The "One Of My Favorite Pastimes: Part I - The Show" Story

Foreword: Today's story is about an event that was held September 17th in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I realize that for many of my readers, automobiles are no more than a means of transportation, but for me, and hopefully many others, classic and collectible automobiles are some what of a passion.  If a beautiful or powerful car or truck passes by, I will stand and admire it.  Well, today I had the chance to visit a car show in the area and just couldn't help myself, as far as my camera goes, and I took over 150 photos of some of my favorites.  Managed to talk to many of the owners about their autos as well as themselves.  Today's story is an overview of the show with a few photos of vehicles, while I have written a few more stories which feature favorites from the show.  I will not post them on consecutive days so that those who do not care about automotive history do not have to bored with my car stories.  Keep an eye out during the next week or two if you care to see the remaining stories.

The Good Humor man waves as he stands next to his classic truck.

It was an ordinary day.  Taking a photo of the Good Humor man standing next to his truck when he yells, "Hey, didn't you take my photo a few years ago?  I sent that story to everyone I know and its probably been all over the world by now."  It was back in September of 2012 that I made a visit to the Railroad Museum in Strasburg, PA and ended up taking photos and writing a story about the Good Humor man who happened to have his ice cream truck parked right in front of the museum.  

Row after row of cars and trucks line the grass in the park.

Today I am in Neffsville, PA at the 15th annual Rotary Club of Northeast Lancaster Car Show and guess who happens to be one of the first sights I come upon after parking my car at the Neffsville Community Park.  Even thought I love cars and trucks of all sorts, for some reason I have never visited this show which is not much more than a mile from my house.  

One stand featured hundreds of die-cast miniature cars.

Pretty impressive collection of over 600 classic and collectible cars and trucks fill the park.  Naturally I search for samples of some of the cars I had throughout my life as well as some of my all-time favorites.  Easy to find both along with many stands that feature food of all varieties as well as stands selling auto supplies and automotive memorabilia.  Partway through the afternoon I hear music emanating from the huge speakers in the park's pavilion so I walk in that direction to find a seat and enjoy the music of Flight Risk.  

Flight Risk plays for the car show audience.

The oldies band features three guitarists, drummer, keyboardist as well as a lead singer.  The Rock & Roll cover band helps bring back memories from times when cars were more than a means of transportation.  To me, it seems that today's mid-sized cars, SUVs, luxury cars and even trucks all look the same.  In the golden age of automobiles, car dealerships covered their store windows with paper so as not to reveal the next year's model until it was time.  Those are the cars that I am searching for today ... and have found many times over.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The 1956 Ford Coupe.  I had one similar to it after my 1953 Henry J was demolished by a DUI driver.  I searched for the Henry J, but was not successful in my search.  My '56 Ford was pink and white rather than what is pictured.  I did have it painted black since my friends couldn't believe I would have a pink car.  Only problem was that the interior was still pink and white.

I also had a 1958 Chevy Impala such as this.  I had customized it somewhat with a DeSoto grill and taillights that I made in my plastics college course. My '58 didn't have the Continental Kit on the rear of the car as this sample does.