"Texas Dream Cruise" car show

Yesterday's intense heat and humidity didn't keep me or about a thousand other people away from a new car show in town, the Texas Dream Cruise.  They did a great job of advance publicity and had a good turnout of interesting cars, but otherwise they were obvious amateurs....ex: no marque organization, and worst of all, no vendors selling water.  (Or if they were there they were stuck off in some corner where nobody could find them.)  Luckily I took my own.  The Frisco FD was there hauling people like crazy on their little golf cart/ambulance rigs.  They'll figure it out.

Now, for the cars....

There seem to be a lot of British classics in North Texas, which suits me just fine.  This MGA was especially nice.

My kind of Christmas ornaments!

While it's not British Racing Green, this TR6 works just fine for me.  Except for the Gubment Baby Buggy Bumpers.

This Austin Healey Bug Eye Sprite wasn't the most authentically restored, but it definitely had the sweetest sounding engine.  And the owner of this fixed up this one....

....an early MGB for his daughter.  Lucky girl!  (Or is it an early MG Midget?)

A Jaguar XKE Coupe.  Doesn't it look like that hood just goes on forever?  And it's not a camera angle trick.  It really does.

The Italians had a substantial presence, too.  Here's a nice Fiat 124, complete with that gubment mandated locomotive-cattle-catcher front bumper hanging out there.  Ugh!

This Alfa Romeo Giulia GT makes all the area shows, but I'm impressed enough with it I'll offer it to you once again.

While conventional wisdom says Ferrari's should be red, I must admit sometimes they look good in Screaming Yellow, too.

Of course I found a Fiat 500.  ;)

A Fiat X19....with that darn bumper again!

How about something weird and wacky?

I love these little oddball micro cars.  This is an absolutely showroom perfect BMW Isetta 300.

Yep, that's all there is.

0 to 60 in....umm....NEVER!

How cool is this Ford Woody?

And it gets better....

There were lots of hot rods there, too.  This was probably my favorite.

Yikes!  Somebody paid money for this kit?  *gag*

Here's something you don't see every day, complete with matching fuzzy dice.  Exactly what color would you call that?  

"My udder car is a '57 Cheevy!"  :)

A Chevrolet Corvair, the car that made Ralph Nader famous after he wrote "Unsafe At Any Speed".  This one looks unsafe sitting still.

This is about the closest I could find to my first cool car, a '71 Camaro.  I believe this is an RS, where mine was an SS.  It was fast....

....but not as fast as this Sebring Daytona.  And finally....

....whatever happened to the "thrill of the chase"?  *wink*

Next Saturday....Cars and Coffee.  ;)

S

Cars and Coffee, June, 2013

If this month's Cars and Coffee lineup was a sports team, I'd say their starting lineup showed lots of talent, but their bench was weak.  It's no secret I like old sports cars, and those seemed to me to be in short supply.  

Of course my friend Robert was there with his immaculate Jaguar E-Type V-12.  (Truth in journalism....this photo was from a few months ago.)

This superb Austin Healey 3000 had me drooling.

The Italians were well represented:  This Alfa Romeo Spyder was nice, but fell short of what I would call pristine.  Maybe it's a project in the works?

This Alfa Romeo Alfasud was a gem!

So was this award-winning Alfa Romeo Montreal, another Cars and Coffee regular attendee.

I took this one for Doug, who I know is a Porsche 928 fan.

While not at all exotic, I'd take this MGB in a heartbeat.  Much maligned by some, I was always rather fond of them.

And another British Leyland product, a Triumph Stag.

Now for some newer aluminum:  There were several new Jaguar F-Types there.  This is the first time I'd seen one "in the flesh".  IMO the front end looks nice....

....but the rear end looks spectacular!  ;)

The newest Ferrari Supercar was presented to me here today, too.....the LaFerrari.  While I like it, it looks like it would probably be a royal hassle to get the groceries into and out of the back seat.  I'd better pass.

Not to be upstaged was the McLaren MP4-12C Spider.

BAM!!  Fiat 500.  Didn't see it coming, did you?  ;)

OK, there's "oddly eccentric" and then there's "bizarre".  This would fall into the latter category.  It's a Lamborghini Murcielago painted up by the owner as a rolling billboard for his "violin for hire" business.  (Oh....California plates.  'Nuff said.)

A Mercedes 220 inviting us to join in a picnic.

Hmmm....I wonder where he got the idea?

Lots of Detroit iron present, the most interesting being this '57 T-Bird.

And now back to that "oddly eccentric" thing I mentioned...how about this '91 (UK market only) Datsun ____.  (Can't remember the name.  Somebody help me out?)

For his mother-in law?  (Bad news, dude.  She fell out.)

And if not one of the best restored cars on display yesterday...

....it certainly had one of the most interesting owners.  This is Rob, an Englishman by birth, now retired and living north of Dallas where he buys and restores these fun micro-cars.  The one pictured is a '50's vintage Isetta "limousine" (because it was "stretched" for a back seat) built under license by BMW.  He also showed me a photo of the body of a car which is his next project and asked any of us standing nearby if we could identify it.  I did....it was a Citroen 2CV....and we struck up a lengthy conversation afterwards.

Turns out he's also a pilot....see his DC-3 belt buckle?  He became an aircraft mechanic after WWII, then worked for an air freight company this side of the pond, then learned to fly and started his own air freight business hauling mostly auto parts.

And here's where it gets almost freaky....we've worked together at airshows!  He flew his DC-3 as a jump plane (for the opening act parachute/flag ceremony) at the Dallas Air Show where I was the Ramp Boss.  We laughed about how his pre-jump streamer-drop (to gauge the wind for the parachutists) landed about 3 blocks east of Lemon Avenue.  Ha!  What fun reminiscing with this fine gentleman.

That's enough for this time.  If they have a Cars and Coffee event where you live, go see it.  And if they don't, come see me and I'll take you to ours.  I promise lots of fun.  :)

S