Return To Rhinebeck

 It has been quite a few years since we have gone to the car show and swap meet at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, so we figured it was time to return. The temps were in the 50s with a brisk wind, but we bundled up and had a good time. First, we checked out all the vendors, of which there were many...row after row of them. Then it was time to head to the fields to see the vehicles, and it was a huge event! The photo below shows only about a third of the size of the area that we walked around, all of the vehicles neatly organized by brands and models.

It was really fun to see the cars that my sisters and I had when we first started driving.... a Javelin, a Gremlin, and I had a Vega (mine was orange though).

Here is a tiny sampling of the other cars we saw:

There were two of these red Buick LeSabre Convertibles at the show. Buick really outdid themselves by having fins on the front and the back of the car.

This cool 1935 Buick had a great hood ornament and horns, plus gigantic headlights.

This was a 1953 Buick Special Station Wagon that symbolized the end of the woody wagon era. The wood was strictly cosmetic over a steel body.

A real woody wagon with matching trailer.

Another matching combo rig with the VW being towed by the 5 window Chevy pick up truck.

Here is a tiny post war Crosley station wagon. These were the lowest priced cars in the U.S. at the time.

A 1961 Buick LeSabre family truckster, all decked out with period luggage on the roof, ready for vacation...

There was an extensive line up of Ford Model A's of every year and model.

There was also a row of pre-war open touring cars, commonly called Phaetons.

Vehicles were being judged. This was a 1925 International C-Cab. Note the solid rubber tires.

Some day we would like to own one of these German made Amphicars. This one was spectacular and ready to swim!

Our favorite of this meet was this 1934 Morgan 3 wheeler. It was powered by a V-twin J.A.P. engine with exposed valve train. Pre-war British at its finest.

A 1958 Plymouth shows off its fins. It was a show stopper!

This 1970 Plymouth Barracuda resto-mod powered by none other than a Viper V-10 engine...

This was a hand-made 3/4 replica of an AC Mack truck with chain drive and solid rubber tires. It is going to be for sale after the summer season on display.

Dave thinks this was a mid 30's Auburn and it was gorgeous!

Hopefully the next car show, albeit much smaller and more local than this one in Rhinebeck, will have our '39 Plymouth in it, or maybe even the Divco milk truck! We are looking forward to the monthly Malta shows and a new addition may be a weekly show at an ice cream shop and mini golf course in Ballston Spa. Stay tuned for more fun adventures of these two old goats. 😎

Outboards & Antiques

Saturday was our first day of events that we like to participate in up north each year. First was the Outboard Swap Meet held locally in Burnt Hills. Although not a huge gathering, it was Dave's first opportunity to display the 1960's British Seagull outboards that our good friend Scott in Florida, gave Dave to display here in the northeast. Dave already had one of his own, so with Scott's, he now has a lucky 7 of them to make a "Flock of Seagulls" to bring to shows. Since there hasn't been much time to get everything set, he used his cart to at least bring 4 of them this time around. The cart itself is old and has great iron wheels on it. 

Here are a few other people's displays that day...

We may end up with this Atco Impellar outboard. It is also British, with a small motorcycle type engine, and has a long shaft with a protected propeller, that can be used in marshes. Plus, it folds up as you can see in the photo below. It is for sale, but no price has been determined yet, so we shall see what happens. 

Dave cut the show short (it was only 40 degrees out anyway), and we raced to the Washington County Fairgrounds for their bi-annual Antique Flea Market. The place was busier than we have ever seen it before with lots of garage sale type items too. Amazingly we ended up not buying anything at all this time (no photos either). Perhaps next time, but meanwhile this was a great start to our summer season of events. Now all we need is summertime weather! 😉

Windy April

What a windy month April has been! We did very little kayaking or boating, but still the days flew by. Now we are back north and guess what? It is windy up here too, only it is 40-50 degrees colder! We have tons of projects to do and are settling in, although we do tire a bit more quickly the past two days since our arrival home. It was a challenging trip back north with traffic delays and more gas stops and slower speeds due to towing the Mini-Cooper (which luckily towed great with the new tires and fixed lights on the dolly). Monday wasn't quite as bad as Tuesday, when it rained to add to the fun. We had taken a different route this time (I 84 to the NYS Thruway from I 81), hoping that the road wouldn't be as rough as I 88, but it was still quite bumpy and had about an hour back up getting onto it due to construction and 5 lanes going into 1, and more 1 lane construction several times along the way. We sure were glad to get home just before dark and all systems are up and running just fine. 

Before we left Jensen Beach, Dave went to one last car show with his friend Bill. It was all European vehicles and called 'Wheels across the Pond', held annually in Jupiter. He said it was absolutely amazing and way better than what he expected with all the brands grouped together, classic British Rock playing on the PA system, and even bagpipers roaming and playing throughout the event. He took lots of photos, but this is a better way to show you, by viewing the video below that he found online...

 https://youtu.be/48PzReXfngE

Now we are looking forward to all sorts of events up here during the spring and summer, starting with our first outboard swap meet plus the Washington County Fairgrounds Antique Flea Market this Saturday. Let the fun begin...with our winter coats on. 😉 

The Extreme Car Auction

Another bucket list event for our friend Bill was going to a Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction, and there just happened to be one in Palm Beach a few days ago. He invited his sidekick Dave and off they went. General admission was $25 and that was just to walk around, but there sure was lots to see. It was 90 degrees that day and 89-year-old Bill didn't want to tire too easily, so they tried to rent a golf cart. Unfortunately, they had been reserved and sold out since January.  Leave it to charismatic Bill to convince the vendor to notify him if there were any no-shows (age and $20 helped 😉). A while later the call came, and they were set for the day. Amazingly, Bill also 'convinced' the person at the bidders only auction building, to let them in! What an experience for the guys. Below are some photos of the day including all the eclectic things you could buy outright for your mansion, property, yacht, or vehicle.

Why not add a helicopter to your yacht while you are there?

A 1963 Lamborghini exotic Italian tractor...

Bill contemplated owning a pre-war Rolls Royce limousine. 

This 1958 DeSoto Adventurer signaled the end of the big fin era, powered by a DeSoto Fireflight Hemi.

Bill stood next to a pair of just released Mercury Verado 600 HP V-12s. These are the largest production outboards to date.

The Barrett-Jackson company store where you could take home an expensive souvenir of the event...

The latest edition of the limited production Ford GT-40...

Massive in every way, this converted Ford Excursion was extreme.

More exotic statue art for your Palm Beach home.

Were you in the mood to furnish your man cave? 

This notice speaks for itself...

Here is a rear view of a new McLaren 720S. Look at that price tag!

50-year-old Honda Trail 70s have become a very hot commodity in the collector world. Dave saw a CT 70H cross the gavel for $7700 plus a 12% buyers and sellers fees!

Classic Japanese motorcycles have skyrocketed in value.

There was a custom made audio-video boom golf cart on site, ready for filming the pre-auction staging area.

The drivers who escort the vehicles across the stage in the auction had a meeting before the event.

Inside the auction arena, there are boomed video cameras recording the action and the bidders.

Massive screens kept the bidders informed. Note the currency exchange rates. Each car spent about less than five minutes on the block, from start to finish. Dave and Bill were there on the day that the vehicles sold for less than estimated $50K. Friday's auctions were to $100K and Saturday's were unlimited! There were about 125 vehicles auctioned each day.

The Barrett-Jackson mobile command center...

To sum it all up, the classic rock group Rush said it best..."Big money goes 'round the world!"

Classic Boats In Florida!

Friends Scott and Annemarie took us to Tavares in central Florida for the Sunnyland Antique Boat Festival this weekend. Tavares is near picturesque (and touristy) Mt. Dora on Lake Dora, which is one of several freshwater lakes in the area that are connected by canals and locks. You could actually get to the St. John's River from this lake.  Tavares is also known as 'America's Seaplane City', which made the trip even more interesting, with planes lining the shore and taking flight. The show itself was spread out on both land and water, and this is the first time in two years that they have held this event, due to the Covid pandemic. What a pretty setting and we enjoyed seeing different boats and engines. There were even a few beautiful Gar Wood wooden boats there from Brant Lake in the Adirondacks. Below are a few of the more novel boats, engines, and oddities that we saw.

The first boat we came upon was this race boat from 1930, but it had modern power of 908 cubic inches in the form of tandem 454s.

It was being towed by this really cool restomod crew cab woody wagon.

Below is a stunning Aristo Craft 14 with a 1959 period diner interior. Note where the steering console is. It was powered by a 6 cylinder, direct reversing Mercury Mark 75. There was no neutral on this boat.

Then there was the 'Field of Dreams' which had project boats for sale. Many were difficult to identify from butchering through the years, but fun none the less.

What a cute little half scale electric launch...

Look at this outstanding line up of Mercury Super 10 Hurricane outboard motors from the early 1950s.

They call these early in-line 6 Mercurys the 'tower of power'. They were the first outboards to break 100 HP in 1966.

This Aristo Craft with a matching Mercury Mark 40 outboard made us wonder if we should put one on our bucket list. 

This is yet another Aristo Craft with a double cockpit from around 1956, the year Dave was born. 

This novelty is a power ski unit. There is a 24 hp Wankel engine in the forward pod, which is steered by the handlebars that the skier controls. It looks like something Dave would have made. 😉

I don't think we ever found out what this strange boat was, but it certainly had big fins on the bow and stern! It was styled very similar to a 1959 Chevy.

We watched as this Packard came and docked. It was made by the same company as the Packard cars.

This Feather Craft and matching Mercury Mark 400 outboard were pristine! The mirror finish immediately drew us to the boat, as we have been eying a similar one up in the Northeast. It is a 16ft. Ranger 2 and definitely had the bling factor we like. Another bucket list boat perhaps?

This is a custom made, one of a kind Aristo Craft Sedan Cruiser...

They took a late model Yamaha  F150 outboard and dressed it up as a period 1960 Johnson 75.

These boats are amazing! The 21 ft. Chris Craft Cobra had a spectacular dorsal fin. There were two of them at the show, with one powered by a Chrysler Marine Hemi and the other had a Cadillac V-8. 

What a fun day with good friends. It certainly was a great event to get our imaginations in high gear. 

😎