Monday, April 12, 2010

2010 Spring Fling

A couple weeks ago, down here in the Birthplace of Speed, we had the annual Spring Fling. It is like a mini Turkey Rod Run.

On Thursday, before Happy Hour at the Taj Mahal, this olelongrooffan had taken my olestationbus down to Bellair Plaza to camp out for the weekend. I had taped a description of it to the front windshield along with a $4,000 price tag.

On Friday, this olelongrooffan decided to stay away from the track and save my $10 admission money for Saturday. The Kid, thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan did, that Friday night, head down to Bellair Plaza for an evening's worth of viewing and libation.

Saturday morning, this olelongrooffan woke up, had me some viddles and a shower and set off for the Daytona International Speedway.

This time, this olelongrooffan parked in the free parking lot of the newly constructed NASCAR office tower located across International Speedway Blvd. from the track, paid my ten bucks and wandered on in.

One of the first things this olelongrooffan spotted was the cool old Dodge Panel Van. At first I thought it was a power wagon until I read what is written on the side of that hood. 48DodgeFord84. Oh well, still a cool truck and a 4x4 this olelongrooffan would hoon all over my beach.

There are several dudes, no, not this guy, who build dioramas for sale and in an effort to continue to be artsy fartsy, I shot this image of a pretty cool 1/24 scale garage.

This olelongrooffan's favorite part of both this event and the Turkey Rod Run is Swap Meet area of the event. Although my cyber friend, Jesse, calls it the used parts section.

No matter what it is called, there is some pretty cool sh*t to be found out there in the grassy area. Yeah, things like this early 70's era 4wd crew cab 1 ton Ford pickup in immaculate condition. I didn't have an opportunity to talk to the owner but it is very nice. Both thehorsefarmer and I would totally hoon that. And remember that '63 Ford pickup fender leaning against the front wheel of that Beast.

Just down a piece, this olelongrooffan spotted these rarities. An old Jaguar and a Ferrari Daytona. When I got up close to them, each of them had a Ford 302 motor stuck in them!! WTF?

And this is a cool old Ford go cart that all of us would love to hoon around!! No price tag though.

But do you remember that fender?

Up until the time I saw this contraption, this olelongrooffan thought that only Volkswagons provided the donor chassis for dune buggies. Well, I soon learn that Corvair supplied them also.

Now this olelongrooffan has this to say about that.

There were over 21 million Volkswagon Beetles built and just 1.8 million Corvairs built. Personally I would rather see a live in the flesh stock Corvair and would have preferred the cleaner lines, as opposed to the *ss heavy rear end shown here, that a VDub based dune buggy would have provided.

This one gets a FAIL.

Okay, this olelongrooffan will step off the soapbox now.

I then saw this uber cool old Suburban that I am sure the Bus would like to have.

It was real nice and it reminded me that this olelongrooffan had forgotten to post this image of the younger brother of that Burb I had spotted at the 2009 Turkey Run.

Yeah, and that youngster has a cool trailer also!!

And a coastal central Florida version of a redneck motorhome.


As this olelongrooffan was walking around I spotted this

action going on and it reminded me of what this I had seen last month.

Sorry Counters, this olelongrooffan just doesn't get it.

However, I immediately spotted this and all was well, once again.

That green bug had these cool turn signal indicators and the interior rear view mirror was a mini surfboard. Not quite stock but Yeah, it was sweet.

And the front end of an old Chevelle with a glass bar top was pretty cool also.

It kinda reminded me of this.

Hey Bus, this olelongrooffan had just a few days previous had a conversation with you about your purchase of a new 8N, with no cracked block. Well, these dudes wanted $1,800 a piece for these swamp buggy tires.


Over in the hoydy-toydy section of the paved garage area, this olelongrooffan spotted a recreation of a sweet old Ferrari.

Now, as those of you Counting Along With Me know, I am the olelongrooffan, not the oleferrarifan. I like the older ones but I have forgotten what the actual designation is of this one.

I am leaning toward a 1959 Testa Rossa but, as usual, this olelongrooffan had forgotten to record it.

But the $258,000 price tag is well remembered. That and its beauty.

At one booth I stopped and picked up a few cheap stickers for the roof of the Bus's bus at a haberdashery. While there, this olelongrooffan spotted these.

And it brought up a lump in my throat.

You see Counters, my dad, TheGentlemanFarmer, used to wear a set of bright red Budweiser suspenders to every formal Lee family event he went to. He especially loved to wear them under his tuxedo jacket at every one of his younger kid's weddings or his grandkid's graduations. He wore that set to my wedding as well as my younger sisters' and brother's weddings.

Appropriately, my brother, thehorsefarmer, owns them these days. That was the first time my heart strings were tugged for many a moon over his demise and this olelongrooffan is sure thankful TheGentlemanFarmer provided me all he did, including my passion for all things automotive.

Anyway, I put the hanky away and decided this olelongrooffan should call it a day over at the track

and head on back to the Taj Mahal to rest up for another evening down at Bellair Plaza.

There were a few vehicles this olelongrooffan had seen before but, by and large, there was a ton of new old stuff.

Like this lowered mid 50's blue oval pickup.

And out in front of Ruby Tuesday's I spotted this Mopar oleragtop.

Until I got up to it. It's not an oleragtop, it's topless.

Yeah, some hoon had taken a four door sedan, cut the roof off and cut the back doors out. It was freakish.

Another Mopar, this one an Imperial from the Malaise Era, specifically 1981.

It is a pretty rare car especially with the Shaker option provided by Mopar that year.

And, of course, this iconic roadster.

It was as pretty on the inside as it was on the outside.


WTF? Not just Camaros but El Caminos also?


This Imperial is currently owned by a car dealer over on the mainland in Daytona Beach. I saw it at the track during the 2009 Turkey Run and the price marked on the windshield was "$5,995.00" A week last, this olelongrooffan saw it on his lot and the price marked on the windshield was "$4,995.00". Now it's going for "$6,995.00".

Today, this olelongrooffan saw it again, back on his lot for "$4,995.00". Greedy B*stard could have probably gotten his "$4,995.00", apparently the price he is willing to accept if he had it on that luxobarge the whole time.

Needless to say, this olelongrooffan is not going to be purchasing any vehicles from that dude.

This is a mid 70's Pontiac Astre long roof with a V-8 stuffed in it. It is a pretty color and in mint condition.


I love the first generation Buick Riviera. I remember, as a kid, that one of my folks friends, a tall dark thin dude, and I think a bachelor, owned one of these in black.

I have loved them ever since.


Now, this olelongrooffan is pretty impressed with the engineering here. This guy to a bone stock second gen Corvair Monza and mated it with a Corvette chassis and drivetrain.

Although, not stock, it retains the stock look, is well engineered, has a perfect stance and sound.

Yeah, this one gets a PASS.

I'm pretty sure TheGentlemanFarmer had one of these with a camper shell on it back in the early 80's.

His had a V-8 though. And, man, was that camper shell heavy as h*ll.


I had to get a couple shots of this rare old Mercury Meteor. This olelongrooffan really likes the lines of it.

I hadn't seen one of those old under dash, aftermarket air conditioning units in a quite a while.

Meteor S 33.

Just to get a little artsy fartsy once again, this is the fender mounted turnsignal indicator.



A legendary American Motors AMX. This one would be a '68 as in '69 they did not have the Pontiac looking split grill and in '70 they had inboard mounted auxilary driving lights.

But it was real nice.

And another American Motors product. This one is an Eagle. The owner tried to trade to me for my olestationbus. If it were the 4wd version, this olelongrooffan would have asked thejeepjunkie for permission. As it wasn't, I politely declined his offer.


Check out this hood ornament. Can you guess what vehicle it is located on?

It is the aunt to the two previous vehicles.

A Rambler American. The first one this olelongrooffan has ever seen.

It definitely is yellow and well turned out.


This is a longroof for which this olelongrooffan has serious lust. Only the distance between me and $12,500.00 kept it from following me back to the Taj Mahal.


This one I particularly liked and enjoyed seeing it. A bone stock, original, 1955 4 door post sedan. Patina and all!


My dad, TheGentlemanFarmer, must have been with me in spirit today. He owned one of these

Dodge Ramchargers back in the day. He got a great deal on it as it had fallen off a train.

Unfortunately, there was no warranty on it, much to the chagrin of TheGentlemanFarmer just a couple years down the road.

And for the upscale redneck.


The next two trucks are another exercise in quality engineering.

Bagged and slammed.

A funky Ford based grille on the one above.

This was the bed of the bowtie shown first.

And the *ss end of the blue oval offering. Recognize those blinker surrounds? If not, go the first or last image in this blog. And the red lenses look to be from a '59 Galaxie.


The next day, back out at the track, I spotted this immaculate Commanche pickup. Wish I still had mine.


A picture of this cool FC was on the dashboard.

Across the camping lot, I spotted a cousin to my olestationbus. Incidentally, there is a plaque just like the one in the below image hanging on the wall at the Taj Mahal.

It is in excellent shape and the right color.



As bare bones dash as my olestationbus but this one has a glove box cover, optional on the 1963 Ford Falcon Station Bus.

And this guy beat the price of admission by camping out in it!



Since thejeepjunkie wouldn't let me buy a 1995 Buick Roadmaster longroof for $2,900.00, this disappointed olelongrooffan decided to head to the Taj Mahal.

On the way out, I stopped and got a couple gratuitous shots of some old school race cars.




And if the guy who collected my phone number off that information sheet and called me a few days later about my olestationbus, apparently he smoked a lot of cannibus in his back in the '70's, anyway, if he calls me back and buys my olestationbus,

this olelongrooffan is going to get a conventional longroof and really

Celebrate Life.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

i love decal stickers on race cars.. Specially on red car it look amazing