Sometimes dreams DO come true

 There is one constant in all of my life, and that is my love of cars. I don't really know why cars resonate with me so much, but they do, and have my entire life. 

For many years I have had the dream of being able to enter a car show, not just spectate. I've been attending car shows since I was a little kid being pushed in a stroller, but they actually caused me some anguish too, as I've gotten older and my health has gotten worse. 

I am not able to drive or work on old cars. It seemed like I would never be able to achieve that dream. I thought it would be always out of reach, that I would always be on the outside looking in. 

Until tonight! 

My brother needed a new car, and ended up buying a 1989 Cadillac Coupe DeVille off one of his coworkers, and he began driving it today. Today also happened to be the weekly cruise-in in Hyde Park, NY, and we took the Cadillac...and entered it! While it's not "my" car, I still got to go and be a part of the show. 

It was truly a dream come true! 

Me with the car

Me putting the show registration under the windshield wiper

Our car, in the car show for the first time! 

Seeing it in the background of other car photos is still a thrill...and I have to be honest, I aimed it specifically so it would be. 

There it is again!

Looking at some of the rest of the show while standing behind the Cadillac

After the awards were announced the cars left in droves, lol. We stayed until 8:30 but there were few cars left and the bugs were starting to decide I was a good place to land and walk around so we left too.

By the time we got done in the store there were very few cars left in the show. 

Here are a couple of my favorite cars that weren't ours

1940 Plymouth pickup, very rare

1948-52 Ford F-3, I don't know which year exactly. The hood design tells what year is which but I can't remember which year is which design.

and it's matching trailer

Here are all the pictures I took from tonight: June 12th, 2024 Hyde Park Cruise

The plan is to be a regular at our two local cruises. But this will always be the first, and I already know I'm going to wake up tomorrow and wonder if this really happened or if it was just an awesome dream! 

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!