When you look at a car, two things about it are the most prominent. Your eyes will tell you really quick whether the car is a winner or not just on those two items. These two items should complement each other on many levels to make the vehicle stand out from the rest of the crowd. These two points of interest that I am talking about are paint and interior, which can turn an ordinary vehicle into a show winner.

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While doing a photo shoot of a private automotive collection of very diverse original, customs, classics and hot rods I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. I know a huge number of auto enthusiasts watched the TV show Home Improvement just to see what vehicles would turn up in Tim “The Toolman” Taylor’s garage or on his show “Tool Time”. The show ran from September 1991 through May 1999, and Tim Allen was just awesome in his character’s role as a guy that really wanted to be a hot rodder even though he was just a bit challenged mechanically. Over the series there were many vehicles featured, some more prominently than others, and what I saw in this private collection is supposedly one of the first vehicles to be featured on the show.

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Automotive enthusiasts usually have one or two vehicles in their garage or shop that are their pride and joy. Sometimes you will find someone that has a really cool garage or shop that has maybe ten vehicles of assorted manufacturers and years. Somewhere along these lines is when you can start calling yourself a collector of cars and trucks. Collecting means that the number of vehicles that you own is always growing, never diminishing and that entails having the space to store them plus the time to maintain them. Most owners of large, private collections are very private individuals that only show their vehicles by invitation.

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Being an auto enthusiast I know that there are many automotive museums, both big and small, scattered across our great country. I am also pleased to say that there is an automotive museum within a 15 minute drive from my home. I enjoy seeing what unique vehicles these museums have on display, and just sometimes the museum is also a part of automotive history like the one in Greeneville, Tennessee.

The City Car Garage Museum building did not start out with an automotive connection unless it was the cars and trucks that came to it to pick up seed or other farm related supplies. The first building on this location was a Kasco Feed Store in the 1930’s, but in the 1940’s it was purchased by W. R. Bullen and his business partner Jack O’Keefe. These two gentlemen bought the property and building after their Plymouth-Dodge dealership in town burned down and turned this location into a new dealership and garage.

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The title of this article alone should tell you that I’m taking you back to 1973 and one of the all time great car movies American Graffiti. The movie was actually set in 1962 when cruisin’ the boulevard and hanging out at the local drive-in diner were the things to do on weekend nights. Of course, there were the really cool cars used in the movie including Milner’s yellow ’32 Ford coupe; the local king of the street race scene. Then a new guy named Falfa shows up in a bad black ’55 Chevy ready to show Milner who really has the baddest car around. Well if you have seen the movie you know they end up on Paradise road for a grudge race with (spoiler alert!) Falfa losing car control of his car, totaling it and Milner wins by default. So the question has always been: if there had been no wreck, who would have won?

I’m lucky to know Ken Buckner Sr. and Ken Buckner Jr., owners of two of the most correct American Graffiti cloned ’32 Ford and ’55 Chevy. This father and son duo have been showing these two cars for years, including at autograph sessions with most of the original cast members, at one time or the other, all over the eastern and southern part of the country.

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Small town indoor car shows hardly ever get much exposure in print or on the web, and that is a shame, especially if they are for a good cause. In this case, the Annual Winter Angel Expo Vehicle & Motorcycle Show that was held in January at the Great Smoky Mountain Expo Center in the rural town of White Pine, Tennessee.

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Every November for the past 12 years Emerald Coast Cruizin’ has continued to grow by leaps and bounds with more participants, spectators, and big name vendors. This event grows because of a great host city like Panama City Beach, an awesome event site like Aaron Bessant Park and a perfect backdrop for cruisin’ like the beautiful gulf coast beaches.

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Every January fans of Goodguys get to vote on what vehicle will win one of two awards sponsored by Speedway Motors. The two categories are Homebuilt Heaven and Traditional Homebuilt Heaven, with each winner receiving a special Speedway Motors jacket and a $500 certificate to spend on www.speedwaymotors.com. This year’s Traditional Homebuilt Heaven winner was the 1932 Chevy coupe owned by Ben Smithson of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

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It’s no secret that California is known for its abundant car scene, so it just makes sense that the “grand daddy of them all” is held right there in Pomona. And on top of that, the coveted “America’s Most Beautiful Roadster” award is given away here as well! Needless to say, the 68^th Annual Grand National Roadster Show, which makes it the longest running indoor show in the world, was everything it’s built up to be! Running from early Friday morning until Sunday evening, this eclectic show boasts vehicles of many styles and colors. Between seven themed buildings, you may find anything from tri-fives Chevrolets, to channeled Model A Fords, to bagged C10s, and everything in between!

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