As I write this it’s August eve. Oh sure, we still have like two months of warm weather left, but I recently realized shows will be coming to an end sooner than I’d like.
That means paying more attention to shows I’ve never been to. Last Sunday I attended a show in the tiny Swedish enclave of Bishop Hill, IL. I’ve been going to this show for close to twenty years and it’s a good one.
While there I struck up a conversation with a guy who had a late ’30s Packard Six sedan at the show. During the course of our chat he mentioned the following weekend there was a good show in Oneida, IL.
Fast forward to yesterday morning. I felt like doing something so checked a couple websites that list local shows, and there it was again: Oneida. Hmm. 45 miles away.
And my car was already coated with flat bugs from driving to Iowa City and back on Friday.
Oh and by the way I bought this in downtown Iowa City, Brittany Blue ’65 T-Bird promo with built in Philco radio. Now where was I?
And the weather was great, low 80s and low humidity. OK, let’s go!
Oneida is a tiny town next to the railroad tracks in Knox County, kind of between Galesburg and Geneseo.
There’s not much to it, but there was evidence of a once robust downtown area, and a nice city park adjacent, which was where the show was held.
You know I love Detroit Broughamage, but there was a lot of other cool rolling stock in evidence, including an MG TD, ’71 Road Runner and ’86 GMC Caballero.
It was hard to pick a favorite. As Rodney Dangerfield once said in Back to School, “Do you look at a menu and say OK?”
But of course I loved the ’76 Mark IV…
’73 Thunderbird (with fantastic dark green leather!) and the white ’58 Caddy Series 62.
The ’75 Grand Ville Brougham was especially Majestic.
All in all it was a great show and I’ll probably be back next year! It was hard to pick a favorite, but as you may have guessed from the header pic it’s the ’70 Catalina convertible. So cool…a perfect summer cruiser!
Like you, I think they all look great. If forced to pick one, I would take home the Skylark convertible. Not too flashy, like my Focus ST, so it wouldn’t attract the wrong kind of crowds.
Always amazed at all the nice original cars in small Midwest small towns. But then again that is where all the flippers find them. Guess we should be grateful that a lot of people back then had a “summer” car and a “winter” car or 4×4…. Great show, Tom hope you found a nice supper club on the way back 🙂 🙂
Thanks for posting this Tom. I too like the Catalina and Grand Ville as some of the best, though I would prefer the hardtop versions of the same. The towel on the driver side of the Grand Ville explains why. With the brash and muscular styling and the completing the picture Pontiac 400s most had, the really seemed differentiated from the more straight laced same size offerings from say Olds, Chrysler, Buick, and Mercury.
I never would have picked you for a convertible man, Tom. Nowhere to put an opera window. Beautiful cars and nice photography. Thank you.
I like the shot with water tower hovering over the Imperials pedestal light, nicely done.
Tom,
Just saw this and it is in your neighborhood at 50cents a pound…. Right color, and a two door. Yes I know it has the LTD dash and the uneconomical 400 but for 50cents a pound. Think about it… 🙂
https://www.hagerty.com/drivers-club/my-garage/ikpbrf48/gary-sullivan/30014e4e-f1d4-44cf-86ef-aa97156e2a6e
Keep the pics coming Tom. How these cars survived the roadsalt monster is beyond me.