Car Show Highlights

Having been to a car show and a cruise-in lately, it's about time I get some pictures up. These are from the most recent Cars and Coffee event, as well as a cruise-in at a local car museum. Plenty of variety, and a ton of fun.

First things first, we have this classic Chevrolet Corvette convertible. There's rarely a shortage of Corvettes at Cars and Coffee, but this one caught my eye primarily due to its color. It lends a more cultured European sports car look, and it really suits the lines of this car. This one's a 1967, the last year for this bodystyle.

The classic 'Vette is a great convertible sports car, but this brand new Bentley Continental GTC convertible is not a bad alternative. The new front end design on the latest Bentley models is starting to grow on me. It's very modern and looks sportier than the previous generation. Of course, looks are nothing without performance to back them up, but the Bentley's immense W12 powerplant will provide enough horsepower to keep you grinning for days. The convertible also does a great job of making silver look good. On lesser cars it can come off as a bit bland.

I absolutely love cars that have a personality, and this old-school Ford coupe is chock full of the stuff. The owner has gone with the "little of this, little of that" design plan, and it comes together as a very unique car. To start with, it's a 1929 Ford coupe. The engine is a small-block Chevrolet V8, the taillights come from a vintage Cadillac, and the massive rear fenders cover some equally massive rear tires. Then there's the Jaguar hood ornament, and the mismatched front seats, neither of which are original to the car. It's essentially a giant mash-up of parts and pieces, and it makes it a personalized statement about the driver. Cars like this always make me smile.

Although not quite as cool as their '60s and '70s counterparts, the '90s-gen Camaros can be pretty cool if done right. They're also a low-budget way to get your hands on a RWD V8 American muscle car. This one's a 1993 Z28 with a couple of modifications. The wheels are tasteful aftermarket rims, and the chrome "V8" badge is small and simple, thus not coming across as tacky. It's hard not to like a red Camaro.

The Camaro is a nice car, but if you want a real muscle car, go for the classics. A great example is this immaculate 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302. The Boss 302 was Ford's contender in the Trans Am racing series of the '70s, where it battled it out with Cudas, Camaros, Challengers, and Javelins. The Calypso Coral paint on this one absolutely shines in the sun, and the ultra-'70s graphics are very cool. This one is unique in that instead of the far more common Magnum 500 rims, it has the base-model rims. This one also is devoid of the rear spoiler and louvers, but it retains the chin spoiler up front. I simply adore this car.

Not quite as sporty as the Boss 302, this 1941 Oldsmobile is more about elegance and luxury. The front end of this car always seems so cluttered to me. It seems like the headlights could be moved further out on the fenders, allowing room for the grille to be widened. All the same, it's still a very stately car. It's also extremely uncommon. I've never seen another Oldsmobile of this vintage, so I made sure to get a long look at it.

Take a close look at this Camaro. It appears to be essentially stock, and there's not even an SS badge. It's just a Camaro with stripes, right? Wrong. This is not just some milktoast yellow Camaro, it's a Hennessey. For those who don't know, Hennessey is like a modern-day equivalent of Yenko or Baldwin Motion. They're best known for the insane Hennessey Venom GT, but they specialize in horsepower upgrades for performance cars. It's likely this Camaro is producing over 500 horsepower, thus making it a modern-day sleeper.

While the Hennessey uses the element of stealth, this Ferrari 360 Modena is a blatant powerhouse. It's a mid-engined monster of a car, making 420 bhp from a 3.6 liter V8. That power is all sent directly to the rear wheels, which can propel it to a top speed of 189 mph. All of that amazing performance is wrapped in an utterly gorgeous body, all very elegant and smooth. It's nice to see this car in silver, as opposed to the typical Ferrari red.

That's all for now, but expect more to come soon. The weather is warm and pleasant, perfect for some really sensational car shows.