Hope you enjoy seeing what is happening in other parts of the World with other car guys and their Legendary Collector Cars!

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If you like this arrangement let us know and we might do it for some of the other very special cars on the site.

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Have you ever wished you could visit some of the private collections of the rich and famous? I know it is a dream for many of us to see Jay Leno’s fabulous collection of cars but there are many more collections that are also worth seeing. Often these are tucked away in far distant locations or may be right under our noses and we have never heard about them. Today we are going to show you one of those collections that you may not have known about and likely have never seen.

We recently visited the Alan Jackson (Country Music Star of Stars) private collection and it was a visit to remember. Alan’s is not one of the biggest collections you will ever see but it is of very high quality. If you aren’t into cars you can also see some of Alan’s music awards, trophies, mementos, fishing trophies, and his private desk as well as much much more. If that isn’t enough just having an opportunity to visit his massive estate is a major treat in itself.

Thanks to the wonderful hospitality of the Alan Jackson family, the efforts of Gary Haneberg and the great Battlefield Antique Auto Club Association (AACA) of Franklin, Tennessee a lucky few members of the Club got the pleasure of touring this wonderful collection. We have posted a large number of photos of our tour that we want to share with you and hope you will enjoy.

To see the complete tour Click Here.

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The members of the Murfreesboro Hot Rod Club do an excellent job of keeping things running smoothly and protecting the cars. The food is good, great shopping just feet away, easy access, activities for kids and it is only a $1 donation to park your collector car for the eventing. Door prizes are given out and new friends are made at every event. That’s just the way it is in the South!

For more photos click here.

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There were tons of people and the cars were terrific. We spotted several we wanted to take home and even tried to do so on a couple but no sale.

We had our red and black 1959 El Camino on site  but did not enter it to be judged. I had a High School Reunion a few miles down the road in Oskaloosa so couldn’t do both.

If you are any where near the mid-west when Good Guys come to Des Moines you want to make sure and put this show on your “Bucket List”.

Here are a few teaser photos. Over the next couple of days we will be posting photos from the show on the General Show, Hot Rods, Rat Rods, Customs and Muscle Cars. We will even be bring you a fantastic car by Rad Rods by Troy on our Feature Car page. A video is also coming.

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Although it is difficult to pick a favorite car at any event, I tried. I am not saying this is the best car at the show but it is the one that caught my eye, I liked it and it was very well done. Besides it was built here in Tennessee!

For a look at some of the other great cars at the 2009 Nashville Good Guys Show, Click Here.

Technorati Tags: customs, Hot Rods, muscle cars, Nashville Good Guys Show, Rat Rods

You can go to our Project Cars page and see the latest info on this car.

I have some questions for you. You have done such a great job with providing information of the GT 500 I what you to help me with this site.

We are beginning to plan our activities for the new year and what to know what you what us to focus on. Do you like the coverage with all the photos of Car Shows such as GoodGuys and Super Chevy or All Ford Weekends?

Do you want to see more NASCAR coverage and photos?

How about a couple of rural old school type dirt track races?

More on project cars? What kind of projects?

How do you like the non-car related projects like the lift installation?

Book reviews?

How about the Product Review Pages?

What do you want us to do for you?

Email: Click Here

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Since we just revised the web site and some of you are new to what we are doing I thought you might like a little history on how we got here. The following is a brief, light hearted update.

Once upon a time in a place called LaLa land, better known as Los Angeles, a couple fell in love and got married. When they met in 1997, Richard was in the process of getting through a divorce, lived in a 1,800 SF, one-story home on a 10,000 SF lot in Upland, CA. He dressed in business suits five days a week for his job as a VP and Planning Consultant for an engineering, planning and surveying firm in Ontario, CA. His three children, all in their early 20’s, were living at home. Richard’s hobbies were following the NASCAR races and enjoying his Corvette. He was very active in the community. He had just finished a term as President of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and was the current Lt. Gov. for Kiwanis Division 15.

Katrina lived in a similar home in Chino Hills, CA. She also dressed up in business suits five days a week. Her job was VP of a bank and a commercial underwriter. Katrina’s hobbies were occasionally showing her dogs and spending many hours in community activities especially as President of the Chino Hills Kiwanis Club. Katrina’s real love was her three dogs (Whippets). She also had a fondness for cars but had not yet been bitten by the collecting bug.

As all good stories go Richard and Katrina were married in 1999 and began their new life together in Upland on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Their lives were busy with work and play. They showed Katrina’s dogs, began collecting Corvettes and vintage Muscle Cars, they did all the typical Southern California car things. There are lots of car shows, cruises, famous museums and speed shops in the LA area. If you needed something for your car, chances are it was only a short drive to pick it up on the spot. However, they soon realized something was missing. They both grew up with the opportunity to roam through open land and experience nature. They began to look for such a place in Southern CA.

You can’t be bored in Southern California. Disney Land, Rose Parade, Hollywood, Venice Beach, Malibu, the Pacific Ocean, Catalina, snow skiing in the San Bernardino mountains, riding ATV’s in the desert, movie stars, rock stars and the list goes on. There are realistically a half dozen activities you want to do every weekend and the weather is always perfect, well most of the time anyway.

However, it isn’t all sun, glamor and beauty. True, Southern California has fantastic weather, mountains, beaches, palm trees, beautiful landscape but it also has smog, forest fires, earth quakes, grid locked freeways, dust storms, water shortages, huge taxes,  graffiti plus millions and millions of people. Trying to find open space in Southern California is like trying to find a snow ball on the Fourth of July on a California beach. You can get on the freeway in Santa Monica; head east and be in bumper to bumper traffic anytime of day and still not see real remote open space for hours. Southern California is an urban, car oriented megalopolis.

The happily married Fleeners then expanded their search nationwide. After two years of research and traveling, they settled on a 12 acre ranch in Middle Tennessee.

Here we have two urban dwellers neither of which had ever lived on a farm or ranch now taking up residence on one. Today, Katrina still works at a Bank but now has to do chores before she leaves for work in the morning. Her co-workers have been known to pick hay out of her hair just before a big meeting. Richard is still a planning consultant in California but now commutes once a month from Tennessee to California to meet with clients. The rest of the time he is in his blue jeans tending the livestock, playing with his car collection or tending to this web site.

We don’t have a rat rod but we do have a “rat tractor”!

They still have dogs and collect muscle cars but now they also have an old tractor and more animals (miniature donkeys) than you can count on your fingers and toes!

To Be Continued: Moving the Cars

Getting ready for the moving truck!

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This is what the barn should look like on a normal day!

ANIMAL PAJAMA PARTY IN THE BARN-Christmas Story

By way of introduction to this year’s Fleener Christmas letter you need to know that our little Tennessee farm doesn’t just collect Muscle Cars. We also collect, breed and show Miniature Donkeys. This year our little compound grew by 30 miniature donkeys. The cars sit quietly in their stalls until we call upon them to entertain us. The Donkeys are not quite so well behaved. The following story is true with only slight changes to protect your ears.

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS


‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the pasture

Not a creature was stirring, not even the cats out there;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The donkeys were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of fresh pears danced in their heads;

And Katrina in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,

When out in the barn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the barn I flew like a flash,

Tore open the doors and plowed thru the trash.

The lights on the new-fallen hay

Gave the luster of mid-day to objects that lay,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a mule, thirty tiny donkeys and a deer,

With a big old horse, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment I was going to be sick.

More rapid than eagles they came,

I yelled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, Topper! now, Jetta! now, Angel and Daisy!

Oh, Comet! oh Cougar! oh,  and Dixie!

To the top of the pasture! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So back to the barn door they flew,

With bellies full, and mouths too.

And then, in a twinkling, I knew; darn.

The animals had broken into the barn.

I heard the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

They were there eating everywhere but the roof.

Down the chimney two cats came with a bound.

They too began to eat without a sound.

I threw up my hands and gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard them all bray, ere they trotted out of sight,

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”

(My apologies to Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston)

If you have kids or grandkids you most likely have experienced the dreaded sleep over. When kids become old enough to have friends outside the family they discover their parents’ worst nightmare, SLEEP OVERS!

I remember them as a child and also as a parent. Whether I was the child or the parent the sleep over always went the same. Makes no difference if it was for boys or girls; doesn’t matter if there was just one little visitor or 21 little monsters involved they all go about the same.

There is food and lots of giggling; parents getting no sleep and a big mess in the morning with sleeping kids everywhere. Sometimes there is the shy child who misses its parents in the middle of the night and has to go home. Well, let me tell you, animals are no different.

On a regular basis we have “Pajama Parties” in the barn. The difference is we never plan them, the animals do. We just had one recently and it wasn’t a pretty site.

For some reason in this Christmas Season the Christmas Story also came to mind. It only seemed natural as I sat down to do the annual Fleener Christmas Letter that I should blend the two to give you an idea of what life is like on the farm.

The animal parties all seem to start the same way; after feeding, someone leaves a barn stall shut but not securely latched (someone means Katrina did it). An animal discovers this mistake and after we have both returned to our snug little home and cuddled in bed the party is on.

Our barn is built more like the traditional stables than a barn. It has a large center isle running the length of the barn plus a cross isle in the center that connects to another set of stalls towards the front. In plan view it is “T” shaped. Each quadrant of the barn connects to a different pasture so the animals can be separated into different herds when we want to.

On this most recent occasion we had most of the animals in the largest pasture all running together. There were 3 goats, a dozen or so miniature donkeys, a mule and a horse. My best guess is the horse discovered the loose barn stall door and yelled: “TOGA TOGA” (remember the movie “Animal House”?)

Well, I showed up around 7:00AM the next morning at feeding time and the first thing I saw was a goat standing on a bale of hay, another with its head in what was once a brand new unopened bag of grain, a horse pulling bales of hay from a stack in the isle and donkeys everywhere. It looked like a Saturday morning animal cartoon gone bad. The barn was trashed.

I yelled and every one of the animals said “Oh #@*%!” in their respective animal language. They immediately headed for some place else. They didn’t know where some place else was but they knew they didn’t want to be in the same place I was. I was mad. I felt like I just woke up at 3 AM when my kids and there friends were in the kitchen trying to make smores in the microwave with non-microwave safe dishes!

One thing was different; the kids always knew enough to use the bathroom. The animals just leave “presents” all over the barn. Can you imagine the mess a bunch of farm animals make when they can eat all they want and everything they eat goes right through them?

It didn’t take long to get the animals back where they belonged but it took a fair amount of time for Katrina to pick up the “presents” when she got home from work.

Needless to say the animals did not get fed that morning. If fact I wasn’t sure they should be fed that night!

I mentioned that all the animals were not in the same pasture so not all of them broke into the barn and partied. What about the others? You should have seen their faces. Really! I could read exactly what each of them was thinking. Each of the little donkeys that could not attend the bash all had faces that clearly said; “Daddy look at us, we were good! Don’t punish us, punish those bad animals. Can we have extra this morning?” You guessed it; those little donkeys all got extra hay that day.

For the most part all of 2008 has pretty much gone the same way as that one morning. Katrina and I are both healthy, her family is well, my kids and one grandchild are all doing well and we still play with our cars and animals.

Although the economy is taking a bite out of all of us, we are getting by and I am still traveling to CA once a month. Katrina went to work for a new start up bank in Nashville early this year and that seems to be working out ok since they are too new to have any bad loans!

We had a number of visitors from CA and Iowa this year and hope to have more in 2009. We always enjoy visitors to the farm and watch people shake there heads when they see what we are up to. When I was 16 and putting up hay I told my parents I will never do that again. It was one of the things that kept me going in college. Just knowing I would never have to do that again. Now, at 62 here I am putting up hay and feeding livestock. What happens to the brain when you get old? I think there is something to that statement about memory being the first, or is that the second, thing to go.

It has been an especially good year with our cars. We added a couple and won since nice recognitions at some shows. We did another Feature for Muscle Car TV and another magazine Feature for Mustang and Fast Fords. Unfortunately, we did have a Corvette stolen but in the big picture of things, we have been well blessed in 2008.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Dick and Katrina Fleener (plus a barn full of animals)

This is our barn car, Louise telling the other cat, Thelma (Thelma and Louise, get it?) that the keys are in the ATV and they should make a run for it.

Thelma decided to hoof it out!

Here is Dixie and Daisy breaking into the hay storage.

There were miniature donkeys everywhere!

If you would like to see more photos or read more about our animal escapades go to: www.legendaryfarms.com.

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We just posted the last of our GoodGuys photos from Bowling Green Nostalgia Nationals. This bunch of photos covers the Customs and related cars that were there. As you would expect there were a bunch of 40s and 50s custom iron there but a beautiful group of late model cars were also on hand.

Check them all out at our On Tour page. Let us know what you think.

If you would like to look at cars from the 2008 GoodGuys event in Nashville, Click Here.

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Last weekend we went to the first ever GoodGuys Nostalgia Nationals in Bowling Green, KY. Not just a car show, not just drag races, not a cruise, not just a swap meet, not just a car coral; IT’S ALL OF THAT! You know when someone says GoodGuys it means class; you know it means hot rods, you know it means customs and now it means muscle cars and drag racing and a lot more.

We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the event and were never bored. For a first ever event the folks at GoodGuys did an excellent job. There were a few of the usual screw ups and confusion but all and all it went very well and we have no serious complaints.

The facilities were also very handy. We drove up in the motor-home and pulled the Talladega on a trailer. We camped right on the grounds at Beech Bend Campground along with what seemed like half the show cars at the event. It was extremely convenient and very quiet. We have stayed there previously when some Mustang folks were having a similar event and it was terrible. There were punk kids in jacked up Mustangs doing burn outs all night long and one report of a car getting out of control and hitting a camper. NONE OF THAT at this event. Everyone was on their best behavior and very friendly.

Go to our On Tour page and check out the photos. Over the next few weeks we will be providing detailed photo coverage of the dragsters, show cars, rat rods and hot rods as well as some of the muscle cars. Every-time we put up a new page we will let you know right here in our blog so keep checking back.

You should also check out our Feature Car page and look over a beautiful pair of Boss Mustangs. One is a 1969 and the other a 1970. Both are Calypso Coral and both are show winners in every respect. They both made the Winners Circle at the Bowling Green GoodGuys show!

1970 Boss 302

1969 Boss 302

If you want to see more photos of the dragsters and some cool burnouts go to our On Tour page of the Bowling Green GoodGuys Nostalgia Nationals Drag Races.

If you want to see more on the Hot Rods and Rat Rods at GoodGuys in Bowling Green Click Here for our On Tour page.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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You folks liked the 2008 photos so much I decided to go back and pick out a few from 2007 and 2006 and see if you liked them just as much. If you do I will roll out some more. What else would you like to see?

This is one beautiful and wild custom.

Don’t rush by this one; it has some great details. We walked around this one over and over again and laughed every time we did.

I used to drive a Plymouth like this in High School. Wish it looked like this.

See the little ornament on the radiator? The owner had it hooked up by remote to pee on people as they went by. It was so hot you wanted to get peed on!

This car is over the top!

Technorati Tags: customs, GoodGuys, hot rod, muscle cars, Nashville, rat rod