Mustangs Plus 2015

It's been a while since I've been out to the Mustangs Plus show, but this weekend I set the alarm for 4:30 am (!) and joined up with the BAMA guys for the trek out to Stockton.

Pit stop in Tracy and still not day time...

Mustangs Plus is all about getting there early in order to snag one of the better parking spaces, so for the last few years the BAMA folks have been leaving earlier and earlier....and it hasn't helped, because everyone else has been doing the same. Fortunately, this year someone in the club managed to pull a few strings with Ron Bramlett and we got a bunch of spaces together very close to the front (and Ron's mic...).

Among the vendors at the show was longtime friend of BAMA and eight times SCCA National Autocross Champion Mike Maier and the crew from Mike Maier Inc in Livermore. (Formerly part of Maier Racing Enterprises in Hayward). Mike recently filmed the clip below with the guys from Ford Racing.

Mike Maier's "old blue" 66 coupe

This lime green (in my langugue) MACH 1 was a personal favorite. I like the out-of-the-ordinary stuff.

It's Mustangs Plus and that means there are always some unusual cars at the show including this very rare 70 cyclone and a cool fairlain.

Plus the usual selection of  what I guess are now mid-period cars.

Even the USPS tried to "muscle" in on the action!

Hot August Nights in Reno 2013

It's been a tradition for my "car-guy" friends and I to make the trip up to Reno for Hot August Nights for a few years now. Usually the 100F+ heat is so intense that we're forced, kicking and screaming, into the nearest casino bar the minute the clock strikes 10:30 a.m....but this year it it literally rained on the parade...so much so that Thursday night's activities consisted of sitting around in the hotel wondering if the power would come back on....Fortunately, by Friday morning it was back to sunshine and blue skies, but the temperature never did get about a very pleasant mid-80s. In fact it was perfect weather for looking at cars...and consuming the occasional cold beer.

This year the world-famous Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction pitched up in Reno for the first time, and while it was a fun event to witness, I'll be surprised if they come back next year. Certainly they won't be selling so many immaculate cars without a reserve price any time soon. Not after parting with a show-condition 1960 Bel Air and a very smart '74 Corvette went for a paltry 7K apiece. If Reno proved anything to the Barrett-Jackson folks, it's that the High Rollers hangout elsewhere. To say most of the consignees took a bath would be a understatement. They really suffered the kind of cleansing one can expect following exposure to high levels of radiation, followed by a dozen laps around Lake Tahoe without a swimsuit!

Barret Jackson:

Boss 302S: not street legal

billetproof 2012

I've hardly been to any car shows this summer, but one that I did make time for was Billetproof 2012 at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds. It's nothing like your usual car show: for a start it's strictly limited to pre-1964 vehicles, so no muscle cars...and add to that a total ban on any visible aluminum or other "bling" (chrome is very much frowned upon, and I've seen several cars turned away for being too shinny)....and you've got a car show without any "show cars."  Throw in a bunch of live bands, a pin-up contest (see below!) and a whole bunch of sideshows and you've got one of my favorite events of the year.

If it's worth showing one pic...