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Now that the 2019 Central Ohio car show season has officially come to an end, it's time to take a look back at what was good, what was bad and what was ugly.

I managed to participate in 80 events this year. When you consider there were five weeks during 2019 where I didn't participate in any events, that's a pretty big accomplishment, even if I do say so myself.

I traveled more than 3000 miles to attend events in Centerburg, Columbus, Delaware, Dublin, Gahanna, Hilliard, Johnstown, Lewis Center, Lockbourne, Marion, Marysville, New Albany, Obetz, Plain City, Powell, Springfield, Westerville, and Worthington.

Throughout the season, I took more than 9200 photos of cars, trucks, and motorcycles from around Central Ohio. Besides my car, Kevin Martin's 1962 Chevy pickup truck wins the award for the most photographed vehicle in 2019.

Before I get deep into the recap of this season, let me take a second to make the usual disclaimer:

The lists I'm about to present reflect my opinion and my opinion only of the events I attended in 2019. If you attended a show or cruise-in not on my list that you thought was exceptionally good, bad or ugly, please feel free to share it in the comments. Also, feel free to post a comment if you agree or disagree with any of my choices.

Okay, let's start with the GOOD.

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Thanks to mother nature, the final Jack Maxton Friday Night Cruisin of the season was a washout.

Around 6 PM, the first of two rain showers fell upon the 200 registered cars and trucks. To add insult to injury, the first shower stopped long enough for everyone to dry off their vehicles. About the time the band was sheduled to start playing, the second round arrived with a vengeance. Not only did it include heavy rain, but this time there were strong winds, lightning, and thunder to keep everyone on their toes.

When it was all said and done, everything and I mean everything was soaked. The British Invasion was forced to cancel their show because of water-soaked equipment. I spent Saturday drying out folding chairs, towels and all of my detailing products. The floor mats in my car were still damp as of Saturday afternoon.

The awards presentation, which took place an hour early, had to be held in the showroom. The winners were announced using the dealership's intercom system.

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Despite moving my father from skilled nursing to assisted living and the hottest weather so far this year, I managed to somehow attend four events this week and was a spectator at a fifth.

Goodguys PPG Nationals All American Sunday

I started the week at the Goodguys PPG Nationals All American Sunday. This event has been on my radar for the past several years. I've always had a reasonable excuse not to attend until this year.

For those that may not know, Goodguys All American Sunday is open to ALL YEARS of American made and powered automobiles. Owning a late model car this was obviously my only option to participate in the Goodguys event.

Being a first-time participant, I wasn't sure what to expect. I spoke with several people prior to Sunday and consensus was to arrive no later than 8 AM. I went a step further and got there before 7:30 AM. Knowing what I know now, I could have arrived by 9 AM and been fine.

I exited I-71 at 17th avenue. The lanes for entry of show cars into the event and for registration were well marked. Non-member cost to register for the day was $40. I got talked into joining Goodguys as a Silver member for an additional $5. As a Silver member, I can pre-register next year at a discount.

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More than 260 cars and trucks packed Jack Maxton Chevrolet in Columbus, Ohio for the dealership's first Friday Night Cruisin of the season.

The beautiful weather not only brought out a lot of Chevys from around the area but also a lot of spectators. The band Electric Super Friends lit up the evening with classic rock tunes from the '60s, '70s, and '80s. The band sounded great!

The featured Chevrolets this month were:

  • Maxton's Favorite Corvette from the years '53-'67, '68-'82, and '84-present.
  • Maxton's Favorite Truck
  • Maxton's Favorite Corvair
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I've got lots to report on from the weekend.  For the sake of time, I'm going to use a little different format this week.

Jack Maxton

Date: 9/28/2018

Location: Jack Maxton Chevrolet, Columbus, Ohio

Registered Vehicles: 183

Comments:  After postponing three out of four shows this season, the final Friday Night Cruisin' couldn't have asked for better weather.

Country music artist Simba Jordan provided this month's "live" entertainment.

During the evening a Mustang and this white Cadillac some how managed to make it past the police officer guarding the front entrance.

Rumor has it the bands have already been booked for the 28th year of Jack Maxton Friday Night Cruisin'.  I'm already looking forward to next year's shows.

Maxton's Favorites, DJ's Choice, and Best of Show Winners:

Favorite Corvette
1957 Fuel Injected - Owner: Ectore Tranquillo
Favorite Truck
1948 Pickup - Owner: Steve Andrix

Favorite Muscle Car
1967 Chevelle - Owner: Jim Ashbrook

Favorite Full Size
1955 - Owner: Tom Coates
DJ's Choice
1976 G-10/"Hotel California" - Owner: Chris Wise

Maxton's Best of Show

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This past weekend turned out to be a busy one. I managed to get in four events over four consecutive days.  During those four days, my car was exposed to monsoon-like rain storms twice!

Thursday

It all start with my usual Thursday evening  hangout at Der Dutchman in Plain City, Ohio

I didn't get there until after 6 PM because I had to pick my car up from Esoteric Fine Auto Detailing in New Albany, Ohio.   The car was there for installation of perfectly illegal window tint.  Let me just say the drive from New Albany to Plain City in rush hour traffic is not a pleasant experience.

By the time I arrived at Der Dutchman, there was a significant number of cars already parked on the other side of the fence.

The combination of perfect weather and rain the week before worked together to help set another attendance record. The cruise-in registered 169 vehicles beating the previous record by 22 cars!  Nineteen of the 169 were first timers.

To thank everyone for coming out and setting a new record, the restaurant raffled off two $30 gift cards to the restaurant and gift shop instead of the usual one.

Crowd is anxiously awaiting  the raffle drawing 

Wayne Nisly, host of the cruise-in, is shooting for 200 cars on September 20.  If you're free that evening, stop by Der Dutchman.  Wayne has promised FREE ice cream for everyone if the cruise-in meets that goal.

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The weather this week rallied back from an almost complete washout the week before to be just about as perfect as one can get.  Almost all events this weekend enjoyed dry skies and a little lower than normal temperatures and humidity.  The only exception was Der Dutchman where a threat of showers on Thursday evening kept a few cars away.  I'll talk more about that later.

JACK MAXTON FRIDAY NIGHT CRUISIN'

Despite being postponed a week, the Jack Maxton all Chevy show on Friday still managed to register 205 vehicles.  The strong attendance relieved owner Jeff Mauk's fear that word wouldn't get out about the show's postponement.

This month's live entertainment was provided by the Electric Super Friends band. The band sounded good and played lots of familiar songs.The featured Chevys this month were the Chevelle, Camaro, Nova, Monte Carlo and wagon. It seemed like two out of every three cars at the show were Camaros.

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Beautiful summer-like weather greeted the first Jack Maxton Friday Night Cruisin' of the season. Music by the Hipnotics mesmerized the crowd throughout the evening.

Nice weather and first show is generally a combination that attracts a lot of cars. Friday's cruise-in was no exception. The show "officially" registered 252 Chevys. Counting the cars that showed up but didn't register the exact total was likely more than 300 cars.

My friend and I got there at 3:30 PM so we could get parking spots in front of showroom.  We knew if we showed up much later all the spots out front would be gone.  I've been to previous Maxton first shows of the season that had cars parked in between rows of parked cars.  Even though Friday wasn't quite as crowded as some past shows, there were still a lot of cars.

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Update:  Maxton has posted their photos from the show to their Facebook page.

Great weather, great cars, and the country rock sounds of the band Jacked Up highlighted the final Jack Maxton Friday Night Cruisin' of the year.

The perfect car show weather brought out 191 Chevys for the final show. It also gave everyone the last opportunity of the season to purchase one of those great Maxton t-shirts.

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UPDATE: Jack Maxton has posted photos from the cruise-into their Facebook Page.

Everyone was greeted Friday evening with heat and brutal humidity at Jack Maxton's July Cruise-in.  The cool jazz sounds of the Arnett Howard Band tried hard to kept crowd comfortable throughout the evening.

Because of the weather, only 160 vehicles registered this month - down almost 100 vehicles from the June cruise-in.

A passing rain cell around 8 PM brought about 15 minutes worth of sprinkles to the show.  It dropped Just enough water to bring out the drying towels.

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