three years in the early 1930s. It's only the second one I've ever seen. The first was in the Studebaker National Museum. I would prefer to see something so rare stock, but at least this was tastefully done. To tell you how big this show is, it's got 4 years of registration stickers on the window, and this was my first time seeing it...

 Loved the green on this. It was deep and sparkly in person.

This is Saturday afternoon, and it's not even the peak of the crowd, that would be Saturday night. And this isn't even in the main part of town. I took it at 42x optical zoom.

On Saturday, we went back to the show (You pay once and can get in all three days) and went to Fort William Henry, which I was too sore to do on Friday.

I did a little more of the car show, but I was pretty much worn out at this point, so not much.
I did manage to find three cards in the vendor area, though.

Two cards from 1953-54 Topps World on Wheels, not sure why Topps reversed the name on the Talbot-Lago.

and the highlight for me, a card from 1970 Monogram! In '70, they included some cards in some of the Tom Daniel kits, and they are not easy to find. I've been a fan of Tom Daniel since...I don't know when....1994 I suppose, when Hot Wheels celebrated their 25th Anniversary and reissued some of their original designs from 1968. I later found out many of them were based off model kits, which I began building reissues of in 2000. So, I've been wanting them for a while...this is the first I've seen in person. Interestingly, Monogram issued a series of cards in 2000, which are also pretty scarce, but luckily I was building models by then so I was able to get some of them first hand. There's a chance that some of them are still hiding in a model box in my storage unit, too. Yes, I know this one is beat up, and water damaged, but considering how long I've been chasing after these...I'm going to take it and be happy. The dealer had some late 60s automotive postcards as well but they were in a little too rough shape for the price he was asking to bring them home.

One of the cooler parts of the trip is that I got to meet Bogi and Faye from All Girls Garage. That is one of my favorite shows on TV, it's only a half hour but they accomplish so much, in such a short time...and they do it in a straight forward way, with lots of confidence, competence, and no fake drama. I went in a fan, but after meeting them, I left even MORE of a fan.

I didn't know too much about Faye- on the left- because she just joined the show this season. I've been watching Bogi now for 2 years, since I got the channel. They were both great to talk to, and just cool people all around. Both own their own garages, which is highly impressive!

They signed my poster, which is going to be tough to store well, and I went back and they gladly signed the back of one of my buisness cards.

On the way home, we went to Hillbilly Golf in Fort Ann. This is a miniature golf course with two 18-hole circuits. One is around New York, the other is Hillbilly/farm themed. It's a lot of fun. We discovered it in 1997 on the ride to Vermont, and played it a few times...but my health doesn't really allow me to play miniature golf anymore. I really miss it. My brother volunteered to set and retrieve the balls for me, which is the only way I was able to do any of it at all. We did both sides. I can't remember for sure the last time we went, but it was a long time ago. So long ago that it predates us getting a digital camera, and we got that in 2003! It's still as fun and awesome as I remember it being.

 The bear statue, wearing a straw  hat with corncob pipe, which they used to sell and I still have mine- is holding an ice cream cone because they also sell that. I wasn't able to have any though.

 They still have the World Trade Center part of their Puttin' Through New York section.

 The 18th and final hole is Hockey in New York, with a somewhat crudely drawn cartoon Mike Richter. (meant more to be funny)

 They also have a map of hockey teams in NY, although it's of some dubious accuracy...they have the Rangers in Port Jervis, the Islanders in Yonkers...and Long Island is rather oddly shaped, too! But, they have a lot of humor built in to the place, so maybe that's by design.

 The Hillbilly Holes section is pure humor and Americana. The flower bearing skunk's tail goes up and down, which you are supposed to get the ball through.

 The goal is to get the ball in the hole in the outhouse...I was not successful but my brother was! I actually went into the outhouse and had my mom take a picture...I gotta get her to post that.

 On the way home, we were treated to a colorful sunset. This is exit #19 on the NYS Thruway, which puts it right around Kingston.

 I love seeing the lights on the cars at night...the moon is peeking out from behind the clouds on the upper left as well.

By time we got to Poughkeepsie, it was fully dark.

Here are my pictures from the trip overall: Lake George 2019
And here are my pictures from Hillbilly Golf

Thanks for reading.

Sets in my Collection #30: 1953-54 Topps World on Wheels

This is, by far, one of my favorite sets of all-time. I have been a car guy my entire life, I love cars. My family (both sides!) have been involved in every aspect of the automotive world since 1932, so I suppose it was destiny that I would get into cars. I've been collecting scale replicas of cars since I was roughly two years old, and I've only stopped in the last year because I had to- the money to pay for the medicine that keeps me alive had to come from somewhere.

My lifelong dream is to be a classic car owner, but I don't think it will ever happen.

This set was the second of Topps's first trifecta of vehicular sets, following 1952's Wings, and followed by 1955's Rails & Sails, which has proven to be the hardest of the three for me to locate.

This set is 180 cards, and it was issued over two years, with the second year being MUCH scarcer than the first year. The second year was issued in (apparently) late 1954 as it includes 1955 models, but as is well known, cars are labeled for the coming year, not the year they are actually produced.

I was once again lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and I now have 125 of the 180 cards in my collection, all from the first series. My highest numbered card is #159. I wasn't kidding when I said several posts ago that being in the right place at the right time is my best skill!

The set featured a wide variety of automotive subjects. Many of the cards depict cars from the pre-World War I era, which today is the rarest era of automobiles to see, and many people can go their entire lives without seeing anything from this era moving under it's own power. They were mixed in with new cars, concept cars, work vehicles, even some tanks! They really covered the entire world of the automobile, and of the many, many automotive sets that were produced up to around 1996, this one is by far the most all-inclusive. Probably why it's my favorite!

The cards are the same slightly larger than modern standard that was the Topps standard pre-1957.

Since I have so many, and since I love them so much, I am again going to post more than one front scan.

#16

#17

#37. It was either this card or the card I mentioned in the Wings post that was my first vintage card of any sort. I added both of them to my collection at card shows held in the local mall in the mid-1990s. Both of them were added to my collection before I began collecting the NBA, which was February 1996, but I don't remember which came first or exactly when I got either of the two cards. I do have a better example of this card in my collection but being the first this one has not been relegated to my duplicate stash.

#89

#101

#107

#132

The second series cards are, at least in part, available with either red or blue backs. Both are rare. The trip from NYC to Albany, at least by car, now takes about 5 hours.

Completing this series is less likely a prospect than the Wings set, as the second series cards are significantly rare, and can be pricey if they can be found. Overall, this set is not as easy to find as Wings is overall either, adding to the difficulty of completing the set.

COMC Christmas: Non-Sports

For Christmas 2017, my brother gave me $100 in COMC. I hit all of my collecting interests, but I spent the majority of the money on non-sports cards...vintage non-Sports. Mostly Pre-War...some of them being Pre-WWI, and one pre-Spanish American War!

Here they are, in the order of being scanned (not chronological)

1939 Player's Animals of the Countryside

2001 Inkworks Simpsons Mania Promo

1992 Impel DC Comics Hologram

1911 ATC Sights & Scenes of the World (Pan Handle Back)

1992 CMK Cars of the World

1910 Wills Drednaughts

1924 Player's Natural History

1930 Godfrey Phillips Evolution of the British Navy

1912 Wills Historic Events

1932 Wills Homeland Events

1932 Wills Homeland Events

1932 Wills Homeland Events

1915 Lambert & Butler Aviation

1931 Player's Poultry

1922 Wills Did You Know

1922 Wills Did You Know

1932 Lambert & Butler History of Aviation

1901 Ogden's Imperial or International Interest

1910 ATC Fish Series (Piedmont back)

1909-11 Hassan Animal Series

1909-11 Hassan Animal Series

1895 Arm & Hammer Beautiful Flowers

1910 ATC Flags of the World Silks

1953-54 Topps World on Wheels

1953-54 Topps World on Wheels

1956 Gum, Inc. Adventure

1994 Marvel Universe

1994 Marvel Universe

Some thoughts on the above cards:

• With the exception of 1992 DC, 1910 ATC Fish Series, 1953-54 World on Wheels and 1994 Marvel Universe, all of the other sets are brand new to my collection, although I got more than one card from some of them here.
• Several of the sets are non-sports sets but include some racing cards, which naturally I targeted for my collection. They still count as non-sports since they are just a couple (or less) of sports cards in a non-sport set.
• I know of only three cards that depict an Edsel, and I now have two of them in my collection, as well as one parallel. 
• I mentioned the two World of Wheels cards when I did my Non-Sports countdown, and the Apperson was the first card out of the box when the COMC order arrived, so you will see it again shortly when I post my Card of the Day project for January. 
• I decided to get some of the 1994 Marvel Universe cards I needed after ranking the set 4th in my countdown- I now need 4 left to complete the set. 
• The 1895 Arm & Hammer card is only my third card from the 1800s! Well, third and a half.
• The Parthenon card has a metallic gold border that looks like it came out of the 90s or 00s, not 1910s
• This is my first Silk. It's a somewhat forgotten subsection of non-sports cards that was popular briefly about 100 years ago. 
• The Stoat did not come in a can. 

I'm going to get 4 or 5 posts out of the cards I purchased with the gift my brother gave me, but this is probably my favorite post. I believe it's also the first time I've gotten a squirrel and an Edsel into the same post- two of my absolute favorite subjects!