Guest Post: The Ark On Parade In Hyannis

Note: Today’s guest post is by my friend Laurie Kraynick, whose excellent 1970 Fleetwood Brougham has previously been discussed here and here. Enjoy. -TK

On a scale of 1-10 the weather was a 12, just a GORGEOUS, warm, sunny, breezy day at the beach
for a classic car parade and show. All sponsored by the Greater Hyannis Chamber of Commerce, the
folks who SHOULD HAVE HAD the annual Father’s Day Car Show this year but wilted to the wishes of all the restaurant and other common retailers on Main Street Hyannis because they lost so much
money last year and this year due to the Hyannis Puritans crushing the local economy with flu
mandates – but I digress….

We mustered by 11am at Kalmus Beach, 127 cars signed up as requested in advance, 300 showed up. Ooops. And the Barnstable PD immediately began scrambling for more units to block off the numerous intersections we’d be crossing on the parade route. We didn’t roll until noon. Up Ocean Street, to Old Colony, left on Main Street to Sea Street, left on North Main, right back on Ocean Street, back to the Kalmus Beach parking lot.

BPD units in the lead and at the stern. I was surprised so many people were on Main Street, photographing, video, clapping and cheering. It was fun! But not as fun as the Volvo with CT plates who tried to go around the fully marked and lit up Barnstable unit and take a right on Main Street from Barnstable Road. That cop might still be reaming him, 6 hours later.

Once parked back at Kalmus out came the showboards and chairs after a wiping off. 4 excellent food trucks in attendance, yes the lobster rolls were a little pricey for what you got but they were fresh. And simply MOBBED with people gawking at the cars. The DJ and MC were pure genius.

Before we left I asked the MC if he had Queen’s “I’m in love with my car” loaded on the laptop. He’s like “oh man what a great song, it will be played when you guys get back.” And he did. GREAT DJ and MC, they had a huge group of people dancing and singing right in front of their area for hours, just fabulous.

Photo’s attached. Keep in mind we have CLC members around the world that are still in authoritarian lockdowns. Let them see life going on in the world, it can give them hope, OK? That blue perfectly correct TA beside me is owned by a chick in my club, so is a correct ’70 Boss that didn’t show. We usually park together at club events, “Estrogen Avenue”. And who’s that CLC forum member with his better half and that very correct ’64 de Ville flip top?

Just a Blessed gorgeous day to be hanging out with The Ark, other Caddy’s, other great cars, great
people, over priced but yummy food, on the beach. Does it get any better? No, no it doesn’t.

While I sincerely believe our Caddys enjoy going to shows and strutting/pouting/posing like members of a hair glam band (where’s Lexi?), I think they enjoy being part of our lives too. Out for a meal, for a visit to friends and/or family, to a club, maybe getting some groceries and running errands. For us, its all about the cruise. But I think they like feeling ‘useful’ too.

That’s just me. Here’s The Ark getting groceries, out for lunch at Spanky’s Clam Shack (yes this is actually a restaurant) on Hyannis Harbor, stopping for drinks at Trader Ed’s on the other side of Hyannis Harbor, cruising up to Reid’s Automotive for the holy water engine oil, going to work occasionally, taking me to visit my family at the cemetery, and comforting me on the return trip home. DRIVE your cars, they’ll die if you don’t.

19 Replies to “Guest Post: The Ark On Parade In Hyannis”

  1. CJinSD

    I’m not sure I understand why the Father’s Day Car Show would have imposed on the business of the local restaurants and merchants. Are cars so unpopular in New England now that they would keep the sheeple away?

    The 60 Special appears to be in lovely shape. When I was a child, I had a neighbor with a 1970 Coupe DeVille. The quality of the finish of things like under-hood components and door sills made a big impression on me. I could swear that his car had fender protectors that either hung from anchors over the wheel wells, or folded out from over the wheel wells. They were diamond stitched, and indicated a level of thoughtfulness not seen on Fords, Pontiacs, or VWs that other neighbors performed DIY labor upon while I rode around on my bike being nosy.

    Reply
    • Bon Ivermectin

      I’m guessing that it’s not the show, but the parade-with-police-escort, and the retailers didn’t want interference with traffic on Father’s Day.

      The Woodward Dream Cruise seems to thrive without any special government involvement.

      Reply
    • Laurie Kraynick

      The Hyannis Father’s Day Car Show takes up *ALL* of Main Street in Hyannis all day on a Sunday, show cars parked on both sides of the street, most diagonally so everyone fits. Since the flu, they put jersey barriers down Main Street in Hyannis, which is only 2 lanes to begin with thus reducing it to one lane. Why? “Social Distancing”. Ate up half the available parking but gave the numerous restaurants ‘out door dining’ – on the street – so they could submit to our RINO Governor’s edict for ‘out door dining only’ during the dempanic. While Cape Cod is quite conservative, Hyannis is Cambridge with a beach, and the sheep still move in herds here. The Hyannis Chamber of Commerce ‘Father’s Day Car Show’ is one of the biggest car shows in New England, over 300 super cars and 100K people attend annually, free to the public and incredibly well run. My local club, the Cape Cod Classics Car Club, plays a huge role with the logistics. The hotels, restaurants and merchants on Main Street do really well financially in normal times with that event. And its going to be a long time before we’re allowed to resume ‘normal times’ in this state, in this area. And thank you for the compliments, The Ark is in nice shape. But he’ll be back to the world famous Hyannis Vintage Auto, with Gary Amster, Michael Amster, Mike Staab and Chris Pyne this winter for some body work and painting. All in preparation for another shot at World Of Wheels, Boston 2022. The Ark was accepted to Boston World Of Wheels in 2020, only to have the event cancelled because of the flu 2 weeks to showtime. That was a lifetime dream come true for me, and I’m still angry…

      Reply
  2. Newbie Jeff

    “…due to the Hyannis Puritans crushing the local economy with flu mandates – but I digress….”

    And just like that, I’m a fan…

    “DRIVE your cars, they’ll die if you don’t”

    Absolutely. Great read, thank you.

    Reply
    • Laurie Kraynick

      Thank you Newbie Jeff and you’re quite welcome. Tom Klockau does a wonderful job of posting events about The Ark, he’s in charge of advertising and PR, LOL! He loves the car and The Ark loves him. You can also follow the car on my FBook page.

      Reply
    • bluebarchetta

      Yes, let’s hear more from Laurie, please. I want to hear from people who love cars and love being alive, as she obviously does.

      My wife just recovered from the dreaded Delta variant of the Chinese Communist Party flu. She described it as “a mild flu, or the worst cold ever.” Despite the fact that we were he-in’ and she-in’ right up until she got sick, I never caught it. Obviously the worst disease ever to plague humanity. Sure am glad we shut down the world and mortgaged our grandkids’ future for this.

      Reply
      • Laurie Kraynick

        Happy to hear your wife recovered from the flu… as the majority of Planet Earth has. I was sick with a ‘virus’ in early January 2020, haven’t been that sick since I was in single digits, 102 fever for 4 days (Mom, RIP, “let a fever run, its killing a bug”) and caused me to miss an event in DC that month. I never requested or needed professional medical attention, I’ve had a bad virus before. Everyone was sick with this virus, it spread like wildfire, health compromised people were allowed to be treated with a steroid like Pred and a ZPac, and recovered nicely. Then the virus got a PR department and our country, and the world, changed. This forum is for car talk, in this instance, MY CAR! LOL! I’m sure the owners of the forum want to keep it that way and keep the politics out. Rest assured the majority are wise, keeping the faith, avoiding the gene therapy’s, and trusting the plan.
        God Bless.

        Reply
  3. John C.

    As is so often the case at classic auto shows there are often some other interesting cars hanging out with the Ark. It was great to spot the collonade Laguna S3. This was a failed model, but in my opinion an interesting attempt at updating a 60s muscle car to what was still possible circa 1974. A car like this was much sneared at during my youth in the 1980s due to the lower compression engine, even though the 83-88 305 Monte Carlo SS was prized. At least the first few years, it was still possible to have a four speed and a 454 V8 to go with the modernized handling and less tacked on style. Being based on the more workaday Chevelle seems more honest than stripping off the chrome of a personal luxury Monte Carlo.

    Reply
  4. LynnG

    Laurie, looks like you had great fun. If you are heading to Florida before the first snow fall may I recommend the AutoTrain, Lorton VA to Sanford FLA non-stop overnight. The Eldorado and the Sedan deVille have both traveled this way and I highly recommend. Coach is the most inexpensive however, a coach ticket no longer includes dinner in the dinning car. You have to purchase dinner, eat in the Club Car, or pack your own. However, Sleeping car passingers still get a free dinner and get to de-train first when it arrives at Sanford the next morning (this has to do with the platform at Sanford is to short for all the cars to line up, therefore the Coach cars pull past the platform until the Sleeping Car passengers have de-trained, and then the train backs up to let the Coach passingers off). It is a long ride but saves driving about 800 miles and what 75 gallons of gas. 🙂
    Again, glad to see the Ark out of its cave…. 🙂

    Reply
    • Laurie Kraynick

      Hey Lynn, how are you? 6 more days of FBook jail and I’ll be back, LOL!
      This was the 18th event for The Ark this year, 2 more to go weather permitting, and thousands of miles of cruising in unabashed old school Cadillac style all summer long. Relocation to Florida is on temporary hold due a major/positive change in ‘life’. If the time comes the cars go down in a covered carrier with East Coast Exotic Transport, yours truly flies down privately with no lines, no waiting, no security checks, no face diapers, an ash tray handy in flight and copious amounts of rum’n coke with appropriate munchies. Hope to talk to you again soon, take care my friend.

      Reply
      • John C.

        Modest proposal that does not involve eating babies. You and Lynn write a new series of lifestyle articles on Standard of the World drivers. Even from the dark side of The Force as a Lincoln driver, Tom would be great playing a Tanqueray soaked Robin Leach.

        Reply
        • Laurie Kraynick

          LOL! Now I won’t get that Alice Cooper song out of my head all day. And you might be on to something, maybe a YouTube channel? LOL! Tanqueray is for the little people, Klockau is more of a Gentlemen’s Cut kinda guy.

          Reply
    • Disinterested-Observer

      Even when I am not in a rush, Amtrak just doesn’t go where I need to go. Even from major city to other major city, unless both of those cities happen to be on the east coast and you don’t mind sitting about as long as you would on a Greyhound. True story, as far as I know: Before the age of smart phones I met a pair of brothers who had flown to the US for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, with plans to see Yellowstone. They arrived in LA and bought Amtrak tix to Wyoming. Not the state, the town in Delaware.

      Reply
      • Laurie Kraynick

        The only country I’ve ever been in with a fully functioning rail system was Japan. Trains go wherever you need to go and accurate on arrival and departure to the second. America is the home of the car world, we go by car. But trains make sense into the huge cities where parking isn’t possible.

        Reply

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