When my mother’s parents were married in 1928, my grandfather’s family told my grandmother to buy a car.  Any car she wanted… as long as it was a Pierce-Arrow.

I’ve seen old home movies of my grandmother and my great uncle carrying my mom as a baby and getting into a car that looked very much like this one: a 1930 Pierce-Arrow Club Sedan.  So I imagine Mom’s first car ride was something like this.

When my maternal grandmother married my grandfather in 1928, she married into a well-to-do family in St. Louis.  They told her to buy any car she wanted as long as it was a Pierce Arrow.  We have family home movies to prove that she did.

The Amphicar has been a feature at the Lake Mirror Classic Car Show, and I’ve seen them up in Michigan, too.

It’s Saturday, so that means it’s time for my weekly shopping trip at the supermarket.  It’s also a good time to take the Pontiac out for its weekly drive to keep the juices flowing and the battery charged.

Here’s a collection of wagons that do more than just get the groceries.

In honor of the last car show — for me — of the season, here’s a look back at what passed for sales pitches for new cars in the 1950’s.

This is the weekend for the 16th annual Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance.  I’ll be heading up there, but let’s get it started with a good breakfast at the Muffin Tin in Pinecrest.  It’s also a good time to do some proofreading.

This is the only time I can get a good parking space on Miami Beach: when I take the Pontiac to the Art Deco Weekend car show.

This is from 2020, but you get the idea.

Where did your car’s model name come from?  (I wonder why GM chose a number for my Pontiac.)

The car show season is starting, and I’m going over to the other side of the state to help kick it off.  I’ll be a judge at the Gasparilla Concours d’Elegance.  It starts with a parade through Safety Harbor, then the concours itself on Saturday.

I’ll be judging pre-war domestic cars, including a 1936 Packard 120-B convertible.  The car pictured below isn’t the one I’ll be judging, it’s what one of them looks like.

So, it will be a fun time, and I’ll have pictures.

Memory Lane.

For the first time since 2019, I’m going to Lakeland, Florida, for the Lake Mirror Classic Concours and Car Show.  A couple of changes this year: I’m taking my 2007 Mustang instead of my 1988 Pontiac for the Open Show, and I’ll be a judge at the Concours.

The Pontiac is staying home for two reasons: First, I don’t want to tempt karma again.  The last two times I took it to Lakeland, I didn’t get there.  In 2018, we were an hour on the road when it developed a leak from the transmission cover due to loose bolts.  A year later, we turned around at almost the same point when it developed a problem with the injectors and timing that required an engine rebuild, which was completed in December 2019.  Second, it’s in need of a good detail job, so it’s not quite ready for the show field.

The Mustang has a new top, the dents and dings have been removed, it has new tires and battery, and it has both air conditioning and cruise control.  It’s ready to be shown, and so, Dog willing, we will be on the field on Saturday.

Judging at the Concours is a first for me, and I get to see some amazing cars: American Performance from 1970 to 1972, including Mustangs, GTO’s, LeMans, Roadrunners, and all in spectacular condition.

If you’re in the area, stop by and say hi.

October marks the beginning of the car show season here in Florida, and what better time to take a look at the history of the auto industry from the land that gives us snowbirds.

We had the 1967 Ford Country Squire.

Since I recently came across a picture of me with Jay Leno at a previous Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance, I thought this video would be fun to share.

This was literally a random pick, but in light of the fact that tomorrow we have our Cars in the Garden show at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, it’s apropos.  I have no idea who Mike ‘n’ Gina are, but they have fun at the new AACA Museum in Hershey, PA.