Antique & Classic Cars Blog

When the world’s largest car book publisher throws open its Osceola, WI, warehouse and fills it with discount books, and then lines the surrounding grassy acreage with classic cars, it’s good. Real good. Add outstanding, if simple, food like top-shelf brats with homemade sauerkraut, natural casing hot dogs, and ice cream, and you’ve got yourself a worthy Saturday afternoon.

Boss 302 was a Pennsylvania rust bucket, but six years of restoration effort yielded a worthy ride.

Ahh. A nice feature on Boss 302s is a stock four-speed transmission.

The little lady and I climbed into my ‘69 MG and made the roughly one-hour drive past Stillwater and into the land of rolling hills, cheese and Packer fans. As the car ads say, NO DISAPPOINTMENTS. Respecting the old journalistic formula, Picture = 1 x 10[3 superscript] Words, here’s some highlights.

If you don’t like first gen. Vettes, you have a serious problem. Consult your doctor immediately.

A flock of DeLoreans prepares for takeoff.

“Dude, where’s your trailer?” “This is my trailer. It’s also my race car.”

When Cadillac owners complained that they couldn’t get a twelfth set of golf clubs in the trunk, the manufacturer offered the continental kit to shift the spare tire to the rear bumper.

Ford station wagon sports collapsible tent. Folding picnic table mounts to back bumper. Cool.

One of the quickest ways to increase your home’s value is to add a Yenko Chevelle to the garage.

This Studebaker Dictator sat disassembled in a field for 50 years. Its fortunes have improved.

Many beautiful Triumphs were on hand, which I single out because I have one.

We followed a ‘69 MGC GT for many miles. Most passersby probably thought it and my ‘69 B GT were identical, but rare C has a factory six-cylinder engine.

On the way back, the missus and I took 35 south on the Wisconsin side. We had fun following a near-identical ‘69 MGC GT (only the bulged hood gives away its six-cylinder power) for many miles. Then a faster crowd showed up. Five black cars–three Porsches, a Ferrari Dino, and a Pantera–zoomed past, flexing a little more torque than the MGs could muster.

My wife loves aggressive engine notes and she laughed loudly at this show of raw horsepower. Unfortunately for these low-slung road missiles, a row of slower vehicles kept them to a modest fraction of their explosive capabilities. Oh well–more oggling for us.

Motorbooks was recently sold, so this may have been the last Wheels & Wings (the latter name coming from an airplane show down the road). If not, don’t let this gig pass you by like a string of sports cars next year.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 10:34 am and is filed under Car stories, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.