My new 1988 T/A

[DynoDave]

[MP81]

Is it weird I was drawn to the two pristine Cavaliers and the Escort?

[DynoDave]

Not at all. That's why I took the photos!

My wife's first new car was a '90 (same body style and interior as the grey Z24) red RS (same as the '91). '91 was for same, but I never warmed to the restyle of the front of those. If the grey Z24 was for sale, it might well be in our garage right now!

And the Escort...man, when was the last time you saw one that clean! And in teal no less. Very '90s.

[DynoDave]

3rd car show in 6 weeks, 2 out of state, all out of town. I'm beat!

The last of the 3 was the Route 66 Mother Road Festival and Car Show in Springfield, IL last weekend. Being the 100th anniv. of Route 66, I really wanted to attend some sort of special event for that, and drive the car at least a few miles on 66. Springfield spent more money then usual on this show, and we had a great time. Photos below.

I don' love staying at hotels for car shows, as the car is just too un-monitored. The T/A Nationals being the one exception, as they have the show at the host hotel, and the lot has overnight security. So we took the motorhome and stayed at a state park.



And you couldn't beat the morning view of this lake front site. Very relaxing having my morning coffee while listening to the early morning sounds of nature. The down side...about a 1/2 hour drive into town, and LOTS OF BUGS to clean off the front of the car and windshield.



Picking up the registration packet was smooth and efficient, with lots of volunteers working the tent (Thank you volunteers!). And it was a constant stream of interesting cars coming and going.



This Valiant was very cool. Heavily worked over Slant 6 drivetrain and suspension with a stock look. Custom period style roof rack. Drove in from Georgia, their second time attending this show.









Crossfire in from Minnesota.

[DynoDave]

Morning sunrise on the drive in to the show on Saturday. And yes, I cleaned the dash pad as part of detailing when I got there.

[DynoDave]

[DynoDave]

[DynoDave]

Banners adorned the street lights downtown.



This young man had just bought this 36k or so mile Cougar a few weeks prior, and this was his first show. Good to see younger folks jumping into the hobby.



The church across the street from where I was parked, which has the (Abe) Lincoln family pew. This is just a couple of blocks up the street from the Lincoln home.

[DynoDave]

[DynoDave]

Lincoln's Law offices were in this building.

[DynoDave]

This one was interesting. Every time we see a late 2nd gen in this color, I bore my wife with stories about the one "just like it" that a friend had in high school. So I stopped to grab a picture, and told her the same story...again.



Then I noted the displacement callout on the shaker. Funny, as my friend had removed the 301 and put a 428 in it's place.



Then a young lady in a Trans Am jacket asked if we had any questions about the car. So I told her the story, and come to find out this IS that car, the same guy still owns it, and it was his daughter I was speaking with. Crazy! But this is part of what happens when you return to your home town for a car show.

Large Opel turnout.







More GTs! Lincoln Presidential Library in the background, just across a side street from the Lincoln Presidential Museum.



And a nice display of ISP vehicles.

[DynoDave]

More later.

[DynoDave]

This weekend was absorbed by a marathon (just 5k for me), so let me get back to these photos.






Took photos of this one at the POCI convention in Pontiac, MI this summer.

[DynoDave]

The old armory getting a rehab...good to see.

[DynoDave]

A pair of Dodge Magnums. Something you don't see every day. The one on the left is an original owner car. The one on the right, the guy drove up from Texas in. Seen here he's adding a couple of electric fans to help keep the car cool (ran a little hot in the stop-and-go traffic of the Mother Road Festival Parade the night before.



Factory sunroof car.



4-speed conversion.