End of day 2 … Overcast, 1 five minute sprinkle, light breeze …. high of about 90 … missed all of the rain in northern IL.
The site for the show was huge! There were about 400 cars that showed up. They also host a VetteFest in Sept and they typically get about 10,000 vettes. They have 3 huge perfectly mowed fields with PA towers in all the right places … there was zero issues with hearing things … They also recently put in a large concrete stage with a dance floor. This place is set up for the perfect car show location with a no expense spared.
On site the President has his private collection mixed into the gift shop (~30 vette and 5 VW’s).
1956 Corvette with 3000 miles:
They also had a gas station built in 1910 that was move to this site and restored:
They had about 20 swap meet vendors and they had a bunch of tents set up with some of their stuff …
I also saw a local car built by a guy that lives near me that he sold a couple of years ago to a couple in Tennesse (the car was built up in 1993-1994 and was featured in multiple magazines)
The highlight of the day was having a guy walk up to me and say, “do you know who owned that car before you?” I look up and it was the guy I bought my car from 6 years ago from St. Louis! Crazy! I chatted with him for a bit to learn some more of the History of my car. Like the original transmission from my car (he offered it to me when I bought the car) is now in a VW shop in St. Louis with my original engine (the original engine that came with my car is sitting in a glass case on display). Also, the owner previous to him (and he had it for 6 months) had it for 20 years and the car was restored (well restored to what it looks like today) about 20 years ago and it was used for about 6 months and then sat for 15 years before the guy I bought it from picked it up.
This was my top pick for the show. A 23 window Samba Bus (1962):
Push the Bug contest:
Stage setup and ready to roll
Rim toss contest:
They gave out ~15 awards that were staff picks (this was not a judged show). The award winners lined up their cars and pulled in the gas station for a quick photo with the President
They also had an auction with 18 cars:
and they had an exhaust sound off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSnLZEMsKpM
My dad ready to roll out on the Saturday night Cruise (the route was about 40 miles and again lots of cops to block off roads):
The cost was 15 bucks for the weekend and that included 2 event t-shirts. This is the first year they have charged for the show, but this was one heck of show for 15 bucks! And they get bonus points because they already have emailed out a survey on the show to make it better for next year (this was year 12 for the VW show).
Tomorrow we are planning on packing up and heading home ….