Cruise Down Memory Lane – Pictures
Of course, what was initially forecast as a beautiful weekend changed (after everyone had arrived) to “scattered showers in the afternoon and evening”. However, after a relatively brief period of rain, the sun came back out and the attendees deployed their towels and squeegees to clean up the cars.
The show is limited to classic American muscle cars (1973 or older), Corvettes of any age, and newer American cars by invitation only. When I pulled up to the entrance, the staffer there said “Please tell me that’s an American car – I’d hate to have to turn you away”. I told him it was (made in Oregon) and that I had cleared it with the event co-ordinator beforehand.
Vineland closes about 1 mile of their “main drag” in the heart of town for this show, and cars park on either side of the street:
The Atom received a lot of attention, though I couldn’t walk away and take pictures – a lot of the other attendees just rolled up their windows, locked their doors, and strolled up and down the street to check out the other cars.
After 2-3 hours of static display, cars pull out and cruise up and down the closed section of the street. The police and organizers hope that this occurs in an orderly fashion, but the spectators cheer the drivers on to do burnouts, etc. The police mostly tolerate this, as long as they aren’t enveloped in a cloud of burning rubber. The police also have a classic police cruiser (complete with “gumball machine” light) in the cruise.
This cruise happens at very low speeds – 5-10 MPH, with frequent stops to allow more cars to pull into the street and cruise. After 2 laps, a number of cars exited the show. I went for 3 laps and then exited, as the fumes from the burnouts and old engines were getting to me.
Overall it was a great experience and I’ll be back next year if scheduling permits.
