Friday morning the index finger on my right hand encountered the supercharger belt on my Camaro. This gave me the opportunity to meet two very nice Columbus Police and Fire Department paramedics and spend eight hours in the OSU Medical Center Emergency Department. Let me just say the entire incident won't top my list of brilliant moves.
Since typing at the moment isn't very efficient, this week's report will be a little shorter than normal.
Der Dutchman
Starting with Der Dutchman, the cruise-in set a new attendance record this past Thursday. The restaurant registered 147 vehicles braking the previous record by four cars. More than 20 were first time participants.
The Thursday cruise-in has become so popular this season that the restaurant has added a second port-a-potty!
Boot's from Auto Smarts Radio stopped by again this week with his BADD '57 Chevy. He invited Bill Fowler (see arrow) From Baer Brakes to come out. Bill brought some Baer shirts with him that were raffled off at the end of the cruise-in.
Creative Towing/Advanced Auto Parts
Friday evening saw 21 vehicles turn out for the August Creative Towing/Advanced Auto Parts show in Marysville, Ohio. The threat of showers during the evening likely kept some folks at home.
Auto Smarts Cruise and Ride at Ten Pin Alley
Speaking of showers, I received a report that the 20 cars that showed up for the Auto Smarts Cruise and Ride at Tin Pin Alley in Hilliard, Ohio got drenched not once but several times on Friday.
Marysville Charity Car Show
Saturday saw some shows get soaked with torrential downpours while others remained relatively dry.
The 4th Annual Marysville Charity Show at the Honda Marysville dealership in Marysville, Ohio was one of those shows that stayed relatively dry.
I was told attendance figures were anywhere from 181 to well over 200 cars.
From the photos I received, it looks like some very nice cars, trucks and bikes turned out for the show.
Powell Cruise-in and Pig Out
The weather improved considerably on Sunday for the 26th Annual Powell, Ohio Cruise-in and Pig Out put on by the Powell Sertoma.
I took one for the team and participated in the show, hurt finger and all.
This year the show managed to register 193 vehicles. Approximately twenty-five more cars were turned away due to a lack of registration forms and available parking.
This is the first show that I'm aware of where you could pay the registration fee with a credit card. It's probably just a matter of time before this method of payment becomes common place at most shows.
The Powell Sertoma presented 120 "Favorite" plaques, a Mayor's Choice, a Police Choice, a Fireman's Choice, and two Best of Show awards.
Here are few of the "Favorite" winners.
Mayor's Choice went to Dan "Boots" Longenette's 1957 Chevy
Mike Herman with a 1964 Plymouth Belvedre received the Fireman's Choice award.
The two Auto Smarts Best of Show awards went to Pam Shankle with a 1965 Chevy Impala and Bill Foos with a 1969 Camaro Z28.
Bill left before the awards presentation because of the threat of rain so his trophy was picked up by a friend.
Final Thoughts
The question was asked if 120 "Favorites" was too many? In all honesty, I have to answer yes. While it's great that a large number of cars received an award, it did take the better part of an hour to present them all. And to get through them that fast the persons name and car number were all that was announced. Rarely was a description of the individual's car made. My personal opinion is that 70 to 75 "Favorites" would have been an ideal number.
I complained last year that the windshield placard only had the car number and no other information. Not only does it make it tough to write a good report, but there's also no information about the vehicle for the spectators. The good news is I had a chance to discuss this with Larry Coolidge, who is in charge of organizing the show. I made a strong suggestion to add space on the placard for the owner's name along with make, model and year of the vehicle for next year.
I watched some of the judging and was very disappointed at the Powell show. It looked more of a (i like this car). In years passed i noticed really judging, it needs to return.
I didn't see the judging this year, but I agree the cars were judged a little more in depth in past years.