Category Archives: Cars

Cars at the Route 66 Roadfest, I

This weekend was the second annual Route 66 Roadfest at the Fairgrounds here in Tulsa. It was a little subdued just because of all the rain that we had. I went last year and really enjoyed it. They have a lot of information grouped by decades of the history of Route 66 and how it was gradually supplanted by interstate highways and is now in a full blown revival. So all that was fun to read and review. I was also interested in the cars. They have a lot of vintage cars on display as well and took lots of photos of them. I love the styling of old cars but I like driving new cars. The old cars were very unreliable and required lots of routine maintenance.

A VW Microbus. My wife’s parents had one and they went camping in it all the time. They talk in warm tones about them. I remember back in the 60’s they were everywhere. Now going up mountain passes? That was not their jam. Lots on the side of the road cooling off. I love the train case on top of the bus. Remember train cases? All the traveling ladies had train cases. I haven’t seen one in years.

And some people had stickers, some had many stickers. We were never a sticker family. The only sticker I have had on my car ever was a Dallas Cowboys sticker. I no longer have one. Being a Cowboys fan is not anything to be proud of these days. But I am still a fan! A stealth fan!! Don’t tell anybody, you are sworn to secrecy. Too late for you to back out now. I’m watching you!!

And an old 60’s model Chevrolet Corvette. Time was only airline pilots, millionaire’s and IBM salesmen had them. Now it’s just old boomers dreaming of the good ole days.

Back in the day even family sedans had lots of chrome, swoopy curves, and whitewall tires. Now all the cars look like Toyotas. Now I like Toyota’s don’t get me wrong but you won’t see me posting any photos of them.

And a little bit older car. Look at all that chrome and paint job!!

More chrome and two tones of paint.

I had a lot of fun. I’ll post more car photos later.

Linking with My Corner of the World

2022 Darryl Starbird Rod and Custom Car Show

Football season is over, what to do on Sunday?? I know, I went to the Darryl Starbird Rod and Custom Car Show at the fairgrounds. The Starbird Show is all about hot rods and custom cars, not your boring old Fords and Toyotas. All of the cars at the Starbird Show are one of a kind.

They are painted bright colors and polished to a high gloss. They are works of art in my mind.

Works of art that can be driven.

This car was supposedly built just for one episode of “Love American Style.” Is there another television show more 1970’s than Love American Style. The placard with the car said that it was for sale (no price asked) and had been in storage for 40 years. Huh?

I am not sure I want a car like this but I will look at it all day long.

This is one of my favorites. It looks like a Jetsons car (anybody out there remember the Jetson cartoons) with the bubble top. That is not the best part though.

The quilted interior is my favorite. And look, no spedometer! (or any other instrumentation for that matter. Pure style.

A customized Jaguar XJS Convertible.

A hotrod with a bathtub style body.

Is this not a surfer’s car?

No leaning over for a kiss in this car!

And another favorite. Sensitive readers should skip over this part. Apologies to everybody, Sorry, not sorry. I’ve seen a number of cars over the years with the logo “The Panty Dropper” on it. Very vulgar and low class, I assure you. I assure you, yes I do. Well at the Starbird Car Show the tables are turned. I present the “The Boxer Dropper” owned by a woman. Note the pair of boxers on the ground. (No!! they are not mine, shame on you for thinking that! It is a nice car though.) I loved this car and the concept. And I love that women are getting involved in custom cars.

My favorite car at the show was “Pannama” which may or may not have been in the car that the Van Halen Song “Panama” is based on. The owner had a photo of a car that looked like this with David Lee Roth (the lead singer of Van Halen in case you are wondering.”

The car is absolutely gorgeous and appears to be similar to the car in the video for the song. Below is the video.

Thank you for sticking me through all this. I’ve been to several of the Starbird Car Show. Check this link to check out my previous posts.

I am linking up with Image-in-ing. Check them out, join in!!

A Visit to the “Heart of Route 66 Auto Museum”

Earlier this month I visited the Heart of Route 66 Auto Museum in the Tulsa suburb of Sapulpa. You can’t miss it, it is right on Route 66 and has this gigantic gasoline pump outside.

Ironically the museum has connections for charging electric cars in their parking lot.

And then when you walk up to the entrance you pass these front ends of various cars on your way. Do you know what they are? I don’t, but I do know that there is a geocache nearby that I found a few months ago. The really good stuff though is inside the building.

They have a “Special Built” Maserati. Very swoopy. It is not very high. I imagine it can go really fast.

Pure function on the interior though. Not too much luxury but have you seen so many drink cup holders? (I am not sure that is what they are.)

Then a little 1958 BMW Isletta. I think it is kind of cute.

Here’s a 1967 Amphicar, made to travel on the road and in the water. Made in Germany not many were made. I remember the 60’s when I was in grade school. We were lied to, by now all cars should be amphicars and not and fly as well. What happened to the future of the Jetsons.

Here’s the propellers underneath the car. I watched a couple of videos about the car. One of them said that the problem is that the Amphicar combined the worst properties of a car with the worst properties of a boat.

I don’t see anybody wearing a lifejacket. I don’t think it would do very well in any sort of waves.

Here is a 1958 Messerschmitt. I don’t know what the model is. The guy at the museum said that Messerschmitt was forbidden to build aircraft for a while after WWII so to keep things going, they built cars.

A 1947 MG. There is nothing like British Sports Cars in my opinion. Yes they were not very reliable and expensive to operate and maintain but they are beautiful.

This car is owned by a friend of mine and is on loan to the museum (as most of the cars seem to be.) It is a 1955 Jaguar XK 140-MC. Talk about smooth beautiful lines this is it. I always loved Jaguars. Not the modern ones though. They are now expensive Fords in my opinion.

And they have lots of other cars and car memorabilia. Check their web site for more info. I think they are open Tuesday through Sunday. Cheap to get in, $6.50.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday. Check it out.

General Motors Futurliner Number 10 at the Tulsa Car Show

The Futurliner was the hit of the car show. The open door to the left leads up stairs to the driver’s seat. There are two passenger seats behind the driver. The open door to the left leads to the engine compartment.

Something new came to Tulsa the other day. Or more accurately something old came to Tulsa looking like nothing I had ever seen. GM Futurliner Number 10 made a round downtown and then headed to the 2018 Tulsa Car Show where it was the main attraction. I had never heard of them but apparently they were popular in the day. General Motors made twelve Futurliners for the World’s Fair in 1939 and afterwards sent them across the country along with 32 support vehicles putting on a show at each stop called “Parade of Progress” trumpeting modern science and technology. Each vehicle was self contained with stage and lights and had their own segment of the exhibition. Number 10 was originally devoted to “Opportunity for Youth.”

Another view. Up top you can see the built in floodlights to illuminate the stage.

The show was very popular but was halted during World War II and then started up again after the war and ended in 1955. A victim of a technology called television.

These things are huge, 11’6″ tall and 30 feet long and a wheelbase of 8 feet. They weigh 30,000 pounds. They were powered originally by a four cylinder engine and then later a six cylinder that had only 145 hp. The top speed was 50 mph. Number 10 is owned by the National Auto and Truck Museum in Auburn, Indiana. A representative of the museum said that it can be driven around town but for moves from town to town they load it up on a trailer.

Here is the stage on the right hand side.

The design of the vehicle is beautiful, streamline art deco with shiny panels and bright red and a white top. I love the tires. Big old fat white walls. The hub cap had an atomic symbol on it. It sure recalls a bygone age of unbridled optimism in the future. The vehicle is Art Deco on Steroids and is just so beautiful.

Big fat white walls and the cool hubcap with the atomic symbol on it.

The Futurliners have a Tulsa connection. Oral Roberts, Tulsa’s own prosperity gospel preacher bought one and renamed it the “Cathedral Cruiser” and used it to barnstorm the United States, Mexico and South America.

Sitting in the driver’s seat. I don’t think it had power steering.

Of the twelve original Futurliners only about eight or nine still exist and of those only a few have been restored like this one.

What a view from the driver’s seat. I think it would be scary as heck to drive. You would never be wondering what it is happening up ahead.

I had never heard of Futurliners until I saw something posted online about this one parked downtown Thursday afternoon. I could have kicked myself because it was parked right across the street from where I work and I didn’t see it. I got a good look today at the car show and even got to sit in the drivers seat for a minute or so.

Legendary 1939 Futurliner to Headline Auction Block at Hot August Nights

What the Heck are Dagmars? Road Trip to a Car Auction

Last week my friend Richard invited me and his other friend Wayne to the Leake Car Auction in Oklahoma City. We met at Richard’s office here in Tulsa and rode down the turnpike to the State Fairgrounds to a big huge barn of a building where the auction was held.

Richard and Wayne are car guys. They know a lot about almost every kind of car. Me, I like cars also but I can’t quote chapter and verse on them. I love the older “swoopy” style cars and the more fins and different colors, the better.

I know I hurt peoples feelings but I think most cars today look like Toyotas. Having said that I think modern day cars are lots better mechanically than the older cars.

Growing up we had cheap cars for me and my siblings to drive. Cheap was good but I was never quite sure if the car was going to start for the return trip. This was back in the days before cell phones and such. We had tow ropes in all cars and jumper cables and used them a lot.

So I love the old classic cars but let me keep my Kia Soul.

The other thing I love about old cars is a reminder of car culture.

When I was a kid, car culture was king. Everybody I knew got their learners permit on the day they were eligible, and then a few months later you got your drivers license on your birthday. Nowadays, kids are a lot more casual about it.

I used to grab the car magazines, “Car and Driver“, “Road and Track” and devour the reviews and memorize the statistics. Horsepower, torque, 0 to 60 times, displacement, brake types,, everything.

People identified with the cars, or at least the cars they wanted. Me, I drove a Renault Dauphine, top speed of about 48 mph. The car I wanted was a Chrysler Hemi Challenger. I watched the movie Vanishing Point, over and over. The final scene where he crashes his Challenger into bulldozers is the greatest scene in movie history.

So here I am, 47 years later, dreaming of Hemi Challengers.

Anywho, there were lots of car guys way back when. They worked on their cars, many of them took shop classes and learned how to modify their cars. Car culture is on the decline. Most of the attendees at the car shows and auctions I go to are about my age or older. I think it is kind of sad.

Of course nowdays it is hard to work on your car. Everything is computer controlled.

So still I love looking at the old cars. They are beautiful.

Many of them are elegant.

I love the old IHS Scouts. Very rugged. The people I knew who owned them had to work on them constantly. Finding parts was a challenge.

I love this old Plymouth.

Richard pointed out to me that the hood ornament was a stylized sailing ship. Very art deco I would say.

One of the few Camaros we saw.

I loved the paint job. Wayne used to teach car painting at a local school. He showed me some of the things to look for in a paint job and the difference between slapdash and good.

Here is an old Henry J. Richard told me that it is pretty close to the Renault Dauphine that I used to drive.

Love the chrome, the shape, and the color and the covered wheel wells and the white wall tires.

Love the color.

So you may be wondering, what the heck are Dagmars. They are a car part named after an early 1950’s television actress named Dagmar. That is right, just one name.

Here is a closeup of a Dagmar. And a bonus selfie of me taking the photo.

Here is her photo. So, do you get why they call those bumper things, Dagmars? Let me know.

Anyway we three had a great time. Richard did all the driving and treated us to lunch.

I am linking with Our World Tuesday

Tulsa Auto Show 2016 Edition

Saturday I ventured out to the Tulsa State Fairgrounds to the annual Tulsa Auto Show to see what is going on. I found a Porsche Carrera is one thing.

And an Audi A8. Earlier in the week my cab driver, Mohammed, said look at that Audi! I said, is that Audi special? And he said, yes, it is their flagship car and is very expensive. I told my friend Mohammed that I thought the car looked like a Toyota and he just laughed. So I had to check it out. I didn’t write down what this cost but i think it was over $100,000. It has a twin turbocharged twelve cylinder engine and generates over 700 horsepower. That is all great and everything but it stil looks like a white Toyota to me.

This is the car where all the guys were hanging out. Most cars you can wait until people clear out but they don’t clear out on this one. Women tried to get close to it but they kept slipping on all the testosterone on the floor. It is the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. It has a supercharged 6.2L V8 and is regarded as the most powerful family sedan on earth.

This is what was causing all the gasping and such.

The nice sales lady in the miniskirt told me that the $70,000 price includes the custom Hellcat badge. I asked her how much for just the badge. I thought it would look good on my Kia Soul. She moved on to somebody else.

The Mustang GT is nice also. I don’t have the stats. Lots of car guys I know hate the Mustangs. I don’t quite understand why. I have to say though that at first glance the Mustang and the Charger look like Toyotas to me. Not that I have anything against Toyotas.

I like the older model Ford Thunderbirds. Nobody is going to mistake this for a Toyota.

And here is something I had never seen before. A Chevrolet Corvair pickup truck. Imagine a rear engine pickup. Imagine a gate on the side of the bed. That is a unique vehicle. For Comparison /Explanation of OEM /OES /Aftermarket /Used truck parts and other parts, people can click here to buy wholesale.

I always liked how the Corvairs looked but they sure got a bad rep when Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe at any Speed came out. The rear engine cars tended to spin out and cause accidents and the steering column, all one piece would impale the drivers. The car seems to have a loyal following. I don’t want one!!

The flat six cylinder engine with turbocharger sure is compact. The spare tire went into the engine compartment. Too bad they did not get a chance to address the problems with the car.

I am seeing fewer and fewer British Sports Cars as time goes by. I think this is an Austin Healy but I am not sure. These and the MG’s and a few others are the true sports cars in my book. The Jaguars and such are glorified Fords in my opinion. Except for the Porsche Carrera. It is still cool.

Speaking of, here is an older model from the late 50’s When I was a kid the only people who had Porsches were like airline captains, lawyers, and doctors. I had an Uncle who had one. He was an officer in the Navy and single and I think he had a Porsche. Then he got married and had kids. Adios Porsche. I was involved in a federal trial back in the late 80’s in Oklahoma City. His offices were out of downtown. On trial days I met him at his office and we road his Porsche to the courthouse downtown. He hardly ever got out of second gear. Plus he just parked where he wanted to downtown and nobody ever said a thing.

I’ll have to write a post about the trial. I wasn’t on trial, my employer was. I think I am waiting for the judge to die though before I say anything online. Buy me a beer or two though and I’ll tell you the whole story.

Here is the star of the show, in my eyes. It is a 1966 Auburn Cord Duesenberg Auburn 866 Speedster. Only a few hundred were made in the factory at the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow. I love it. I don’t think that I have ever seen one before. It is one of the most beautiful cars I have ever seen.

This is the vehicle I coveted the most though. A Nissan Frontier pickup. I miss my Toyota Tacoma that I traded in for my Kia Soul. The Tacoma has bloated to almost full size. The Frontier is still kind of small. No new cars for the Bates family though until the price of oil comes some more, A LOT more. Plus I’ll get mine used, thank you very much.

So, do you like to go to car shows?

Rat Rods! at the Starbird Car Show

I went to the Daryl Starbird Car Show here in Tulsa a couple weeks ago and I learned something new. I’ve learned the term “Rat Rod.”

Rat Rods are like hot rods only with no chrome, rough or nor paint, and just generally look kind of homemade.

Wikipedia talks about Rat Rods being a reaction to the pretty show hot rod show cars of today that are meant to be shown and not driven.

Rat Rods are often associated with Rockabilly or Greaser culture. They are supposed to be a throwback to the hot rods of the 1930’s to 1960’s. I love them. They have that Mad Max home built slopped together look about them. The safety people among us are going nuts I’m sure. Exposed exhaust pipes, drive belts, and fans. Whoops there goes your fingers, please don’t bleed on the cars sir.

Apparently conventional hot rodders loathe the rat rods. I just love controversy like this. Reaction and counter reaction, yin and yang. I’ll be looking into this more.

What about you? Have you ever heard of rat rods before?

2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

Heather and I went to the Tulsa Car Show on Friday. I’m just freshly turned 60 and hey guess what, I got in for half price!! I have to tell you that I have mixed feelings about that. Of course the worse thing was that the lady taking the money didn’t ask for ID or anything. Same thing happened when I turned 21 and went out to bars with my friends. Not a one asked me for my ID except at a strip bar and then the guy didn’t want to let me in anyway. I talked him into letting me in so that I could see the snaggletoothed strippers. And really it is not so much that I wanted to see the strippers as I didn’t want to be outside on my birthday while my friends checked out the snaggletoothed strippers. Oops, I’m digressing and offending at the same time. Hey folks, that was 39 years ago!!! Get over yourselves. Anyway, back at the car show.

Anyway there were lots of cars there. Most of them look like Toyotas. Sorry if hurt your feelings but there it is.

They had one car there though that was special. The Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. It has a supercharged engine with 707 horsepower.

For people of a certain age, like those who turned 60 +/- recently and are reluctantly enjoying senior citizen discounts, the Dodge Hemi Challenger has a special place in our hearts exemplified by one of the strangest and wonderful movies of 1971 starring not an actor but a car, the Doge Hemi Challenger, which back then generated a measly 426 horsepower. Of course the naked girl on a motorcycle generated some interest also with me, especially back then.

I can’t tell you how many times I watched that movie. I like cars but I don’t generally covet cars. The cars that I own have tended to be practical and economical. The Hellcat is an exception. I hope that the people who buy them really enjoy them.

What about you? Have you ever wanted a muscle car?

2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat – Overview from driveSRT on Vimeo.

Black and White Wednesday – 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540 Replica Roadster

Sorry about bring up another car, but here it is as seen at the Leake Car Auction here in Tulsa this past weekend. I thought it beautiful. Look at the sleek swooping lines and all the headlights and horns. It is best to just get out of the way when this bad boy shows up. I don’t know about the value of replicas but the real things regularly go for over $10 million!! You could buy over 600 of the cars I drive ( a Kia Soul) for that, brand new!! Not some nearly 80 year old heap.

Black and White Wednesday

Ruby Tuesday – 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible

Logan and I went to the Leake Car Auction here in Tulsa to look at some cars. I’m kind of drawn to the red ones for some reason. I was also drawn more to the 1950’s and earlier cars than I was to the newer ones. I guess I’ll never grow out of it. If you look really hard at the corner of the chrome bumper you can see me, maybe.

Ruby Tuesday

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