Renton, it's a small town just South and a wee bit East of where I live right now. It's a small town but it's got some great things going for it.
For example, they've got things going on every weekend this month and it'll culminate in the Rubber Ducky Derby for Renton River Days on July 27th. It'll be a lot of fun and the fun started, for us, with the Return to Renton Classic Car Show we went to today.
So here's our morning, a short ride to Renton and then the Classic Car Show. Haha, you'd better fasten your seat belts, kids, 'cause it's gonna be a long, long ride. I took over 120 pics but, in the interest of brevity only included 60 or so here. Always thinkin' of you, Baby.
We parked in the library lot and walked on over to the downtown area. It was a gloriously beautiful day.
The city closed 3rd Street completely for the Car Show. It's the main drag in Renton.
As we walked over, we passed the Renton Historical Museum. It's housed in an old Art-Deco Fire Station.
Isn't that a cool building? Seriously cool.
The new fire station is just around the corner but for my money, this is THE better looking of the two. Hands down. Modern architecture has nothing on the past. Nothing.
We also walked past this beautiful and moving Memorial to Veterans. I got a kick out of the flowers, red, white and blue. Nicely done.
Finally, downtown Renton. It may not look like much but Carol and I both enjoy this city, Renton. We come down and walk along the streets here. One of our favorite stores, The Comic Hut, is on this street, on 3rd Street, and we stopped in there today. Our barber shop/beauty salon is there, too, just a bit down and to the left.
Here we go…and there were so doggone many of these old beauties I didn't know where to start or what to look at.
Look at that street…Main Street, U.S.A.
You're gonna see a lot of dashboards here. These are so different from the ones you see today. They reflect the times they were created in through their design and their capabilities.
Modern, space-age designs!!
With LOTS of Chrome!!
And, these cars, from the late 60s and early 70s represent the move toward sportier cars. See the bucket seats and the console in the center. That was really revolutionary!! All the cars I had up until then had a bench seat and three on a tree shifting. I kinda miss the bench.
Oh, and a LOT of them had clutches. Hahahaha, clutches.
As we travel along today, I'll only tell you the info that I remember. I was guessing about the year on a lot of these and, to my surprise, I was within one or two years almost every time.
Still, I don't wanna get caught in an error, so I will just stay with what I remember.
Like, this is a Chevy.
See the shades over the front windows? Ahhh, classic. What a touch, eh? Putting up shades for the front windows.
And, look at the windshield wipers…can you see them? Both pointed inward. And the round lines…they were big on roundness in the 30s and 40s.
And chrome. America loved her some chrome.
Annnnnd, the dashboard. I think this Chevy was from the late 30s or 40s. Can you see the difference between this one and the car from the late 60s?
Three on a tree, manual shift on the steering column. Bench seat. I don't see a radio in the dash. Original, I mean. There might have been one where that open rectangle is.
Oh, those seat belts weren't there when it first came off the assembly line. Nope.
Another beauty. Look at that steering wheel!! Ain't it a beauty!?! Space age!! Well, maybe it's Art Deco.
And it's like America just discovered chrome!! Look at that grill on the dash just below the clock.
And the leg room!! Ahhhh, the leg room. Especially in the back seat. Lots of room. And the knobs. You don't see knobs anymore. Too dangerous. Yeah, knobs, toggles and switches were done away with cuz they were dangerous. OH!! And the cigarette lighter…that was put there to light cigarettes, in the car!! Oh, and the ashtray.
Nowadays all the ashtrays have been replaced by cup holders. All the cigarette lighters? They're power outlets for iPhone, iPad, iPod and iEverything.
The times, they are a-changing. You can see it in the cars.
My artsy-fartsy view of another dash. Bear with me…and quit griping.
A lot of old Chevys there.
Red. A lot of red.
Another view of the same dash as above. See the clutch pedal?
"Uh, wazzat!?!"
Side note…In the news last week, two guys hijacked a car driven by a Granny and couldn't drive it…clutch thingie. They had to run away.
Hahahahahahaha…idiots.
An old roadster. Red was a popular color.
And, on the lamp posts, Renton River Days!!
Whaaaa….sponsored by IKEA!! Hellooooo, Tommy!
"Rubber Ducky, you're the one…"
Just a nice picture.
Can you make out the street scene reflected in the chrome?
This one was just cool. Great paint job.
This is a '59 Ford Fairlane. With all the bells and whistles. It was the DeLuxe model.
From a hard top to a convertible…in seconds. Well, maybe a minute or two.
Oh, man!! What a car!!
People knew you were coming down the road.
And you knew you were safe when you wrapped up in that pile of Detroit Steel.
And look at the caboose!! Talk about classy. Lookit those tail lights. Cars today, nope, can't touch it.
Oh, the dashboard. Bench seat. Sleek lines across the top. No seat belts. Look at that steering wheel. You always knew where the horn was. And, down in the left corner of the floor mat…the dimmer switch. It's an automatic but look where the shift is…on the steering column. Can you see the ashtray? The lighter there on the right of the steering column? And the leg room.
Classic!!
A detail off an Impala…early 60s.
A little break from cars for men with a purpose.
"Where's the beer?"
And red. See the red cars?
Well, this wheel isn't original. Another automatic. Can you see the little handle on the right hand side? There, on the door? It's for the vent window. You could, because this is a CLASSY car, open your vent, or side window with a handle on the inside of the car.
In the cheaper cars, we had to unlock the vent and then push it open or pull it shut. Barbaric. I had completely forgotten about those little side windows,
Here's a '63 T-Bird. Look at that room!! You didn't need a pick-up truck with a trunk like that!!
Not in this car, but in car trunks like it, we would put 2 or 3 guys in there when we went to the drive-in. It was a movie…that you watched from your car…at night. Ah, you poor, poor kids.
C'Mon, you know you hid guys in the trunk too!!
A detail from an old Ford Truck.
I had a lot of fun today and I discovered, just today, that I have a deep affection for these old Ford Fairlanes.
They are beauties.
Like this two-tone, rag-top.
There it is, sitting next to a '59 or '60 Impala on the right and a '55 or '56 T-Bird on the left. With a early model Mustang just down from the Bird.
Yeah, really classy.
Look at the lines!! The color scheme was pure genius. When you were riding round in a car like this it was like riding a boat over the waves…the whole boat rocked with every bump you hit. You had some real weight.
I don't know what is still original…but you get the idea looking at it that the lines on the inside are equally as sleek and beautiful as the ones on the outside.
The engineers outdid themselves.
And, this. What a treat this is. Can you see where we get the word, 'trunk' for the back of our cars? See the 'trunk' they would strap on to store things in?
I see this kind of car and I always think of Archie Andrews and Jughead Jones.
This picture is just because. Because I liked the composition. Because of the smooth lines and the subtle lighting.
I think it's a DeSoto.
Haha, everyone knows what this one is!!!
My gosh!! Look at all that car!!
A Cadilac.
It's a Caddy, Baby!!
When I saw this, "Nelly-Belle" popped into my rather small mind.
An old 1948 Jeep Willys.
Roy Rogers and Pat Buttram. Oh, I know this isn't the exact one but it sure was close.
WOW!!!
A 1934 Packard.
OH. MY. GOSH!
Wouldn't you love to ride around in this!?!
Luxury!!
I don't know what is original…I'm sure the wood is.
Look at the steering wheel. And the stick-shift. Can you see the glove compartments on both sides.
The engineers and designers were poets with chrome and metal. Look at the symmetry, the beauty. See the rear view mirror on the spare tires?
W.O.W.
A detail of the headlight and horn. And the Chrome.
Look!! There's that 'trunk' again.
What a beautiful car.
From the Packard to the…
Metropolitan.
Designed to be the, "Second Car in a Two-Car Family". Dad was suppose to take it to the railroad station or to work while Mom used the family car to get groceries and haul the kids around.
A great idea. Too bad it didn't catch on….like the Punch Buggy/Love Bug did.
Still, for a commuter car it did have its touches of class.
Rated PG-13
Nice lines…much like the larger Nash Rambler my Dad had when we first moved to California.
Another car I'd love to own. They should pull this one out, dust off the mothballs and put her back into production.
Seriously.
Remember the fins? Oh, man, America fell in love with fins there in the late 50s and early 60s. These are kinda tame compared to some of the things they put on Impalas and Plymouths. And you saw that Caddy earlier.
Fins, baby, fins.
One of the higher end cars. Notice that shift? On the floor. In the center.
And no more...sob, moan…bench seats up front. There's that console...
Now this, this was a complete surprise to me.
It an El Camino. A coupe with a pick-up bed in it.
You can barely see it where the trunk should be.
Here, you can see it here.
And, no, this is not modified. This is the first El Camino. Way back when…
Isn't this wild!?!
I never knew they made these things.
And, of course, a classy car like that deserves some factory air conditioning.
With a fan!!!
A FAN!!
I bet this guy was the envy of everyone in the neighborhood when he brought his baby home.
Oh, can you see that knob pulled out to the right of the fan?
Is that the throttle? Or, maybe, the knob to open the air vents. Regardless, it's a knob and it's outta here…in a couple decades.
More artsy-fartsy. I just like the big, long lines of these old muscle cars.
And then, we found out where to buy our Rubber Ducky Derby tickets.
I made them promise if I bought a ticket they'd pose for a picture and, as you can see, they are men of their word.
The Rotary Club raises money each year with the Rubber Ducky Derby during Renton River Days.
Grand prize?
$1,000
Do I think I'll win it?
Absolutely not!!
But it's fun to participate and you can bet, come July 27th, Carol and I will be there along the banks of the Cedar River just down from the Renton Library cheering our brains out for our little Rubber Ducky.
Haha, I love that optimism, You Could Win…
Not likely.
And then this, cut down VW.
People do the strangest things.
Couldn't get by without at least one shot of an engine, could I? And, believe it or not, this one is a lot easier to work on than these modern monsters.
Oh, yeah, also gone along with the cigarette lighter, ashtray and dimmer switch is the Backyard or Shade Tree Mechanic.
You know, that kid that could take a car apart and put it back together in the driveway. No mas.
And then this happy girl. She got herself a Frozen Banana, hold the nuts, please.
She said it was like being taken back to Newport Beach…back in the good ol' days.
A detail from a 1948 Dodge.
This one, in fact.
A lot of car, eh?
But the dash…perfection.
See the side vent? This one you had to unlock and open and close it by hand. Argh!! And a suicide knob on the wheel. See it? Down at the bottom. Oh, and more knobs. And chrome. Love me some chrome on the dash. And a little clutch pedal down there, too.
Still, it has luxury features. Window shades for the front window. And can you see where the vent is, just below the front window to allow wind into the cab? Air Conditioned Luxury!!
And the grill.
Really, how many chromes had to die for this grill?
Ah, there are the rounded curves of the 40s.
And, all this beauty, luxury and chrome could be yours...
...for only $10,500.
Tempting. If only it were a Ford Fairlane...
An early 60s Porsche.
When we lived on Barrydale while I was in Junior High, our next-door neighbor had a Porsche. Like a bug. Like this.
He raced them and Yamaha motorcycles.
Annnnnd, getting artsy-el fartsy, again.
Another dash. A red dash. In a red car.
A Chevy.
Look at the wheel. Beauty!!
There were, I think, only two VW Bugs. This was one. The other looked worse than this.
Still, I included the Coke Bug because my son, Joe, collects things Coke. I doubt he looks on this blog but, if he does, "I was thinking of ya, Joe, Coke Bug!!!!"
Red.
Red, red, red, red, redity-red, red.
Red was the flavor of the month for these old cars.
And, then, it was back home. I had an appointment to show Amy's house and so we made our reluctant way back home…past the Veteran's Memorial.
Happily thinking of the next round of fun from the Renton River Days.
You know, bottom line, we both had a great time. We saw cars we had once owned or wanted to own. Like the 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner. I wanted one SOOO badly when I got back from Overseas. Somehow, and I don't remember the particulars, I wound up with a '66 VW.
Hahaha, not quite the same.
Still, good memories and good times and a beautiful Great American Northwest Kinda Day.
Hooah!!
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