We would head out a little early today, the NCRS had been in town since Wednesday and there would only be a few spots on Block 4 for the “Regulars” to park. I have a dedicated parking spot so really I wouldn’t have to come out early but I do to show my appreciation for the fact that I have it. Emil, KJ4GNH had arrived just after 10:00 AM to claim a spot he likes to call his own. He would also help a bit with the “Security “ aspects for a while before the gate would open for the Saturday Nite Cruisers. I would not leave as early as I would have liked too, I was still processing Ted’s 400 plus photos from yesterday and posting Bill & Doris’ story at 11:00 AM and did not want to disappoint the Friday Nite Cruisers.

Anyway we would arrive just before noon and Lee would greet us at the gate, Dave would be at his “Registration post” just around from the Clock. It was very congested with spectators and I am sure the participants of the Corvette Show. There were several of the Vintage Corvette’s parked in Block 3, Bruce & Sandy would end up in one of the vacated spots a little later with their ‘63 Split Window. Alberto would move the cone so we could cross Florida Plaza, Emil would let us in the other side. I was sharing my spot with a dumpster so I would angle park like on a Wednesday night. The placement of the dumpster was such that we would even have room for Don to park his ‘60 Metropolitan under the stairs but that would not be until much later.

Across from us was the usual Vendors” that frequent this annual event. The eight acre field, normally spectator parking was packed with vendors and swap meet tables. There was a car coral as well, I have always liked to call this “The Field of Dreams”. I believe if you had the financial means you could have purchased everything you might need to build your own vintage Corvette from what was offered for sale. The Vendors would continue around behind kids town and the “Judging Lot” would be just before Budget car rental. Then the Corvettes would be on display all of the way up to “Flippers” On “Victory Lane”. It was a veritable sea of the Great American Sports Car. Just about any year, many configurations, customizations, personalizations and Concourse examples were spotted on the blacktop and lining the surrounding streets. Some were parked in places that I don’t think were suppose to be places. It was real hard to get an accurate count on just how many were in town. The Chaos was kept in check by Old Town’s Cruise Staff. Gary would spend most of his day on “Victory Lane”. There must have been more than a thousand cars on property for our spectators to view. Enough about that for now. In our first of many trips up “Trophy Row” and Victory Lane we would visit with the “Regulars“ that were populating the top 3 Blocks. The “Looney Bin” would include the head loon who was in his ‘64 Comet, Cris & Larry in their “Tweety” VW and Mike in his ‘65 GTO, Jim R’s GTO would not be far away. Bill L would be in the mix with his ‘46 Plymouth. Many of the “Redline Rodders” would be just where they liked to be John C would be in his spot with a big block ‘65 Chevy “Sleeper”. Darrell in his ‘66 LTD and Bert driving his ‘66 Mercury Comet Wagon were a few of the first in Block 2. Bob M would be in his spot early as well with his ‘40 Buick. Ken was the only Amigo on our first trip to Block 1. I think the other 2 had their cars in the “Judging Cage” or something because we saw them running around. Larry, WA3PGL and Linda KB3BRP would come out to see us and the cars earlier than normal so that they could check out the Corvettes. T Rod, KT4ROD would call in over the repeater but would not be coming out. Graham, G4HFG would come in over the N4OTC repeater and spend the day with us via the radio. “Red Racer” Ted, KE4TTE would call to say that he would be arriving before dinner but would not be joining us. He had a lot of cars to photograph. Steve Mc, K4SKM would bring out his ‘20 Ford Model T roadster and was directed to park next to Dave D’s spot under the carport. At about 3:00 or so many of the Corvettes started to leave town, some of the Vendors were starting to close down and the Saturday Regulars that would include Bill A in his ‘63 Pontiac filled the few remaining spots at the top of Trophy Row. The North extension was opened for cruiser parking.

We would head to Flippers about our regular time, Larry & Linda were at a table so the rest of us, Emil, Charlie, Tom, Bunny, Linda & I, would join them for our weekly alfresco experience. John would serve us in his usual fashion. The dinning room would fill up shortly afterwards, I spotted Dave & Steve Mc head on in, Joe & Kay would head over to the Tex-Mex and others would dine at Kool Katz. Our “Home Town “ was very busy with all of the people that were out on such a beautiful day and night.

While dinning the Saturday Nite cars would continue to arrive and more of the Corvettes would leave, the arriving cars would take the vacated NCRS spots. The cars would be all of the way up past the Tropical Breeze. Allan & Nicole were parking them. Once there were openings on “Trophy Row” they would send cars to fill those spots. Linda would be the keeper of the “Cones” on Block 4 for a while and I would help park a few of the vacated areas later. On another trip around town I would stop up to see Mike Singer, KJ4GNI in the “Blue Room”. Linda & I would walk around behind the Blue Max and we would find Tony & Donna, Tom & Lori, Jim C and his Challenger, Bob n in his ‘36 Ford, Bo in his Corvair and John R in his ‘Mustang. This parking was now a mix of regulars and Corvettes. After one of our outings, Steve & Amanda who were out in their ’56 Chevy and Bob was out in his FIAT would stop by Block 4. It had been awhile since he had the old Chevy running, it was good to see them. I bet there was still over 500 cars on property and they would keep on coming in right up to the closing of the gate at 8:00. The spectator crowd was enormous, I know I heard many different languages in the crowd. Yes, the rest of the night was spent spinning the yarns that have become the fabric of our own Nostalgia here in our “Home Town”.

I was also showing off the cover of the next “Street & Track Times”, the magazine of the (U.K.) National Association of Street Clubs. It had 4 of our Regulars cars on it and a great story about how they have “Twined” their National Event with our very own Saturday Nite Cruise. Once again a big thank You to them and Tracy our events director for coming up with some ideas for the future.

 By the way if you weren't there to receive the flag you were disqualified. 

Esther would stop by with the flag winners just after 8:20, the Cruise Staff would direct Derrick Wood in his '64 Corvette, January 2010 Cruiser of the Month, who was then followed by a mix of the Corvettes, then the rest of the Cruisers out of their parking spots into the line up, Mesha & Dave 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, radio "Jingles"  gave the safety announcements, played 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", Allan announced the Flag Winners as the rest of the 359 cars in cruise formation cruised past, delighting an extremely large crowd of cheering spectators along both sides of the Avenue. "Rain or Shine" or even Snow, 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", Kool Kats, 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..
 

Newsletter #277 is on sale, still only $2
1023 375 129 68
 

See you all "Out There"