Anyway, we decided to visit California in April 2019, which is just a place we love to be! We needed to go over the Easter break because of kids (unfortunately £££
) so I got hunting for any car events. We've attended the NHRA Las Vegas spring race before, though dates were not published when we needed to book, and usually the Mopar Spring Fling is also on in this timeframe, though I've never been to it before. The Spring Fling is held in north LA and I believe is the largest Mopar show in the West, though still not huge by Mopar Nationals or Carlisle standards. It's put on by mopar car club CPW and I knew of one of their guys on Moparts who organises it, so I messaged him for any info. It wasn't looking likely that that would fall in the right timeframe either. So I found a Goodguys event in Del Mar (close to San Diego where we would be staying later). I've never been to one but knew of them, so thought it would be worth visiting and we made preliminary plans.As the holiday got closer, I found out that the NHRA race was actually going to be held while we were in the US, and I then got notification that so was the Spring Fling! I passed on the information to my boss (wife Deb
) and bless her she rescheduled a bunch of things so we could attend both....and still kept Del Mar in the schedule as well!!There's also a great cruise in Escondido (near San Diego) every Friday which we have gone to before and also planned to visit.
At this point I have to be clear that Deb is not really particularly interested in the car side! My 12 year old son James is quite interested and his twin sister Lucy isn't that bothered but happy to attend if there is ice cream/fun fairs/ etc!! So I felt very fortunate to be able to get to a decent number of events, and a little bit concerned not to dominate the holiday and bore the rest of the family!
Because of the added events our schedule was pretty full, so we really put in the hours during the trip!! But that's what we like to do anyway - squeeze every last drop out of it because goodness knows you pay enough to be there and it happens pretty rarely
We flew to LA on an afternoon flight (we got a deal) and after arriving had to wait in line at Immigration for well over two hours despite having ESTA's etc - this is the longest I've ever had to wait in over 30 years of visiting the US, not impressed at all. With another wait for the rental car it was past midnight US time (8am UK :!!) before we got to bed - and next morning had early start to do Universal Studios for the day!! The day after that we drove to Vegas to attend the NHRA race on Saturday. Nowadays that race has gone to the four-wide format, so they run the Pros in fours. I wasn't too happy with this when they experimented with it a number of years ago, and they now have four national events in this format, with Vegas most recently added. I knew this before I went, and was happy to get whatever I could, plus had not seen a four-wide before so thought I'd give it a fair hearing. Well, it is spectacular to see/hear/feel four 10,000+HP cars go down the strip at the same time, so I feel I've ticked that box, but really it just reinforced my already-held view that it's not really the spirit of drag racing. Drag racing is really a modern gunfight - one winner and one loser, you win, or you go home, all or nothing. Four wide is not like that, plus it's harder to follow the race. And two 10,000+HP cars are mind blowing as it is, another two were great but to be honest I did not find a significant difference.
Anyway, we were just there for the day, did not get many pictures but here's one just to paint the picture - Top Fuel! I did not get a chance to see the Factory Stock showdown or the sportsman classes so limited Mopars this time (no Mopars in Pro Stock these days....)
Four Top Fuelers side by side (well three in this picture…!)
We left the race and immediately drove most of the way to Del Mar (four hours or so). As you can imagine by the time we got to the hotel it was late and we were knackered!! Next morning another early start to drive the rest of the way (1.5 hours). Del Mar is apparently well known for its horse racing course (very posh), which is situated at the fairgrounds and was the venue for the Goodguys event. I knew this event was pretty big but I was pleasantly surprised. The setting was amazing and the quality and quantity of the cars also great. Many were outside but they also had about four big indoor halls full of cars. A really good mix of everything from Street rods to muscle cars and even a hall full of lowriders! (fortunately no Donks ....). There was also an autocross. Deb was reasonably happy to be there because of the venue - she had seen the racecourse on a TV reality show!
Really nice Duster on one of the trade stands
Shades of the Hang-10 dusters…and manual box
Modern Hemi
First of many non-Mopar pics!! This 32 just had the right look
This should give you an idea of the venue – very nice. Even had real toilets J
Twin turbo 59 Cadillac “Nomad”
Loved this Ford gasser
Buick wagon, unusual and cool (even though it’s a Buick)
Do like these woodies
This was amazing, blown Hemi and the paint was 70’s-tastic. In the sun it looked incredible. In this courtyard were a bunch of National Award winners
Another of the Award winners….yes a Polara wagon!! Me likey, different
Inside one the of show halls, nice Cuda
Paint on this 63 Fury was a fantastic colour. Kind of a pinky, metallically, pearl but (you’ll have to take my word!) actually quite subtle as well – at first glance you think it’s the standard red…
Unusual Ford Ranchero, you either like it or not, but the killer was a Boss 429 engine!!
Says it all
Woody convertible – did they even make these?
’57 Pontiac Star Chief Sport Safari (basically a Chevy Nomad!) Took this because in my youth I did fancy a 57 Pontiac before being displaced by Mopars!
Another one of quite a few Mopars
Doctors coupe…you don’t see many of these!!
Couple of examples in the Lowriders hall. Not quite my cup of tea (tequila?) but the detail was incredible – all the engraving on everything, brake drums, suspension pieces etc. And the paint jobs are phenomenal
After Goodguys and eating in Del Mar (beach view watching the surfers!) we made our way to San Diego where we had an apartment near the beach.
Saw this on the way to the beach from our apartment
We stayed in San Diego for almost a week and as mentioned on the Friday drove to Escondido ware they have a cruise on Grand Avenue - a historic district. The district is a great example of area where somehow the buildings have come though the other side of being old and dilapidated, survived being knocked down or modernised, and are now restored and thriving as an area. It's a perfect setting for the cruise. They close off some of the side roads for cars parking up, and on the main drag, Grand Avenue, cars can drive up and down as normal. There are cafes and restaurants, people sitting outside etc. The atmosphere is great. Many years ago before we had kids Deb and I went and I can still remember sitting in a cafe and watching a bunch of Street rods drive past and thinking well I'm actually here in the valley in California - the home of hot rodding, the birthplace of drag racing and the car culture that I have been into all my life and this is the real deal! It was quite a moment! Even Deb loves it because it is authentic, it seems like the cars are in their natural habitats!
One of the first cars we saw as we arrived J
Grand Avenue, the scene of the cruise, just a really great feel at this event.
Wild, 59 was the peak year for fins (no pun intended)
Nice 69 Dart
Loved this 56 Ford wagon, complete with luggage
Nice Shaker car
Saw a few of these T-buckets during the holiday ... maybe they are coming back!!!
Really nice pair of Tri-Chevies
Couple of patina Dodge trucks!
56 Plymouth Fury with dual quads
66 Hemi Satellite ... IIRC this was a four speed. Reminded me of an identical one I had the pleasure of getting a ride around Detroit in once – it belonged to one of the original Ramchargers whose his son worked for me at the time, and gave me a ride out when I was over there on business - a moment I'll always remember
Immaculate 1956 Mercury
Another Chevy, another gasser, very cool
How about this ’64 Dart convertible for sale for only $3400. Slant 6 with pushbutton auto. On the one hand a lot of car for the money, but it looked like a lot of rust…..
After we finished in San Diego we drove back to Los Angeles for the Mopar Spring Fling in Van Nuys. It is set in a leafy park but man was it hot. We had just half to two-thirds of a day. There was quite a decent sized swapmeet which I almost ran around because firstly, shortage of parts is not exactly my problem right now (though there's always room for more!), secondly it was pushing it to go to all those car shows let alone walking around the bunch of rusty old parts with the family, and thirdly I didn't not want to miss the cars. However I did buy a few t-shirts and a couple of other small things, then got to the cars. There was a great selection, again with time moving on I didn't hang around, but I got to see everything. BTW -If you ever speak to my family do NOT mention the Portaloos.
Fantastic Panther Pink T/A
Column shift, pretty unusual in a T/A I would think. No console, also looks to have bucket seats, often had the fold down armrest/bench seat?
Unusual car and unusual Gasser
No idea how much he wanted for this, but pretty cool injection setup for your Hemi
This was cool – one Daytona towing another
Moulin Rouge Hemi convertible, a clone no doubt, but fantastic car – 4 speed, air conditioned etc. If I was picky (what me?) I’d say the colour may not be 100% accurate, but that would be splitting hairs!
Not a car. But fabulously cool boat – and with blown Hemi (and towed by a Mach 1 )
Couple of A12 Bees
Another Gasser
Lotta blue….blue interior on 71 Challenger, I like
Firstly, it’s a 71 challenger, nuff said, but also a very unusual colour /combo, brown on brown. There’s probably a reason for that….but unusual!
Hemi, cross ram, 63 Satellite…..lots of ticked boxes!
Nice 340 vert….maybe even original R/T, in which case very few made.
Another pink T/A, can’t have too many (and the colour is correct!)
Business end
This Challenger vert was 1 of 9 440-6 pre-production promotional cars. Highly optioned four speed, Dana, red interior, white top (all 9 were like this!), genuine R/T
Christine
Paxton supercharged Duster!!
Not everything had a Hemi, I liked this slant six Valiant, again it’s unusual to see slants (and again there is a good reason for that!)
Hemi 70 Roadrunner, note manual drums!
Fantastic 68 Hemi GTX. Even braver than the last one – manual discs (the only way to go!!). Looks great with the redlines and dog dish hubcaps, I believe this was for sale
63 Polara Max Wedge, one of my favourites
Another Hemi car, 68 Charger, again steelies and redlines
Obviously I liked this a lot!! 71 Challenger convertible, mine was actually this colour originally, this was for sale at $54K, it looked like a nice car
Don’t see many of these, a Hang 10 Duster, complete with fold down rear seat so you can stash your surfboard, and stripy seats. Not fast, but interesting
Another Maxie, what’s not to like
I did like this A100 pickup, colours were great
The paint on this T/A really shone in the sunlight
Lovely 68 Dart with Hemi!
Hard to believe that car companies actually used to make stuff like this, what an office!
There were a couple of cop cars, one was the traditional Black and white but I like this Polara too, solid black, lights inside the car, major police aerial
Another Hemi 68 Dart, assume not an original but had the van seats and everything
Immaculate 70 Hemicuda with Shaker
The spring fling wrapped up fairly early on Saturday which I knew in advance, maybe 2 to 3 p.m. However there is a weekly event in that area at Bobs Big Boy restaurant, not just for Mopars. However having spent a day in the blistering heat walking around cars and parts I think the family were not quite as enthused and Deb mentioned that she had found another car show the next morning in Orange County close to where we were staying. Although we had other plans that day which would mean only stopping at that for an hour the next morning. I thought that was more than a fair request, so that's what we decided to do.
The next morning we drove to the site of the other car show and boy was I in for a shock. This was also in a local historic District, it was amazing. It really looked like something out of a 1950s or 60s American film. They shut off the whole district and it was lined wall to wall with cars of serious quality. Since this was an unknown and unexpected event I was blown away by the location the number and quality of the cars and the overall atmosphere. Deb and the kids also really enjoyed it. So this show was an unexpected bonus and we did not hang about, but miraculously I did manage to at least see all the cars within an hour when we moved on.
This was the scene awaiting us as we turned up having no idea what we would find – it was pretty mind-blowing, check out the row of lowriders
This Ford was beautiful, really clean and well proportioned
Another beautiful car, chopped Merc with Carson top,
Hard as nails, blown Hemi five-window
This 33 Willys was immaculate, the look, the stance, and the paint was incredible in the sunlight, I loved it.
Another Merc (-ury not -edes!), again the paint was absolutely stunning
Max Wedge, there were some Mopars here
Hemi rat rod, looks like one carb per cylinder
Another view of the amazing historic district setting for this show, the whole area was closed to traffic
Example of the buildings in this area
Couple of Nash (/Austin) Metropolitans, always liked these cars, BBQ looked good but no time to stop
Nice Duster 340
This church looks like it used to be a cinema…since we were actually on our way to church (seriously!) we did not stop!
Amazing 1960 Fury (I think)…Swivel seats, square metalflake steering wheel, push button trans.
Had to take a GM picture - 71 442 W30 Olds……
This place was amazing, Watsons soda fountain, it’s the oldest in California, been around since the Fifties, we couldn’t stop but loved it so much was came back the next day for a shake, well worth the visit…
Possible one of the most unusual vehicles, and one of the coolest, a Flxible Starliner (not a typo!), around 1950 I think. What a great vehicle….
Nice dodge pickup
55 or 56 Dodge, looks pretty similar to the special “La Femme” edition they did especially for women, with all kinds of extras…but I don’t think this is one, no fender script and they may all have been 2-doors, maybe you know different?
67 440 GTX, “100% unrestored”, 20,000 miles…….
Tidy Duster
Beautifully coloured 55 T-Bird, both exterior and interior
Another shot of the district (spot wife/daughter!)
Even the Starbucks had style……..
Other end of that Willys with fabulous paint
Another T-Bucket…you know you want one
Just outside the car show was this building, super interesting. Looked like a hot rod shop, early Fords etc, but had a showroom with some serious Mopars inside, quite intriguing. I think behind that somewhere was a wheel shop run by that guy Mike from American Hot Rod, who I did see at the show….
Inside Watsons when we returned the next day
So that’s the cars - obviously all I've described in this article is the car related stuff and as I said at the beginning I feel extremely fortunate to be able to have been able to get along to so many events and really appreciate the patience and forbearance of my family! We did a lot of other stuff of course and had an amazing time. Even with all that stuff it still went quickly and now it's a memory - but what a great one!
If you stuck with it this far, I hope you enjoyed it!!
feel free to point them out, I'd be interested to see where my brain faded!!
..lapse in concentration!!