The Art of The Automotive Lifestyle Car Show, Part 1

As this olelongrooffan mentioned here, I stumbled on an absolutely awe inspiring car show a couple weeks ago.  I mean I have been to many car shows over the years and they all are pretty cool but this one had over a thousand vehicles in it and the diversity was astounding.

I mean Counters, just check out the variety here



An 80's era El Camino with '57 Chevy panels attached.



A Meyers-Manx dune buggy



A Series II Jaguar XKE



A late '60 Ford Ranchero and yes, that is a Cadillac Allante in the background.



A rare chrome bumper Triumph TR6.



A 70's era Lincoln Versailles



A vintage, and highly desirable, Toyota FJ Land Cruiser.



A '63 or '64 Pontiac Bonneville convertible



with these awesome wheels!



A 1959 Triumph TR3A.



The rare CJ2A around these here parts thejeepjunkie hasn't or doesn't own!



And this olelongrooffan has not even left the parking lot yet!

Man, I was able, that day, to have a blast and

Celebrate Life.

1959 Triumph TR3A, Hey I've Been Busy

So this olelongrooffan has gone and done it again.  I am a guest contributor on yet another blog.  This one is really cool though and, yes, it is car related.  It's called Curbside Classic, kind of similar to my What I Saw Today series but way cooler.  A couple weeks ago I attended a super cool car show with thejeepjunkie and did some posts both on Curbside Classic as well as in the Hooniverse.  I thought I would pop up this one I did for 1959 week over on CC and share it with those Counting Along With Me.

Ahh....1959...the year in which my Mom and Dad both conceived and brought this longrooffan into the "Year of the Fin."

I arrived home from St. John's Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri in my Mother's lap while riding in an off white two door 1958 Chevy Belair hardtop. And not a seat belt nor a car seat in sight! Being the seventh child (of ultimately 10), this was not an unusual experience for my folks!

Incidentally, sharing my birth year were fellow Curbdweller jpcavanaugh (welcome aboard!), Barbie, Food Stamps, The Coppertone Girl, and Coors gave birth to the aluminum can. And a little known fact, Ford beat Chrysler in a court battle for the use of the Falcon nameplate!

But I am certain my Curbdwelling friends don't really want to take a stroll down memory lane with this olelongrooffan. Let's talk about some really cool stuff. Like Cars. From 1959. "The Year of the Fin."

Yes, the "Year of the Fin." In my opinion, 1959 represented the ultimate in design excess, especially when it came to the rear end of General Motors offerings. But I still like them. Alot.

A couple of extreme representatives of this styling were the 59 Impala, with its huge picnic table like horizontal fins as shown above. It is interesting, the 57 Chevy's had huge vertical fins, the 58 I rode home in sported angular fins leading to the 59's huge horizontal ones. Transistional styling direction by GM back in the day seemed to be the case.

And I don't know about you but I think Paul's most recent CC Clue has to be somewhere on that 59 Impala. I just can't find it.

And these even larger vertical fins offered by Cadillac that model year. This was the most extreme fin offered on a production car (the Rocket Cars weren't production) to date and lasted only one model year. But a hell of a lot of them were built and are still around. Just look at the shadow cast by that driver's side fin on the trunk as captured in the last afternoon sun down here in the Sunshine State a year or so ago!

But, as the headline suggests, this is not about fins or, for that matter, something even constructed here in the United States for that model year. No, this is about my favorite '50's era sports car, the Triumph TR3A.

All jokes about Lucas Electrics, jars of smoke and oil leaks aside, these cars represented a break through in the offering of modern British sports cars in the United States.

There were several remarkable items included in 1957 redesign of the Triumph TR including the wind deflectors on the windscreen,

As well as secondary set screws to hold the bonnet in place. Yeah, one of these on each side of the hood to provide a backup to the standard latch.

This one possesses the optional luggage rack on the rear deck. I always wanted to get one of these cool items for the deck of my E30 convertible. And see that removable panel to which the license plate is attached? Stay tuned for more on that.

Last year while I was out and about I spotted this white one at a show down in Cocoa Beach. It, unlike the red one I saw a couple weeks ago, possesses steel wheels as opposed to the optional wire wheels on the red one.

Under its hood there were twin SU carburetors attached to that 1991 cc (2.0L) product of the, what was at that time still independent, Triumph Motor Company in Coventry, England.

This one also contained the optional rear seat although it is suitable for a couple bags of groceries and maybe a small pet.

And remember that panel I pointed out earlier? Behind it is the spare tire. Between it and the petrol tank, there is probably not a whole lot of trunk room in this little sweetie.

About 15 years ago, my Dad sent me a thick scrapbook of old car ads, old car stories and other miscellaneous old car print material. One of the items contained within that scrapbook is a copy of an article titled "Stars and Their Cars." Included in that article was this image of Anne Francis, of Hollywood fame, posed on the bonnet of her Triumph, although this one is an earlier TR model as is evidenced by the "small" grill on its nose.

And in a final somewhat related note, the above photo is of a good friend posed on the front of his 1958 Morris Garages MGA, a direct competitor to the Triumph TR3A, back in the day. This was his first car and to this day he laments ever selling it! Sound familiar? Also, just check out all those Curbside Classic's just down the street!

(digital images by longrooffan, photos courtesy Robert G. Lee, TomK)

The Glass Is Still More Than Half Full

This weekend, this olelongrooffan made the six hour trip down to FantasyLand to substitute for TheGoodAttorney in the presentation of a Construction Continuing Education Course.  (He's a new Godfather and attended a Baptism on Saturday afternoon, on the beach, in flip flops. This is Florida afterall.)

On the way out of town, I spotted this almost used up longroof and had to stop and get a few images of it for an upcoming blog.

And just down the street from it, I spotted this now rare Porsche 924.

Once this olelongrooffan had gotten down the Eisenhower Interstate System's 95 and headed east on its 75, nature took its course.  I stopped at a boat launch facility out there in the Everglades and had a meeting with Mother Nature.

While there, I captured this grainy image of Florida's other main attraction, an alligator.  That is it, just off the other bank of this canal, about 40 feet from this longrooffan.

After doing that class in Naples, I headed up to Sarasota to teach another one on Sunday.  Although this longrooffan did not have a specific motel to stay in, once I saw this one on US 41, I had no choice but to stay there. 

Hey, I'm the longrooffan, not Rockefeller!!

Anyway, as I was strolling down the Tamiami Trail find a restaurant, I looked in the parking lot adjacent and saw this image. 

Well, I am certain those of you Counting Along With Me know that this olelongrooffan was in that parking lot in an instant!

According to one of the drivers of these classic Model "A"s, the Orlando Model "A" club had ventured over to Sarasota to visit the Sarasota Auto Museum and I happened to catch them at their motel of choice this weekend.

I even spotted, what I believe to be, a 34 Ford four door ragtop.  It was beautiful.

The location where the Sarasota class was is directly across the street from the weekly swap meet the city puts on and during one of the many breaks in this class, this olelongrooffan ventured over and

picked up the three Tonka Corvettes in the above image.  These were included with a Tonka car hauler back in 60's and should bring a few bucks for Happy Hour offerings to the Taj Mahal.  No, Bus, that Chevy Stake Truck from TomP (RIP) is not leaving the Taj Mahal any time soon!!

But even better, I also picked up, from the same seller during that $20 negotiation process, these three vintage Japanese tin cars.  All of the self propelled motors work on them and other than some cosmetic issues are in great shape.  Ebay, here this olelongrooffan comes!

Now this olelongrooffan can hear all ya'll commenting the glass seems a lot more than 1/2 full.  A couple relatively lucrative days teaching those classes, a night in the Cadillac motel, scoring some easily sold toys on ebay.....Hell longroof what's up with that 1/2 full cr*p?

Well Counters, when this olelongrooffan turned off the ignition of my Comanche at my chosen place of rest that Saturday,

this usually bulletproof mechanical starter relay under the hood of that 25 year old means of transportation decided it had had enough and refused to allow this olelongrooffan to start that ride up again. 

Well, after tinkering around for an hour or so, thejeepjunkie was summoned on my massive, high tech communications system.  We strategized about the problem for another hour or so, with no success.

So, here this olelongrooffan is, 192 miles from home, unable to start my primary means of transportation and no idea what the h*ll is wrong with it.

And even though all of that above statement is true,

This is the welcome sight this olelongrooffan saw after teaching that class all morning and early afternoon long. 

That's right Counters, thejeepjunkie and TheGoodAttorney made the fire burning SUV sighting  on I-75 and the tuner car fatal accident on I-4 round trip to rescue this olelongrooffan.  Plus, thejeepjunkie was able to source the needed part at 5:30 on a Sunday afternoon and get my old Indian back on the road so this olelongrooffan can get my sorry *ss to work on time tomorrow.

That, Counters, is why the Glass Is Half Full and this olelongrooffan can still

Celebrate Life.

Sorry This olelongrooffan Hasn't Been Around Much Lately

I've been busy

remembering to

Celebrate Life.

Stay Tuned.

What I Saw Today

So this olelongrooffan was out and about trying to find a driver's side mirror for a 2005 Chevy Tahoe for a friend of mine.  $410 at a junkyard.  Ouch!!

Anyway next door to that junkyard was an old time Muffler Man and I thought you Counters out there might like to see it.

That's it for today but know seeing this rare sight sure lets this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life!

Whatcha Been Doing?

Well Counters, this olelongrooffan must submit an apology to all of you Counting Along With Me. I have been a bit AWOL on By The Numbers this past month.

As I have mentioned previously, I Have A Job and it has been keeping me busy.

Plus between Biketoberfest, The Daytona Beach Dream Cruise, talking about my new truck, The Winter Park Concours and this past Thanksgiving weekend, The Turkey Rod Run, this olelongrooffan has been slammed.

Plus hosting Happy Hour for thejeepjunkie and TheGoodAttorney. Oh yeah, I also installed baseboard in a 2,800 square foot lived in home.

Yeah, I've Been Busy.

And this olelongrooffan did not even wish you Counters a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope yours was fun, fulfilling, and plentiful.

But I bet a whole bunch of money I don't have that none of you did what this olelongrooffan considers himself lucky enough to do on Thanksgiving Day, 2010.

I went to the Daytona International Speedway for the largest automotive swap meet in the southeastern part of these great United States of America.

I woke up Thanksgiving morning, Gave a Prayer of Thanks, showered, put on a pair of khaki shortpants, my "Ford" logo clad oxford shirt, sensible walking shoes and packed a cooler with el cheap diet cokes and bottled water acquired from my local Dollar Store, stuffed it in a backpack I own courtesy of the Kid, headed out to my means of transport for the weekend and made the 20 minute trip to The Speedway.

As I am local to the area, I knew how to get to the Daytona International Speedway and park in the nearly vacant parking lot of the NASCAR headquarters building across International Speedway Boulevard without even getting on ISB, fully laden with touristas.
So I parked TheGoodAttorney's classic 69 Ford Bronco in that lot and headed across that boulevard, utilized my "Get In Free" card and got into that facility with my free refreshment bearing backpack in tow.

As this olelongrooffan walked across the plywood layed upon that newly paved tri-oval I got this shot of it to share with all you Counters out there.
I wandered over to the open air garages where all the legendary race cars are and saw a whole bunch of the same cars so I quickly headed out to the swap meet area to see what was to be seen.

This olelongrooffan has been attending this event for many years but this is the first time I recollect
seeing these ALMS series race cars advertising the Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring which occurs in early March down in Sebring, Florida.
I passed by the Hemmings Motor News booth hawking all of their excellent publications.
And got on out to the grass portion of the infield to see all the quirky stuff that was available, should you need it.
Anybody need a $50 light bar to impersonate a cop?

I then spotted a late 40's Morris, one of which I had seen a couple weeks earlier at the Winter Park Concours.


And Counters this is a mere example of what can be seen in the vendor booths out there in the grass infield.
Willys Station Wagons, trim rings, hub caps off the Bus's old Burb, dashboards, consoles and whatnot.

Oh yeah, any body need some old car bodies?
I also spotted this Aerodeck Monte Carlo that NASCAR required in order to get Chevrolet into NASCAR racing in the late 1980's.
This toy and memorabilia possessing booth always captures the attention of this olelongrooffan. By the way, see that ride upon dump/tow truck on the closest corner of that table?
It was in that location last year and sports it again this year. I wonder if the $375 price tag might have something to do with that?

See that sweet little convertible in the following image. How about a Crosley Hot Shot Super Sport ragtop for your driving pleasure?


I don't remember alot about this old speed boat except that it was a 1957 model. But see those rope encased glass balls?Those are what were used as bobbers for submerged crap traps down around these parts before plastic or styrofoam balls were invented.

And a sweet ole El Camino just because I liked it enough to capture an image of it.
One of the last booths I checked out had this cool old "Big Boy" burgers mascot along with a whole bunch of old signs. And know, they were not cheap. In the far left of this image you can make out the *ss end of a coin operated riding horse that was listed at $1,250!
And once this olelongrooffan decided to head out, I was walking down an aisle and spotted, in a partitioned off area, the tools used to repave the Daytona International Speedway.And, Counters, that was my Thanksgiving Day, 2010. Well, this olelongrooffan did head over to Bellair Plaza to meet up with thejeepjunkie later but that is a whole 'nother blog.

And while it may be not your cup of tea, this is how this olelongrooffan can really

Celebrate Life.