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. 

😎

Track Time

What a treat for Dave to be able to go with our friend and neighbor Bill, to the Palm Beach International Raceway to do hot lap races with Bill's Mini Cooper. 

The course they were on is the smaller squiggly one on the left (photo taken from a Palm Beach Post article).

It was mainly younger people doing the races, and one Mini was even nitrous boosted.

The guys had a blast. Bill did four laps around the course, and he let Dave do one also. Bill was an amazing driver and didn't even hit any of the orange cones.

Motorcycles were racing on the bigger course that day. You could even rent them to ride and race.

This was a free event for Mini Coopers with no entry fee or trophies given. Bill came in 8th out of 13 competitors that were time trialed (each lap he beat his previous time). However, when the people who put this event on, found out that Bill was 89 years old, they found a trophy for him. What a prized possession! The funny thing was that Dave was the second oldest person there.

What a fantastic morning and Bill was thrilled to share this bucket list event with Dave, and vice-versa. It was also a bittersweet moment since this is the last event being held at the track. It has been sold and will be demolished to have huge warehouses built. The sale has been quite controversial since people that want to keep it as is, have tried to buy it, but money talks and even $55 Million couldn't keep it the same. Another end of an era, but Dave and Bill got to experience it!