What a great day for an early morning cruise to Albany.

As you drove in they put you in a class and they handed you your dash card with the class letter filled out … but they didn’t take any money (so if you park and don’t make your way to registration it would be free for you). They have folks there to help you park and then if you want a golf cart ride up to registration.

I rolled in at 8:15 and was car 45. There were about 20 cars parked in the shaded spots, but then they parked me by the road on the grass (I’m not sure if I needed to ask, or if there was a secret Lion’s handshake to get some shade).

The DJ had a set of speakers in the parking lot and one remote one that they only turned on for announcements. If you were on the far end it was hard to hear anything. The DJ also was transmitting on an FM channel so you could tune in the car show if you wanted too.

The door prizes were pretty much all automotive things and ~20 gift certificates to local places (I picked up an “Imported from Detroit” shirt) and you picked your own prize. So if you didn’t want a gift card for a free oil change from Bubba’s Oil in Albany, then don’t pick it up and move on (I would like to see this at more shows).

After setting up and quick wipe down the judging was on! And I’m not kidding! By 8:45 I saw them Judging cars (I have no clue as to how they knew if a car was ready for judging).

I was actually at my car when it was judged. It was done in teams of two and I saw one of the judges drop down and look under both sides of my car and under the back end. They spent about 3 minutes going over it and discussing each part.

As for food, in the morning if you wanted coffee and donuts or a breakfast sandwich you just walked over to the gas station at the end of the lot. As for car show eats, they had the typical car show, burgers, brats and dogs, but they also had pulled pork, turkey and beef sandwiches and ice cream … all reasonably priced (1 dollar for a dog, a water, a twist cone or a beer).

There is a bun under there somewhere!

By Noon they had close to 250 cars, because the car show area was full, and there were cars (cars that you typically see in the show and spectator cars) parked on the side of the road from the Lion’s Building to the road you turned on to get to the show. The Spectator lot was full which was evident due to the amount of foot traffic.

Record year that is for sure (another show with a record attendance). It is nice to see so many folks interested in our hobby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X69k4AGPvZ4&feature=youtu.be

By 12:30 I thought I was sitting in an oven and I picked up my chair and went to the shade under the trees. After about 30 minutes in the shade I had enough and packed up and hit the road with my AC on… I sure do hope they had the awards early, because it was a hot one today …

This is a 1973 Ford Falcon XB right hand drive from Australia

So, when I walked into my house after work today I see a trophy at the top of the stairs … from the Albany show. My wife said it was sitting outside the door with a note on it and there was a message on the answering machine.

Wow is all I can say! That is pretty cool that they were willing to drive it all the way out to Madison! Most (if not all shows I attend) just move down the list to the next owner.

My hats off to the Albany show!