Oct 1, Delta County, Colorado: Car Show in Delta County

From the Delta County Independent: Car show features antiques, classics
Car and motorcycle buffs are invited to bring their antique and classic cars and motorcycles to the annual show at Pioneer Town in conjunction with AppleFest 2011. The fee for each entry is $10 pre-registration or $12 at the gate.

For specific information contact Richard Udd at 856-3494 or Chuck Harrington at 856-3258.

Trophies will be awarded at 2:30 p.m. for: Best Classic, Best Sports Car, Best Street Rod, Best Pickup, Best Antique, Best Motorcycle, and People's Choice.

The show will be open on Saturday, Oct. 1 (one day only), from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event takes place at the west end of Pioneer Town near the Chapel of the Cross.

Visitors will vote for the People's Choice trophy winner. All other winners will be chosen by participants in the show.

A $1 per person charge to visitors includes AppleFest parking, a tour through Pioneer Town (23 buildings with exhibits) and the car show.

Cherry '57 Chevy Bursts into Flames

From TMZ: Cherry '57 Chevy Bursts into Flames
A History Channel orgy that brought together the stars of "American Pickers," "American Restoration," and "Pawn Stars" has ended in a fiery wreck.

In case you missed the 3-show special -- "American Pickers" found a classic, '57 Chevy fixer-upper ... "American Restoration" brought it back to life ... and then both shows gifted it to the Old Man from "Pawn Stars" as a birthday present.

But in a tragic turn of events, it overheated this morning ... and burst into flames.

Bad luck for the Old Man ... it's the second time this year one of his cars was incinerated by fire -- back in February, his 1966 Imperial Crown Convertible -- another cherry car -- was engulfed in flames.

Classic car travels sentimental journey

From Rohnert Park Towns Press Democrat.com: Classic car travels sentimental journey
By JOELLE BURNETTE
ROHNERT PARK CORRESPONDENT

You can’t put a price on sentimental value. That is, unless you’re restoring a classic car that represents a family tradition that spans several generations.

The summer of 1965 while Diana Jones and Ross Sutton were engaged, it was love at first sight when Jones saw the 1952 MG TD sitting in a used car lot in Walnut Creek. Sutton purchased the MG for his bride, paying $450 for the sporty, British convertible. They drove away in it after their wedding.

The only catch? In order to pay for his sweetheart’s new love, Sutton had to sell his 1957 Plymouth Fury, a rare model that now brings six figures from discriminating collectors.

“The car was a member of the family about two years before you,” Sutton told his son, Wayne. But after a few years of marriage, the couple found a house in Clayton Valley in the East Bay. They needed money to pay the home’s $750 down payment. This time they sacrificed the MG, but only temporarily.


Ross and Diana Sutton drive away from their wedding in their MG, 1966 (photo courtesy, Wayne Sutton)
They sold it to Sutton’s father to keep it in the family and bought it back in the late 1970s. They paid him $2,000 to cover maintenance costs.

Many years passed before Wayne ­Sutton, a Rohnert Park dentist, bought the car from his father. Continuing a family tradition, he also used it to drive his wife Michele away from their wedding 18 years ago.

“I used to play in the car when I was a little guy,” said Wayne Sutton, 44. “It’s part of our family history.” But because it had been used as the family car and all those years of driving had taken their toll, he decided to restore it to its former glory.


Wayne and Michele Sutton drive away from their wedding in 1993 (photo courtesy, Wayne Sutton)
When Gus Trevena first saw the MG a few years ago, he said, “it was pretty rough.” Trevena owns Downtown Autobody in Rohnert Park and, during the next year and a half, took the lead in restoring the sports car.

He and his team worked hundreds of hours on it, Trevena said. Workers at British European Motors, also in Rohnert Park, clocked more hours rebuilding the engine and transmission.

The MG had been plagued by a long list of problems including mechanical issues and rusting metal. The body’s unusual inner wood frame also was rotting and had to be replaced. (See “before” photos of the car, below)

Still, the one thing the car had in abundance was sentimental value. That emotional tie is what generally motivates owners to invest more in the restoration than the car is actually work, said Trevena. That’s the case with this MG.

Wayne­ Sutton poured more than $70,000 into the family project, as well as devoting a lot of time and effort.

“We pulled the trigger on this right on the cusp of a bad economy, so that wasn’t the best decision in the world, but we made it through,” he said. Sutton’s wife wasn’t as keen to spend the money, he said, “but she has been very tolerant. She knows she married a motorhead.”

In the end, Trevena and his technicians did a flawless job, Sutton said, and Trevena “put his heart and soul into that car.”


The Sutton's restored 1952 MG TD (photo courtesy, Wayne Sutton)
Sutton regrets that his mother died a few years before it was restored and never got to see the car she loved in perfect condition. “I feel like somewhere up there, she’s enjoying it and there’s a smile on her face,” he said.

Looking ahead, Sutton says he plans to pass the car down to a fourth generation, but his sons won’t get the car for free.

“I’ll do the same thing. I’ll make them buy it. I had to, my dad had to, and I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Now that the car is restored, Sutton said his family (and even Trevena on occasion) have started taking the MG to shows, where the British car generally stands out when parked among the more typical American muscle cars.

“People are drawn to it,” said Trevena. The Suttons enjoy the family fun of taking the MG to shows, and it has already won two people’s choice awards.

“Somewhere in our genetic code there’s a gene for cars,” said Sutton. “My kids have it, too. Whenever we have a chance to go see cool cars, we love to go.”

Its next outing will be Sunday, Oct. 9, at the Sonoma Mountain­ Car Show in Rohnert Park.

For others thinking about restoring a classic car, Sutton advised that it’s important to know from the outset what you’re getting into. Based on the cost alone, “it’s not for the faint of heart.”

He suggests asking a lot of questions to find out the extent of the necessary work. Or you could take his father’s advice: “Buy a car that’s already restored.”

UK: Classic cars go under the hammer at Wymondham

From Norwich Evening News 24: Classic cars go under the hammer at Wymondham

Car enthusiasts will be heading down to the salesroom at Copper Smith Way, Wymondham, where East Anglian Motor Auctions will be hosting a classic car and motorcycle sale.

The auction, which is due to begin at midday following a viewing from 9am, will boast about 65 vehicles dating from the 1930s to the 1990s. But two, which both rolled out in the early 1980s, have already caught the eye of collectors due to their pristine condition and low mileage.

Tristram Smith, classic sales co-ordinator and auctioneer, predicts the bright yellow chassis of a Triumph Spitfire 1500 from 1980 will turn heads. The lot is anticipated to go for about £8,000 as it only has 2,702 miles on the clock.

A silver grey MG BGT LE from 1981 is also expected to attract interest as its mileage stands at just 556. It is estimated to attract bids of about £10,000.

Mr Smith said: “It was bought brand new with the owner purchasing it just to keep hold of it and not to use. He’s had it for more than 30 years. That is very, very rare. MGs are quite popular and because it’s a limited edition as well, then it will gain a lot of interest. Normally something like that would probably be a bit rusty and a bit decrepit. They would be worth about £3,000, but because of the history and mileage we’re expecting a lot more.” Mr Smith added that although cars from the earlier decades still remained popular, collectors were becoming more keen to get their hands on some of the iconic models from the 1970s and 1980s, possibly inspired by period television programmes such as Ashes to Ashes.

“They are coming in quite a lot now. But different people are into different vehicles. You’ve got the older people who want the old cars from the 40s and 50s, and then you’ve got people in their thirties who want to see models from the 70s and 80s, but there’s not much from the 80s in good condition left,” said Mr Smith. On being asked to auction the two cars, he added: “It’s nice to see as we get a lot of cars we would deem average and not too exciting, so to take something really different is great.”

For more on the auction, visit www.eama-norwich.co.uk

Racine woman has late husband’s beloved Model T Ford restored

From the JournalTimes.com:, Racine, Wisconsin Racine woman has late husband’s beloved Model T Ford restored

If you spot a 1916 Model T Ford touring car making its way around town with a woman in a fashionable blue hat in its passenger seat, wave to her as she goes by. She is Donna Peterson and she'll be riding in the car she fell in love with more than 50 years ago.

Peterson, a longtime Racine resident, was also falling for her late husband, Clarence, at the time. Clarence had paid $250 for the Model T several years before the couple started courting in 1955. And Donna was soon smitten with both man and automobile.

"If it is possible to love a car, this was love at first sight," Peterson said. "And it quickly became our courting car."

The Model T went on to become a family car for the Petersons after they married and had two children. "We were always giving rides as we traveled around Racine on warm summer days," Peterson said. "Our family, a son and daughter, grew to love the car, too, and enjoyed waving at people on the street, who smiled and waved back."

That was the Petersons' summer ritual until 1964 when Clarence asked his good friend, John Sherwin, to come help him diagnose some engine trouble. The two men decided they would either need to replace the engine, or at least re-grind the valves, and they put the car in the garage to await repairs.

Several years later, Clarence traded his 1918 Harley-Davidson motorcycle for a 1913 Model T engine, while at a flea market in Hershey, Pa, Peterson said. And 44 years later, that engine - and the Model T - were still sitting in the garage, waiting, when Clarence died.

"As the years passed, potential buyers (had) come and offer to buy the T, but Clarence's answer was always the same," Peterson said. "He'd tell them ‘Your wife won't like it, because my wife says she goes with the car.' The shocked buyer would quickly get the idea and leave."

Soon after her husband's passing, Peterson vowed to restore "the T" and this summer, she and her son, Tom, took their first ride around Racine in the touring car.

"It has taken four long years to get it on the road again, but I know Clarence would be pleased with everything, except the price!" Peterson said.

The first thing Peterson and her son tackled was the engine. "We didn't even know what was wrong or how bad it was," she said. "Clarence had collected enough parts over the years to build another car. Tom gathered up the parts we'd never use and went to a swap-meet where he attracted the attention of a very talented man from Verona, named John Rowley, who just happened to have the machinery and the know-how to do what Tom thought was needed for our engine."

Rowley told Peterson that he could save the badly damaged engine, as long as the block wasn't cracked. It would take a lot of work, and money, but it could be done, he told her. The engine block turned out to be solid, so Rowley put the engine in a trailer and took it back to Verona with him.

"Only then did he tell me that the value of an old car doubles when it has the original engine in it," Peterson said.

Two years later, after discovering some interesting things about the engine's history, Rowley returned with the engine, which Peterson described as "clean as a whistle, with four bright white spark plugs."

"I wanted to throw my arms around it and give it a big hug," she said.

A water pump had been added, as well as an electric starter and distributor; the cylinder holes had been re-bored; the radiator leaks were fixed; the surfaces were reground and most of the transmission was replaced. "The only things that were not replaced were the engine block and head, oil pan, crank and cam shafts," Peterson said.

Back in its compartment, the engine purred. But when Rowley drove the car up the street, it became apparent that there was something very wrong with the transmission.

"The sound brought tears to my eyes once again," Peterson said. "I felt like a balloon losing air."

Back to Verona the engine went and, about a year later, "the little engine that could" made its way back to the car for another try.

"We held our breath as the engine and transmission engaged with the rear end," Peterson said. "This time everything purred and putted like new. I felt happy right down to my toes."

While Rowley had been rebuilding the engine, the Petersons had been busy working on the rest of the car, restoring the wooden wheels; painting the interior walls; having new upholstery installed; replacing the 95-year-old plate glass windshield with safety glass; and installing LED lights in the old brass kerosene lamps on each side of the windshield, with help from area businesses and a specialty parts store in Ohio.

"O'Brien Tires on Old Green Bay Road mounted four new tires, complete with inner tubes and 3-inch brass valve stems," Peterson said. "For the first time since the car came out of the showroom, the wheels and tires matched." Describing the price as "breathtaking," she said she now understands why Clarence, with a family to care for, repeatedly put off the purchase of new tires.

All the time, money and effort, though, has been worth it to be able to ride in her beloved Model T again. While the engine that Clarence brought back from Pennsylvania still sits in Peterson's garage, waiting for a car - she and her family are enjoying riding around Racine, putting smiles on people's faces.

"This is where the expression ‘joy ride' originated," Peterson said. "We are going to drive our happy car all around town from May through September and have one joy ride after another with all our friends and family. If you see us, be sure to wave."

Peterson said to watch for her in the car during Party on the Pavement on Oct. 1 in Downtown Racine.

25 Sept, Montclair NJ: Classic Car Show Drives Into Town On Sunday

From Montclair Patch: Classic Car Show Drives Into Town On Sunday

Start your engines! The first annual Montclair Classics Car Show will cruise into 223 Harrison Avenue on Sunday, Sept. 25 from noon to 6 p.m.

Sponsored by Montclair residents Bob Pereira, Jean Tanis, and also the Pines Auto Service Station, the first annual Montclair Classics Car Show will invite adults, seniors, and children to take a stroll down memory lane while enjoying a closeup look at some classic cars in mint condition owned by longtime Montclair residents.

The show will feature a diverse selection of more than 30 automobiles including a traditional Checker Cab that toiled around the streets of Manhattan during the 1970s and also a 1956 El Dorado Biarritz, one of only 1,350 manufactured by Cadillac that year.

Pereira, the owner of the Checker Cab and a 1971 Triumph TR 6, said that it wasn't until he began to restore his own vehicles that he realized how many car enthusiasts live in Montclair. Moreover, Pereira was thrilled to discover highly skilled automotive technicians, such as Tanis, with whom he could entrust his precious classic cars.

Pereira said, “When you spend a great deal of money on restoring a classic car, you better have the utmost confidence in your mechanic's ethics and workmanship. With Jean, and several other local craftsman who have worked on my cars, I would give them not only the keys to my car but also the keys to my house. They are honest, meticulous, and adept at getting the job done.”

With more than 30 years of industry experience, Tanis is an expert on classic and contemporary cars. In putting together this month's Montclair Classics Car Show, Pereira and Tanis, the event's hosts, hope to offer the community an opportunity to see some of their hometown's classic cars.

Offering complimentary hot dogs for kids 12 and under, music, and a Toy Car Swap, fun activities for all ages have been planned.

“We want this to be an inter-generational event,” Pereira said. “We hope that grandparents will bring their grandchildren and talk about what life was like when these cars were on the road.”

Tanis, 60, said that he's been tinkering with cars since he was “a kid.”

“Back then, we would hang out in our backyard and work on our family's cars,” Tanis said. “This is not the case today because cars are all computerized. At venues such as the Montclair Classic Car Shows, though, kids could come with their families and see some pretty cool cars.”

Children can bring up to 20 toy cars of any size, make, and model to swap or sell.

Sam Krauzser's Food Store is the lead food sponsor for the Montclair Classics Car Show.

The show is located at Pines Auto Service, 223 Harrison Avenue, Montclair. For more information, go to www.montclairclassics.com.

Classic Corvettes roar into Muscatine, Iowa

From the Muscatine Journal: Classic Corvettes roar into Muscatine
MUSCATINE, Iowa - Looking shiny and new, the throaty rumble of the past roared into Muscatine [last] Friday afternoon.

The thunderous sound of seven Corvette Sting Rays shook the windows of the Muscatine Journal at 301 Third St. as the classic cars idled on Cedar Street. The cars - owned and driven by Corvette fans from across the country - are on a Great River Road Trip organized by Dennis and Cindy Manire of Titusville, Fla., who oversee the 1963-67 Sting Ray Registry.

The 14-year-old online registry serves as a centralized database of the American-made cars. The Chevrolet division of General Motors has made Corvettes since 1953. The Sting Ray - made from 1963-'67, which are known by fans as the mid-years - is often referred to as the second-generation Corvette.

Doug Jones, 63, of St. Charles, Ill., owner of a 1965 Roadster, scouted out the trip along the Mississippi River last year with another member of the club.

"We did it in two phases, talked to people along the river, and found places that we thought would be worth stopping at," Jones said.

Jones said everywhere they go, people stop them and ask questions or take pictures of the 'Vettes.

The members of the group started their two-and-a-half-week trip on Sept. 10 at the headwaters of the river in Minnesota and will end up at the Gulf of Mexico. From Muscatine, the group was scheduled to stop in Burlington for a drive down Snake Alley.

"People ask if we're a group, but we don't pay membership dues," Jones said. "We're more like a gang."