For those of you who don't know, in addition to making props and costumes and my one weekend a month in the Navy Reserve, I spend a bunch of time volunteering as an adult leader with the local Sea Scout ship. Sea Scouts, for the uninitiated, are essentially the nautical branch of the Boy Scouts of America. A co-ed program that teaches young adults all about teamwork, leadership, responsibility, and all sorts of valuable things while aboard ship. It's a great program.
It's also an expensive program with a lot of high-maintenance equipment involved. In order to cover the cost of running the ship and keeping everything in safe working order (without having to resort to constant bake sales and whatnot) the unit does much of its fundraising by running the parking concession at the local fair. We've gotten pretty good at it over the years and our problem-free management of the lot means that the kids get invited to run things every time there's a special event at the local fairgrounds.
A couple of weekends ago, the Rip City Riders motorcycle club hosted their annual car show at the Petaluma Fairgrounds. After a quick rush to get everything set up, we had all of the entrances to the lot manned and started selling parking spaces for the day. Before too long it was pretty clear that the situation was well in hand, being taken care of by stony-faced professionals like these:
Since it seemed like everybody had things under control, I took a few minutes to walk through the car show to see if there was anything on display that I couldn't possibly live without. There were all sorts of interesting vehicles on display with seemingly no real rhyme or reason. One of the first things that really caught my eye was this MG:
It was also pretty cool to see a replica of the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard:
Further down the row of 70's muscle cars that didn't do anything for me was this mechanical monstrosity:
It was a bit much. I figure if you're just looking for attention, this guy's got the right idea:
If shiny is more appealing, this Studebaker was pretty cool:
I really loved the bodywork on this guy:
It seems like every car show I go to has at least a few of these:
I don't really see a lot of these gassers around anymore, but this one was fun:
I really love the color choice on this Vette:
My uncle used to have one of these kicking around in his shop for at least a couple of years, so I have always had a soft spot for it:
There were a few other less, interesting things to see in the show, so after walking around a bit I was almost ready to commit and say that my favorite would probably have been this one:
Except somebody showed up with a tank:
Tank always wins.
This past weekend was my monthly dose of naval reserve time. On Saturday afternoon, I bolted as soon as we were cut loose in order to catch the tail end of Billetproof Northern California, billed as "The world's least important car show."
I caught just about the same amount of last years Billetproof as well. It's held at the fairgrounds in Antioch, California and the criteria for entry are very specific:
- 1964 and prior TRADITIONAL style rods and customs ONLY
- No visible billet anything! Especially wheels!
- No digital gauges
- No IFS on fenderless cars
- No trailer queens
- No mag wheels made after the 60's
- No high tech styled, pastel heart beat graphic, tweed interior, fenderless IFS sporting hot rods
- Traditional looking choppers and bobbers ONLY! (No modern West Coast Choppers, OCC style bikes)
So basically, if you're looking to check out hot rods and rat rods made they way they used to be made by a group of purists, this is the place to be.
By the time I got there, cars were already starting to trickle out. Still, there were quie a few eye-catchers. I only had my little point-and-click camera, but I managed to get a few good pics all the same:
This one I saw last year, but I still like it. I guess I'm a sucker for bare metal finishes:
I walked around the whole show and was amazed at some of the very bold color decisions a few of the owners had made:
There were tons of beautifully painted cars and trucks, but I really loved the pinstriping on this one:
Here's a closeup shot:
At the opposite end of the spectrum there were a few really interesting rat rods:
The rat rods are interesting to look at, but the real fun is found in the details. Like the cigar-smoking Tiki god in the grill of this one:
There were plenty of other creations rolling around too, like this monster truck styled Radio Flyer:
Or this vintage scooter with sidecar:
Almost as much fun as the cars was the crowd. The people who show up at these things are always intriguing. Take for example this guy who has found the ultimate solution to male-pattern baldness:
There were plenty of women walking around in pinup couture all glammed up and posing for pictures. The best looking one by far was this young lady:
The best-looking car by far was this chopped and lowered Rolls Royce:
After I'd been there for almost two hours, I caught this shot of Dad loading his Simplex Servi-Cycles into the back of his rat rod:
So I missed most of it, but hopefully I got to see the best of it.
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