It was raining. OK so it is Central Florida at the end of the Rainy Season and the peak of Hurricane Season. There were several 911 Car Shows in the area and the weatherman was promising only about a 20% chance of good weather. This wouldn’t stop us from heading out at our regular time, just after 1:00. We would arrive at the gate to the smiling face of Lee. We would be following Frank in his El Camino, our September Cruiser of the Month. We were informed by Dave at registration that we were the 9th one to arrive and now not everyone would win a checkered flag. It was going to be a slow day….

The “Looney Bin” wasn’t even occupied yet. Block 3 was pretty empty except for Gary & Kathy’s Fairlane and Larry’s Skylark, both red convertibles I might add. Tom was parked in Block 4 with his ‘66 Malibu. They came to town early so that she might attend a Baby Shower” for Nick & Fran’s daughter.

Graham, G4HFG would check in early from the UK. We would start a contest as to how many cars would be out today. His guess was an optimistic 180. Reports of heavy rain all around us were coming in by now and this always cuts down the car count. We were only getting the slightest bit of mist and then the rain stopped completely at 2:00 at Old Town.

Linda and I would take our first walk to the top of “Trophy Row”. “Big John” would be back in town and have a ‘66 Corvette parked in his spot. John P would be across from the “Redline Rodders” with his ‘57 Chevy. Rich was home sick. Karen and the Kids were behind the stairs. Block 1 was pretty empty. There were only about 30 or so cars on town. We would head back down to the car, it was then that Larry, WA3PGL and Linda, KA3BRP arrived, they would join us at the car and wait for dinner time.

Just after 3:30 we would start to head up to Flippers. There were a few more cars coming into town. Dave D would be out in his Black Mustang convertible, Mark had his “Beast” in his favorite spot. Nick and grandson Daniel would be in the ‘32 Ford and Bill was arriving in his ‘46 Plymouth. Bob M would have his Ambassador parked in his “Decades” spot. Laura NO4OO called on the radio to say that she was on her way to join us, Ted, KE4TTE was on his way as was Ed, WB8BHL, so Angela would have a big table to take care of. While dinning I brought up the idea of using the High Striker as our Repeater Tower. Allan had called me on Friday and told me that it was available to us to put the antenna on. We would all agree that it could be done but we would stop in to get Mike, KJ4GNI’s input after we viewed the site. So now we need to get the hardware to Old Town. It may not be long before the Amateur Radio Gateway to the world from Old Town, N4OTC will be on the air.

On our way back to Block 4, I would get a few more guesses on how man cars would attend tonight. Colin, 2E0RIG from Manchester would say 256, Ian, K4ZPZ would guess 150, Larry, WA3PGL would say 205, Linda KA3BRP said 110, I guessed 120, Dave would say 160, Ted, KE4TTE, guessed 155 and Allan said 75 he would end up being the closest without going over. Will and Amy had their ‘66 Lincoln in Block 3, the spectator crowd was growing now as well.


When we got back to Block 4, Charlie had joined us and Bunny was back from the baby shower. Doc, Suzanne and Cara were across from us in their latest cruiser, a ’68 Ford Falcon 2 Dr. Bob N was just down from us in his ‘36 Ford, “Bo” was in his Corvair. Tom brought out his ‘68 Mustang. James who’s Pontiac is still in pieces stopped by for a visit. It would take the rest of the night to get the car count over 100. Those of you that didn’t come out tonight because of the “Rain”, missed another good night out in our Home Town. It never did rain the rest of the night.

In the crowd I would spot Paul & Floris, those two guys from Holland that were out on Wednesday. They were quite impressed with the 100 cars they got to see. There sure wasn’t a lack of spectators and “Eddie and The Cruizers” were on stage with a big audience to play for Ed. WB8BHL and I would make a few trips up “Trophy Row” and on one of them we would meet KN2R, Paul, who was waiting for Howard, Ian and Sue. They would not arrive until we were almost done with the Cruise. I believe Wayne and Donna, visiting from Spring Hill were with them. The small crowd would give our Cruise Staff a bit of a breather tonight. There were several that weren’t here for various reasons and it was nice to not have to run hard all night long. The bands always bring a bunch of “Regulars” to Old Town. We call them the “Tropical Breeze Bunch” or gang. These folks are a Die Hard Bunch like many of the Cruisers are. You will notice that even before the entertainment starts the Bleachers and all of the outdoor seating is filled to capacity on any given Friday or Saturday night. Our own “Old Town Dancers” will convert the asphalt of Trophy Row into a dance floor. Some of them have even become Cruisers and visa versa. We are all residents of this home town 2 or 3 days a week. The friendships are made with the out of town spectators and they look forward to their next visits to Central Florida to come out to this friendly town. To the Music Fans the cars are incidental, until the Cruise up the bricks of Deac Hundley Avenue at 8:32. This is when they fill the sidewalks and Boulevards, sometimes 4 or 5 deep to witness this spectacle that has been going on for more than 1000 Saturday nights. It never gets old to me, even with as many times as I have made that turn at “Kids Town” to join the parade past all of the people that we have been visiting with all day. To watch them as they watch us. To hear the comments made by the many fans of the individual makes and models of this rolling history that we get to bring to them every week. It is very nice to have this diversion during these poor economic times, as well as a great stress buster and the “Best Free Show” in town.

Then just after 8:20 Esther stopped by with the "Flag Winners". The Cruise Staff would start by directing the September "Cruiser of the Month", Frank Bertone in his '70 El Camino on to the Cruise Route, followed by the rest of the Cruisers out of their parking spots into the line up, Mesha would bring them to Block 4 that becomes the staging area for Old Town's signature event. The rest of the cars from the top 3 Blocks would join in behind them. Mike Singer, KJ4GNI, who had been at the controls of the "Blue Room" all day, playing a mix of nostalgic music and radio "Jingles" would give the safety announcements, and play the National Anthem, "Wolfman Jack", then proclaimed, "It's the Saturday Nite Cruise", for tonight's running of this tradition. The Cruisers made their way to the "Bricks" of "Deac Hundley Avenue", Mike announced the Flag Winners as the rest of the 102 cars in parade formation cruised past, delighting a very large crowd of cheering spectators along both sides of the Avenue. "Rain or Shine" every Saturday night of the year, there is nothing quite like it for the "Cruisers" and it is always a treat for those watching it from the sidewalks and boulevards.

Thank you Old Town for letting us, the curators of this "Rolling Display of Automotive History", the cars that are the "Stars", to be their guests this evening. Thank you to the Old Town Merchants Association and the Sponsors of this event, "Valvoline", the "General Store", the "A&W", "Out of this World Embroidery", "Wound 'N Around", Pepsi, Roberts Brothers, the Pearl Factory, the Gold Hut, the "Tropical Breeze", Tex Mex Express & "Flippers" just to name a few. Thank you to Allan, Ron, Gary,  Lee, Dave, Esther, Vic, Nikki, CJ, Mesha, Chrisanne, Deputy Asa and the entire Cruise Staff and fellow Cruisers for making our Saturday in "Town" a fun and safe one.
 

Get well Joe Rodhouse we all miss you!

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See you all "Out There"