We did have some rain but it cooled things down a little and only required a little towl action on the cars and all was right with the World again.

Here are some photos of my pics for the show. That isn’t quite true because there wasn’t a car there that I wouldn’t want in my garage…ok maybe there was one or two of the Rat Rods that were a little too rough for me.

I don’t know if it the price of gas or the economy as a whole or just bad timing but this was the least attendance I have ever seen at a Nashville Good Guys Show.

Here are our picks of most interesting cars from Friday. More to come for Saturday.

We all have “Bucket Lists” of all those things we want to do or accomplish before we die. Some are momentous and will likely never be achieved while others are much less so but still very important to us. One such item on my Bucket List was to visit the GM Heritage collection. It is not a museum in the way that the public can visit. It is GM’s special place to keep and protect some of its more historical vehicles. It is also a building in an industrial part that lucky individuals like Katrina and I are ever allowed to visit.

On a dreary Saturday in March we were permitted to join a few select auto enthusiasts on a doors are open tour of the GM Heritage Collection and I was able to make another check mark on my Bucket List.

Below are a very few of the select photos from that visit. I will be bringing you many more over the upcoming weeks with focus on some of my favorite cars in the collection. Several great videos will also help tell the story.

In way of summary let me say that if you are ever given the opportunity to make a visit to the GM Heritage collection most certainly do so. Even if GM is not your preferred brand of transportation you will leave with a much improved perspective of GM and the historical contributions it has made. Competition breeds improvement.

I more than once was standing next to what looked like another production car but for some reason he didn’t seem quite like I remembered it. In every such situation, I was standing next to an late prototype of the production car. It was very interesting to see the minor changes that were made in the cars just prior to the final design getting approval for production.

Today, we will start with the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn

Michigan. I want to start by thanking Carrie Nolan Media Relations Manager for setting up or tour of this very special collection. It is more than a collection of cars it is a fantastic museum with some extremely rare and valuable items. Although our purpose was to study the cars; and even though we were blown away by the collection of cars, we found ourselves overwhelmed by the entire museum and spent the entire day there!

Today’s post will provide you with insight as to what the car portion of the museum is all about. In future posts we will show you highlights of the entire Henry Ford Museum and more. When we left the Ford complex we had a renewed respect for the Ford Motor Company and saw first hand examples of why Ford was able to survive without Government bailouts. A business model that can put this kind of complex together has the vision, talent and community interest to succeed.

The biggest surprise when entering the automobile portion of the Henry Ford Museum is the selection of cars. My first thought was that the museum will be filled with historic and significant Fords. After all, there is no shortage of Ford cars important to the history of the automobile! There are such cars in the Museum but there are also may other makes in the Museum ranging from Chevys to a Rambler, to a Bugatti and Presidential Limos.

No matter what your taste in cars or mode of transportation you will likely find at least one item on display that will take your breath away and make you just stand there, think back to another time and remember some special moment. I had many such moments as we walked through the collection.

There was the Nash Rambler convertible that was just like my sister’s first car; the Le Mans winning Mark IV; the VW Camper and vintage Holiday Inn room, maybe the most moving was the actual bus that Rosa Parks road on during the civil rights movement. You can even sit in the very same seat (in the front of the bus) that she went to jail for sitting in.

There are many more highlights of this visit that I will bring to you in future posts.

Not long ago Katrina and I were showing our 1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler Cale Yarborough car at the NASCAR race in Bristol TN. On Saturday there were no planned activities so we thought it would be a great time to see some beautiful TN back roads on a sunny spring day. Then we had a brilliant idea; let’s get some ice cream! It was nearly 80 degrees out and we were in spring fever mode.

Our first thought was to look for a Dairy Queen which is our first choice for a collector car ride to get ice cream back home. I pulled out my “smart” iPhone and looked to see what was around us. The nearest DQ was over 10 miles away which wasn’t that bad but the “Ice Cream Store” showed up on the list and it was half the distance. Since there was a lot of Bristol race traffic in the area we decided the Ice Cream Store was for us plus it sounded like a nice quaint old school ice cream shop.

We plotted a route to the Ice Cream Store on the iPhone GPS and off we went. Just getting out of the Bristol Speedway camping area proved to be a challenge. The Highway patrol and track officials were already setting up special traffic patterns to get attendees into the track on Sunday morning and that was the opposite direction or our intended path. Plus GPS does not know when local officials decide to close streets and make all traffic lanes flow one direction.

All worked out and we finally got the car, the GPS and ourselves all headed in the same direction. All was well and then the “smart” phone told us to make a right turn followed by a left turn. Ok, no problem. No problem even when we did this a few more times and the roads kept getting smaller and smaller. We now knew the Ice Cream Store was not closer than the DQ! We were going deeper and deeper into residential areas; certainly not where an ice cream store should be located.

Then it was back to a highway and all seemed well although the area was far from economically vibrant. About this time we saw some fire and smoke blowing across the road and “the smart GPS lady in the box” told us to turn NOW. We did, right into the smoke cloud. As we passed through I happened to spot a road sign that said “No Outlet”. That is a fancy term for Dead End, You’re Screwed! In the distance we saw some rather tall flames. They were coming from a pile of leaves and other yard waste but it certainly was on some fireman’s radar….I hope.

Well, I may not be a marketing genius but I do know that no one would put up a quaint little ice cream store at the end of a dead end residential street in the poorest part of town they could find. Curiosity had the best of us by this time so we continued on down the very narrow and winding country street. Suddenly, the smoke cleared and our mystery was over and so was the likelihood of getting any ice cream very soon. There in front of us was a rather neglected house with about a dozen white panel trucks parked all around it. We had indeed found the Ice Cream Store…it was the home to a bunch of street driven, music playing, bell dinging, oil dripping, slow moving ice cream trucks that make dirty little children run for blocks to buy a 4 month old half melted popcycle!

We sat there and laughed for a while and then decided to see how smart our “lady in the box” could be. Could she find us a Sonic? They have great malts! I did a search, accepted the nearest results and the smart iPhone lady in a box directed us in a similar path down the dead end street and through the smoke. We went through someone’s backyard around a swing set, made a couple of completely legal and one illegal “U” turns, passed through an abandoned industrial park and then, suddenly there was a traffic signal.

We made a left turn at the signal, spotted the Sonic and sped to our destination. It was a fun excursion but reminded us not to take directions from an unknown voice from a smart phone who is likely not all that smart. Next time we will just go to the DQ!

We just returned from the March 2012 NASCAR Race in Bristol TN. It was a wet but wonderful weekend in Bristol. We have been to the races at Bristol several times and it is a race track you have to put on your Bucket List. We have always done NASCAR races but after this weekend the track let us camp with our motor home in the drag strip facility and we now have the Drag Races added to our bucket list. Thanks to the wonderful folks at the Bristol Speedway, Tim Lopata, Doug Shillinger and Jason Thompson the Aero cars had a great display for the Food City folks at their Hospitality Area.

There were 14 Ford products in attendance and 7 Mopars. In addition, there were a few hot rods and a lot of race cars. We always enjoy visiting with all the other Dodge, Plymouth and Ford/Mercury owners but this year was really special. Eddie and Lenny Wood (Wood Brothers Racing) again stopped by and spent 3 hours visiting with all of us and providing autographs to anyone who asked. They are as down to earth as any NASCAR stars we have ever met and we enjoyed our time with them immensely. One very special moment was when Eddie was reunited with his very first car a 1971 Mercury Cyclone GT. He spent a lot of time talking to the current owners and looking the car over. It is in great shape.

Another highlight was an autograph session with some of thy Cup drivers. Katrina grabbed our “autograph helmet” and was able to get autographs from Jeff Gordon and Joey Lagano. Unfortunately, she also got Kurt Busch’s.

Just outside of our display area the new 2013 Ford NASCAR race car was on display next to the 2012 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers number 21. It was a great opportunity to compare the current NASCAR race car with the new one. I am excited about seeing these new cars on the track next year. They don’t look 100% like street cars but rather more like race modified street cars. I like what I saw.

Unfortunately, we did not get photos of every car on site but just missed a couple and we apologize.

After the show on Friday most of the cars headed south to Sevierville for more fun on Saturday including time at a show, cruise through the beautiful Tennessee hills and informal gathering with food at the famous Floyd Garrett Muscle Car Museum. For a few of us the draw of the Bristol track was too strong and we stayed there to attend the race on Sunday. The Speedway also invited us to display a few of the cars at the track’s Thank You Party for Season Ticket Holders before the race.  It was a terrific event with NASCAR drivers such as Jeff Burton and the eventual race winner, Brad Keselowski, attending. They spent quite of bit of time talking and answering questions from those in attendance. If you were quick you could even get an autograph. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we had wet drizzle all morning. However, those cars and spectators who showed up had a great time and were the real diehards.

We were showing our 1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler Cale Yarborough car. It is a 428 CJ with Ram Air and C6 transmission; one of only 22 ever built. Since Saturday was kind of a down day with no activity for the show cars we decided to exercise the 428 some on the streets of Bristol. We had a great time and turned some heads. In one way it turned out to be another highlight of the trip but not for the reason you might think. Check back later this week and we will tell you the story of when to ignore a GPS.

THANKS AGAIN TO THE SPEEDWAY, TIM LOPATA, DOUG SHILLINGER AND JASON THOMPSON FOR MAKING THIS ANOTHER GREAT WEEKEND FOR THE FORD FOLKS!

A small collection of hand picked examples of winning cars from the first 50 years of the 24 Hours of Daytona were on display for all to see and admire. I can’t say this was the best part of the weekend but I can’t say it wasn’t. It was a magnificent display of race cars that are iconic in the sports car world.

Hope you enjoy these.

For this glorious 5oth celebration of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona it was all Fords up front and they were very impressive. Here are some more photos from the 24 Hour race.

The 2012 race went the full 24 hours and was a terrific event. It was our first attendance at a 24 hour event but I am sure we will return very soon if not next year. It was recorded breaking attendance with nearly 80,000 fans on the infield and almost all of them camping in tents, trailers and motor homes. It was a very friendly environment and the racing was terrific. Katrina works for SunTrust Bank so it was a little disappointing to see the SunTrust Corvette break just after 30 minutes on the track. It was fast but some strange mechanical gremlin took it out.

We were very excited to see the new Ford powered teams do so well and take the overall win. Porsches dominated the GT class.

If you ever have the opportunity to attend a race in Daytona do it! We have now been to the 500, the 400 and the 24 Hour and have never been disappointed.

Here are some photos of the action on the track. In Part 2 we will take you into the temporary museum where examples of winning cars from the first 50 years were on display.  For many this may have been the highlight of the weekend.

I learned a lot by my first attendance at a Mecum Auction. I have gone to other car auctions from the big and glamorous Barrett Jackson Scottsdale to the little small town private collection sales but this was my first Mecum. It will not be my last. Katrina and I neither bought or sold a car this weekend but we were very tempted to pull out the bidder card and take one home but resisted the temptation. This is reportedly the biggest Collector Car auction in the Country with over 2,000 cars.

There was a big variety of cars both in condition and style. We saw some we would be scared to drive because they did not appear safe and we saw some we would be scared to drive because they were so rare and valuable.

The crew at Mecum did and excellent job with organization and presentation. We were even able to park our motor home on site and camp for $15 per night! This really made the experience enjoyable and easy.

One recommendation; do not assume that just because a car is being sold at a highly respected auction that it is a great car and the seller is not misrepresenting the car, its rarity or its condition. As always DO YOUR HOMEWORK and KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BUYING!

Here are some photos that will show the variety of cars at the auction.

The Ford Aero cars are about to go big time. Hold on to your titles, pack your bags and buy a warm coat. On November 16, 17 and 18, 2012 the Blue Oval collectors are all going to gather in Chicago for the third Talladega Family Reunion! Like previous years the Reunion will be held within a larger show. In 2012 it will be the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. This is a terrific opportunity to display your 1969 Ford Aero cars at one of the most prestigious muscle car events of the year.

As a result of Jason Thompson taking his Red Banjo Matthews Ford Talladega Prototype car (Watch for this car at the 2012 Scottsdale Barrett Jackson auction) to the 2011 show Bob Ashton, the main promoter of the show, is creating room for a very special Ford Aero display in the 2012 Show. Jason states that he has been working with Bob for the last month and the show is considering having a group of winged MOPARs on one side of an isle and a group of Aero Ford family cars on the other.

This will be the 2012 Talladega Family Reunion event which includes all 1969 Ford Talladegas, Mercury Cyclone Spoiler and Spoiler II Dan Gurney, and Cale Yarbrough cars. (No clones!) This will be a huge show with lots of super rare cars.  Click Here and check out some pictures from the 2011 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals and see what others have said about the show. Jason estimates that they had approximately 540 cars on display this year but had over 2500 applications wanting to attend!

If you own one of these cars his is a great opportunity for your car to be placed on the same pedestal as all of the other super cars (This year they had eighteen ZL1 Camaros and five 1971 Hemi Cuda convertibles!). You will also have the opportunity to meet with other Ford Aero car owners and even Register your car in the Talladega Spoiler Registry.

If you are interested please contact Jason Thompson as soon as possible.  Send your email AND mailing address to:

 Jason Thompson

thompsons122@charter.net

865-621-4012

Once Jason has a group of names to send in Bob will send each of us a special invitation/application and hotel information. Don’t delay!

Bristol Dragway

Mr Lopata will be leaving his position as president of THE FORGE INVITATIONAL MUSCLECAR SHOW and taking over the chores of co-ordinating the 2 day all FORD show.

While producing The Forge it was chosen by MSN as one of the top 8 shows in the Country to see. He has put together a display,along with the BOSS 429 registry,the first time in history every color of the 429 cars to roll down the assembly line in 1969 and 1970. With the help of Jason Thompson the largest display of Talladega and Cyclone cars in one place since they were built. He will be bringing that same experiance,along with already having an involvement with FORD RACING, in putting together what will not only be one of the premier events on the east coast but one of the best all FORD events anywhere.

There will also be a special BOSS display for all attendees from Tim’s FORGE SHOW and others at the 2012 event. We are going to see if we can provide MCA type judging for this category; also a 1964 – 2012 mustang display.

He will also continue to provide displays for the NHRA race and NASCAR / FOODCITY FANFEST event which fall on differant dates during the 2012 season. The event will also promote drag racing for the weekend and will have spacing for FORD and other parts vendors and even has swap meet spaces for the garage guy looking for that hard to find part.

All info to be added to the FFW website soon.

For vendor sponsor info contact:

Tim Lopata

copo427@charter.net

These photos show the car while it was still under construction. If you want to see more details check out Rad Rods by Troy web site.

This rear view with the spoiler is the way the real Talladega should have looked.

This picture gives you a unique look into the inner construction of this wild machine. Note the Boss 9 engine.

Here is another of the great vintage drag racing films provided by Tim Lopata of the Forge Muscle Car Show. This includes a feature on Danny Ongais when he was a drag racer before he went Indy Car Racing.

A big part of what we do here at Legendary Collector Cars is to bring you pictures and stories about car related events and places that you might not ever get to see on your own. This includes car shows, museums, private collections as well as restoration and custom speed shops. We recently completed just such a tour at the father son team of Michael (the father) and Jeremy (the son) Goodstein Rod & Custom Machine & Fabrication shop in rural TN.

I wasn’t sure what awaited me when Jeremy contacted me by email and invited me to visit their shop. I always am very careful with such invitations. I expect high quality and ethics in people I deal with and I don’t want to promote anyone who is out to make a fast buck on the wallet of a car guy. Too many shops are more than willing to clean out an unsuspecting client who may not have the time, equipment and/or talent to do his own work. Such shops will take your money, tear your car apart and never start the promised build you so dreamed of. After a few brief email exchanges and phone calls I felt safe in investing the time to tour the Goodstein’s facility and see what they had to offer.

I am glad I did. Not only is their shop one of the best equipped I have seen for a small team operation but 10,000 square feet gives them plenty of room to work. The name of the shop, Rod & Custom Machine & Fabrication really says it all. They can build a car from scratch to show winning trophy condition in short order. They are partial to the Chrysler cars and especially the Hemi engine. The father son team are long time drag racers and have even built their own aluminum 426 Hemi blocks and still build their own Hemi heads on site. They have two CNC machines and make most of their own custom one off brackets and other billet items for the cars they are constructing.

Two of the vehicles I inspected in their shop were recent graduates from other shops. The results of the prior work was far from acceptable to the owners and they immediately sent their dream rides off to graduate school with the Goodstein’s to make everything work and look just right!

We hope to make this only the first of multiple articles, we hope to show you some more of the cars in their shop during my visit and we plan to visit again. At that time we will give you more details on a couple of the finished cars to give you a more complete idea of what this father son team is capable of.

If you would like to know more about these two and talk to them about how they might be able to assist you just call Jeremy at 615-496-1789.

Remember, this is simply a review of this shop and reflects only our opinion; it in no way should be considered a warranty or guarantee of any work or abilities past, present or future.

Our friend Tim Lopata has a large collection of vintage racing moving from back in the day and agreed to share some of them with us. Here is one that all of you drag racers will find interesting. It is vintage 1970 lots of action from the Bristol Drag Strip.

This is a little long but if you like racing you will love this. If you are too young to know what it was like in the beginning this will help explain it all. If you were there you most likely don’t remember it! Sit back and enjoy the way it was! The closing says it all…..

“Drag Racing? Well, its anything but a drag!”

We thank Steve and Nancy and hope you enjoy this brief coverage. I have this event on the calendar for 2012 and hope nothing gets in the way between now and then.

Look close at the photos and see if you can find Dennis Gauge from the TV Show My Classic Car.

Displays were held on the infield on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but the big activity was the “on track” event on Saturday immediately following Cup qualifying. These are all Legendary cars and to see them and to drive one on this most famous track of all was a thrill that will not soon leave the gearhead!

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed putting it together!

One of the highlights for us this year was having the opportunity to drive our 1969 Ford Talladega on the Legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I have been attending races at the Speedway off and on since the early 70s but never imagined that I would one day have the opportunity to drive my car on the famed oval! However, first things first.

The on track video is being prepared and will be posted shortly. Today’s video is all about the car show held in the infield the two days before the Brickyard 400. We tried to include every aero car at the event but they were coming and going all weekend so we may have missed a couple and if we did we apologize to those owners.

If you were one of the few who did attend I am sure you appreciated the quality of the cars present. If you were not in attendance then I hope you will enjoy this quick photo summary of the event.

We just returned from another fantastic Forge Muscle Car Classic in Sevierville, TN. The car count was low but the quality was high. This year as last the show incorporated the Talladega Family Reunion for all Ford Talladega and Spoiler cars. There were over 20 of these fabulously rare cars in attendance and had center stage for the entire event. Foremost among these was the Michael Troell owned Bunkie Knudsen car. This is one very special car, it was the personal car of 1969 Ford President, Bunkie Knudsen, and built at his personal request and to his specifications.

In a few days we will go into more detail on the show and this special car but for now here are a few teaser photos to wet your appetite.

Below you will find some of the cars they found interesting and wanted to share with our visitors. Hope you enjoy them.

What follows are some of our favorite shots from Sherri’s camera.

I want you to pay special attention to the images of the agile photographers STANDING ON THE REAR WING OF A DODGE DAYTONA! That car belongs to Brent and Sherri. I can not imagine doing such a thing but they risked all for some good photo! A big thank you goes out to these loyal car enthusiasts.

In the photos below also look for NASCAR legend Kyle Petty and his side kick for the night, Rutledge Wood. Also look for Leonard Wood, Wood Brothers Racing, who is doing some autographs including a helmet for Katrina and I.

What would you do if you and the family went out on a Friday night to the local Mug n’ Bun, A&W or Dairy Queen for a little summer fast food and found yourself surrounded by fabulous and rare Superspeedway Muscle Cars from the late 60s? That is just what happened to some folks in Indianapolis last weekend. We were there with a 100 of our fastest friends to show our cars in the infield and take a lap of the famed Indy Speedway during the Brickyard 400.

Part of the ritual of such events is a night at a local old school fast food drive-in. This Mug n’ Bun is only a few short blocks from the historical Indy Speedway and was the perfect spot for our informal gathering. Obviously, this site caused quite a traffic jam in the parking lot and surrounding streets.

To see anyone of these cars on the street is a rare sighting but to find them gathering in one location for a regular night out on the town will take your breath away. To top it off some NASCAR TV announcers even showed up at the same time to chow down and take in the sights.

So, what would YOU DO if you found this site at your local drive-in one Friday night? Leave us you comments below.

Also remember to like us on Facebook!

This is another of our Backtracking Posts about the way it was back in the day.

In 1971 the Ontario Motor Speedway opened in Ontario, CA. It was built as a clone of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In those days the Indy Track was only used for one race a year, the INDY 500. The possibility of ever racing stock cars on it was unthinkable. That made the Ontario Track potentially very special. Unfortunately, due to bad management and poor timing the track was soon abandoned and eventually became a large office and shopping center. Although I lived for over 20 years very near here the track had been  it was not until after it was closed, bull dozed and rebuilt into more typical Southern California asphalt, steel and concrete with lush landscaping added to add taste. As a city planning consultant I did some land development design work on the property with very mixed emotions. When it came time that I needed fill dirt for my new home’s backyard I actually purchased excess fill dirt from turn one!

I did live in the area long enough to attend races at the Riverside track and witness its demise to the same fate. What a shame! I was also there when the monstrosity of the Fontana Speedway was designed and built.

I recently discovered a terrific magazine article from 1971. It was published in the May issue of Motor Trend Magazine and was authored by Jim Brokaw. It is was of the most fun reads I have ever come across regarding a NASCAR race. I have provided a complete copy on our Resources Pages for you Team Members over at our sister site TalladegaSpoilerRegistry.com.

In a few days the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race will be running at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For the first time I am aware of there will be over 100 of the Aero Cars (1969 Ford Talladega, Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II, Dodge Daytona and 1970 Plymouth Superbird) on display and taking laps on the track. None of these cars ever had the opportunity to race at Indy but some of them did something almost as good.

Back to the Motor Trend article! Remember, this is an article from 1971. Although this wasn’t Indy it was as close as any stock car had ever gotten to the famed track. No one was sure what to expect. 1971 was the first season after the Aero Wars ended with the Talladega and Daytona/Superbirds fighting it out on the Super speedways. No clear winner came from the 1969 season although David Pearson and the Ford Talladega won the Season Championship and Bobby Issac winning the 1970 Season in a Daytona.

All the manufactures had new cars by the time the 1971 season rolled around and the big winged cars were all but forgotten due to NASCAR mandated rule changes. So what did the Woods Brothers bring to the fight at the new Ontario Speedway? A 1969 Mercury Cyclone with AJ Foyt behind the wheel!

A total of 51 cars qualified for the 500 mile race and they all started three abreast just like the smaller open wheeled cars at the Indy 500. Foyt was not the only 1969 Merc in the race; there were many more. In fact there were four 1969 Mercury Cyclones in the top ten at the end of the race including AJ in the winning car!

When was the last time you saw a two year old body style win a top NASCAR race! Hell, when was the last time you saw a NASCAR race where you could recognize the car let alone the year it was manufactured?

The author, Jim Brokaw, does an excellent job of entertaining and summarizing the happenings of that day with blatant humor in this old Motor Trend article. Check it out!