I drove up to Carson City and spent the night with my nephew Mark and his wife. He has a red ’29 A two door sedan. Also he is finishing a ’39 Chevy sedan. We drove down to Pleasanton in his 1999 Dodge Ram dully. We wanted to enjoy the air conditioning comfort. After four hours of driving, through smoke on Hwy 88 to the valley, we arrived at our hotel. We did see the smoke plumes from the south of the Caldor fire.
Friday at the fairgrounds was not well attended. There was the absence of many vendors. Unfortunately, many of the big time vendors were not there. The swap meet was much smaller than an earlier gathering. We set up our chairs and cooler under the trees. It was easy to see all the cars that were there that day. Of interest was the Auto Cross course. This offered some noise and excitement for a while. It was a clear day until the afternoon smoke moved in with 100 degree temperatures. Many people were leaving about 3 PM because of the heat and lack of stuff to see.
Saturday was much better. We gathered with some of Mark’s friends under a tree. Went through the swap meet area, which was much smaller than in years gone by. The crowd was more up to a normal gathering. The car corral was much smaller than usual. Although there were many “For Sale” signs on cars through out the grounds. There were many more cars attending on Saturday. Most of the field was full. There were too many cars for us to see in a day. The hot afternoon at 100 degrees kept us under the shade trees in mid day. At 5PM there was the announcement of the winner of Hot Rod of the year award from a selection of five cars. A 1967 custom Camaro, which I didn’t get a chance to photograph because of the crowds around it.
Some of the interesting cars were, a labor intensive paint job on a Ford Econoline. A special built truck with 2 engines in line, each with 2 turbos, and a jet engine in the rear. I’m sure It was all show as there were not enough brakes to stop the thing. Then my favorite, a 1936 Ford convertible, with a special top, which gave it great lines.
We did not attend the Sunday show and drove back to Carson City.
Commentary and Photos by Christy B.
