Garage Tour

Over the years, Katrina’s and my interest in cars has varied dramatically. Way back, while I was in college, it started with an inexpensive 1959 Studebaker Silver Hawk. Then there was another Hawk, a 1962 Corvette, a 1960 Porsche, a 1962 Chevy SS, and many more. There were race cars, custom vans, a lot of Corvettes, and Mustangs, to name but a few. The real question that was always there, “What can I do with the car?”.

It started with a casual drive to a cruise-in at the local A&W or similar drive-in. As I met other car people, I began to gravitate towards cars like mine. That brought new friends and invitations to join car clubs. Some car clubs welcomed new folks with all kinds and years of cars, but there are also those clubs that focuse on one particular brand and or make of car.

We tend to have multiple makes in our garages, although our main love is towards the Fords and Aero Cars. We belong to several car clubs and have cars from all the Big Three American car manufacturers. It always seems like our favorite car people are those with the Blue Oval cars. Ford folks are usually a little more our speed. Such is the case with the Music City Mustang Club.

It is not just the cars or even the people, but also the activities. There are clubs that like to have shows, others like to cruise back roads, some just like to meet up and eat out, others like the go fast activities and track days. When I was younger, my main interest was in speed competitions and making the car faster and handle better. Then, as kids came into the picture, it was more about the daily drive and trying to make a collector car practical. The next phase involved showing at the local level. That was followed by cruise ins. Now, it is mostly concourses and cruising.

The cruising is not just about the car and beautiful twisty back roads, but also the destinations and the people. We recently hosted one such event with our Music City Mustang friends. They did a cruise, but we did not participate in the cruise itself because we were the hosts of the destination! Katrina and I have hosted such events in the past, including some three day events for our own TalladegaSpoilerRegistry.com,. This Mustang event was a “garage visit” where we had the opportunity to show off our small collection of cars and tell about the interesting back stories on each one. We left three cars in the garage and placed the remaining cars around the yard. This gave us an opportunity to explain why each car was important and why we chose to collect it. Although this was a Mustang Club and we have three Mustangs, our visitors were just as interested in our non-Mustangs as they were in our Club cars. That was not only surprising but also pleasing. They were especially interested in the Talladega and Dan Gurney Spoiler II.

Before we joined the Club, we showed the Talladega at their annual show and came home with the Best of Show Award! Since joining the Club, we can no longer compete in the show, but we always try to attend.

If you have attended one of our Talladega Spoiler Family Reunions, you know we also have a large collection of memorabilia, with each piece having some personal importance to us. The visit also included a time for questions and answers,a as well as an excuse to fire up some of the more rowdy cars. We live outside the city, so there is no issue with disturbing neighbors!

After a couple of hours of automobile camaraderie, we all jumped into our Mustangs and headed to a local BBQ restaurant for some excellent lunchtime eats. We are already thinking about doing this again next year and how we can step it up a bit. Maybe we can also motivate some other Club members to do a garage visit.

Photos are courtesy of Music City Club Member Gary Allen….I was much too busy having fun to take pictures.