February 11th, 2018

I have no problem admitting that I am not a car person. If I witnessed robbers fleeing the scene of the crime in their getaway vehicle and I was called upon to describe the car, I might recall the number of doors it had and what colour it was.  That's it.  The vast majority of the time, that is my sum total knowledge of cars.  I should be embarassed by that I supposed, but I'm not.  Everybody has their "thing'.  MIne is cookies. Someone else's has to be about automobiles.

​Okay, okay, I recognize a few cars.   A VW Beetle is a car that stands apart from the crowd.  If I see that car, I know it. Maybe a PT Cruiser, although I don't see as many of those around anymore as I used to.  If a DeLorean's doors are open, I usually can remember the name of that one. But I think that is it.  All the other cars in the world are merely number of doors and paint colour to me.

​And yet, and yet.....and yet....I love car shows!  I know!  It's crazy.  I defy definition. and pigeon holes.  I rarely know what I am looking at but that doesn't stop me from admiring it. Back in Colorado, we liked to go to this very cool car museum downtown. Way fun.  But home grown car shows, where you can meet the owners and talk with them, that's the best.  And I got the chance to do just that this past weekend. Yay!  Joy and Bob joined us as we strolled through the rows and Rows and ROWS of all sorts of different cars of every colour and style imagineable.

​Joy, Bob and Tim know about cars.  They have memories of cars they have owned, their friends have owned, their friends parents owned or just cars that were somehow memorable to them.  I love hearing them talk about this one's engine or that one's chasis. I smile and nod as if I had a clue what they were talking about and then go right ahead and enjoy the car my own way.

I never know what it is that will make me smile about this particular car over that one over there. It might be the front of the car that stands out. All shiny.  I love all that sparkly chrome. It's like jewelry :)

Or it could be the hood ornaments. I love the old hood decorations. I'm so sorry that it's usually just a plain old flat emblem anymore. Those old ones had class, they had style, they had distinction!

Or maybe it was the back end of the car that captured my fancy?  Sure that could be it.  Sometimes  it absolutely was be the rear view that was my favourite;
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Sometimes there was something especially appealing to me about the tires. I don't understand it, I just listen to the siren call, make the appropriate oo's and aaah's and then take the photographs.  You gotta admit, these are pretty snazzy

Perhaps it's just the  customizations that makes an ordinary vehicle extraordinary and personalized special and that is the appeal. Some quirky, fun or really different touches. It might be the paint colour, the sparkle or the fuzzy dice. It could be anything that makes me smile. Or maybe it isn't a custom item at all, maybe it's standard but specific to that car. Doesn't matter,  it's still the thing that makes that particular car a standout.

Really, who cares why I like what I like.  Fact is, I liked it all. And regardless of the various reasons, everyone had a great time.  I got to sit in my favourite car, which turns out to be a yellow and white, '55 Chevy Bellaire (who knew?).  Joy couldn't pick just one favourite car although she was partial to a blue Camaro and a particular Corvette whose name had both letters and numbers in it (beyond that I have no idea).  And I suspect that Tim and Bob liked them all, each for different reasons of course.

Now to be fair, I have a good time pretty much everywhere I go, but the car show, that is something special.  If you happen to be around next year at this time, you can join us when we  go again!  See ya next year at the Venice Island Car Show!  Woohoo!  and Beepbeep!