Riegelsville, Pennsylvania
Kiwanis Club
FALL ROLL OUT
Car Show
November 1, 1998

Although the first show I was able to take the buggy to was a couple weeks earlier, this was certainly the first major regional event I'd ever gotten too with my own vehicle.  I don't think the Kiwanis Club expected it to be so "major" but it turned out that way.

My brother, Dave, and I also had never gone to an event together.  He had taken his '55 Vette to local shows in the past, but this was the first time we had the chance to do go to an event, each with our own cars.

We started out a little late for events like this, not unusual for a couple of lazy guys on a Sunday.  Even though we knew it was coming, neither of us did much before that morning.  I took like an hour to gather some stuff together and make a couple last-minute touch-ups to the buggy ... then headed for Dave's place.  I knew it was gonna be cool that day, but I didn't mind.  I was too excited about getting to another show.

When I got to Dave's he had just gotten back from picking up subs.  You don't wanna have to pay show prices if you don't have to ... although I usually don't mind spending money on funnel cake ...

Naturally, Dave hadn't even gotten the car out so we spent another hour or so washing both vehicles.  Oh well, taking care of your car is half the fun of owning it ... but we finally got under way and it was warming up tolerably.  Dave left the top off the Vette, but I only have bows at the moment and no canvas so I didn't have much choice.  The ride over was a blast and we got a few stares from people on their way to church!

Pulling into Riegelsville I knew something was up ... THE PLACE WAS PACKED.  Since not many shows are on that time of year it looked like everybody in the area decided to get out that day.  Had a lot to do with the sunny, gorgeous, warmish weather.  The streets of the little burg were lined to overflowing with tons of hot rods, classics and antiques ... so much so that they wouldn't even let us into the show grounds which had been filled to overflowing for hours ... so we parked a couple blocks away in with several dozen other late-comers that were everything from Malibus to Packards to Cudas.

Once we got in, we walked the rows and rows of cars ...  seeing that there was no way we would have gotten in even if we had arrived a couple hours earlier. The had packed as many cars in as they could ... and the place had to be AT LEAST ten acres.

Dave paused at this '57 Chevy Bel Air convertible,  to point out the genuine cheesy plastic seat covers!

I'd list the types of cars that were there but that would take WAY too much space.  There were entire clubs of Chevelles, Buick GSs, Corvairs and Mustangs ... some with as many as a dozen cars ... not to mention the slew of hot rods, customs, several kit cars and antiques.

Here I stopped to look over a Nash Metropolitan Hardtop, mostly because its one of the few cars my daughter, Tiffany, has ever found interesting at these shows.  It was one in a row of about a half dozen!

Below was one of the few areas that were starting to open up and we decided to go see if we could get our cars inside.   By that time, about noon, some people had started to leave.

We ended up near the concession stands and Dave's car immediately drew a crowd.  He was very patient as peope asked the same questions over and over.  Personally, I think he was loving every minute of it.   I, on the other hand, sat and watched my poor buggy getting upstaged, save the occasional kid who shouted to his father "ooooo dad! ... look at duh dune buggy!"

Dave is shown in the photo at right surrounded by picture takers and the curious.  One amusing moment I caught was a woman with two men that passed by and glanced at Dave's small framed poster listing the car's features.  The woman said to the men, "Ahhhh, that two-speed Powerglide was a nice transmission" ... sometimes it's GREAT to see that ladies and not just guys get into this stuff!

Well, I can't wait to see what adventures we'll have next season.  Check back and find out!