Now it was time for understated elegance. An imposing 1939 Packard V-12 club sedan stood proudly, with an aura not unlike what a bank president in the late-thirties might have exuded. In a look that represented the pinnacle of conservatism, this all black Packard was accented by only the finest, most slender, delicate touches of chrome trim. With a side-mounted spare tire snuggled into the rear of each front fender, this automobile sported elegant wide-white wall tires and painted steel wheels with chrome trim rings and chrome hubcaps. The centre of each hubcap highlighted a jewel-like, red hexagon surrounded by a red ring inscribed "PACKARD TWELVE". What an imposing vehicle. My pick as the highlight of the show.

Somewhat dowdy in comparison, a so-so 1940 Chevrolet 2-door sedan stood nearby. Its somewhat garish red paint and lack of chrome trim-work made it look like an over-rouged, over-the-hill, tart. I doubt that it came off the assembly line that colour.

Another nice but average car was a light green 1951 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. It contrasted abruptly with the almost-Wedgwood blue, early-fifties Hudson parked nearby. A turquoise 1956 Ford Thunderbird on the Caddy's other side completed this clash of pastel colours parked in the back.

Visions of American Graffiti and Suzanne Sommers come to mind when I saw a snazzy, white 1956 Ford Thunderbird. Hopefully, the owner left its port-hole hardtop at home (every '56 T'Bird needs a port-hole top).

No show is complete without the requisite 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air. This one was a red-and-white 2-door hardtop. This excellent example of the genre had the correct stock interior and a 283 cid V-8 with 2-speed Powerglide. In my high school days, only girls drove Chevies with slush-o-matic Powerglides (probably why this car survived). Really nice car, but the late-eighties/early-nineties era "The Heartbeat of America" license plate was a little out of place.
The 1959 model year was represented by a pink-and-white Cadillac and an all black Ford Custom 300 Fordor (four-door in Ford-speak) sedan. The pink Caddy represented the wealthy folk of the era (as well as the high-water-mark of fins) whilst the plain-Jane Ford looked like our old police cars.

A sleek, silver 1965 Chevrolet Corvette coupe represented my high school graduating class ("class of '65"). Although I would be in college before I knew someone that owned a similar white one, this silver gem had a black interior and a 327 cid V-8 with a four-speed manual transmission. Its chrome wheel covers and narrow whitewall tires reflected the norm for its model year. (Unbelievably, a pale yellow '65 Corvette roadster with a white removable hardtop sat in the adjacent parking lot; complete with factory side-pipe exhausts and alloy wheels w/knock-off hubs. Sorry, but I was out of film.)

Awesome in its complexity (rivalled only by the 1957-1959 flip-top Fords) was a 1966 Lincoln Continental four-door convertible - a light metallic blue with original medium blue/dark blue leather interior. The owner had the top mechanism up in mid-stride, showing off the intricate mechanism (complete with a glass rear window unlike today's posh Porsche Boxster with its plastic rear window). This car was quite similar to the Lincoln convertible in which John F. Kennedy met his demise in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Not a favourite reminder for most Texans but this was still an outstanding car.

Last, but not least, was a 1968 Ford Galaxie 500 XL convertible. Top-of-the-line for the full-size Ford line, its base price was $3,325. This example was "Medium Emerald Metallic" with a "Light Aqua Vinyl" interior; bucket seats with console-shift automatic (C6 three-speed) and a 428 cid V-8. It had the stock XL "sport" wheel covers, the correct narrow white-wall tires, and the "hidden headlights" that appeared only on the high-end Fords. This is how they looked on the showroom floor back in 1968!

This show was really delightful - small and low-keyed. No distracting swap meet booths, vendors' hawking wares, or rust buckets sitting on trailers or spread about the grounds. The Texas Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America put on an understated but terrific show, Hope that you enjoyed it as well as I did.


< Previous Page