North Bonneville Car Show

After more than a week of changing clutches, timing chains and head gaskets, I had enough of working on cars, so I headed down to North Bonneville, WA to check out the “Too Hot For the Streets” Car Show to check out some other guy’s automotive skills. It was a beautiful, sunny day and there were a lot of really nice cars and trucks.
It was the first chance I had to use my new Panasonic Limux DMC LX5, I was able to get an idea of camera’s performance, but more on that later, now it’s on to the cars.
How about this modern custom built Cobra and a classic 1957 Chevrolet?

There were a number of hot Cobras at the show. Hard to pick the best one. There was this one in classic Ford blue

And this yellow one with a classic racing stripe

Here’s the Ford 427 cubic inch engine in that yellow Cobra. Probably over 600 horsepower, five times the horsepower of my Toyota 22RE engine, but I probably get better fuel mileage!

Here are a few other engines you don’t see every day. How about this classic Chevrolet small block V8? One of the best internal combustion engines ever made, I’ll always have a soft spot for the 283 and 350 cubic inch Chevys.

This is the Pontiac 389 with Tri Power(three two barrel carburetors) that was the powerplant for the classic GTO.

This is an old Buick Straight 8. It probably came out of a truck or big car and wound up in a hot rod.

Before the days of overhead valve engines, there were flatheads. Here is a flathead V8

And a Hudson flathead straight six. This engine has “232” on the head, which was produced in the early 1950’s, but has twin Carter one barrel carburetors and “Twin H Power” intake system that was only available on later 262 and 308 cubic inch engines, so it looks like this engine had been modified.

Here’s a classic Ford surf woody

How about this sweet pearl white Studebaker?

Or this red convertible?

How about this sleeper Chevelle 396 Turbo Jet? Some little old lady probably drives it to church on Sunday.

Here’s a classic hot rod. Plymouth, I think.

What can be more American than 1955, 56 and 57 Chevrolets? If you know anything at all about classic cars, you know what this car is

How about a nice baby blue 55?

Or a 57 convertible? This an extremely rare American classic

Here’s the small block engine in the 57 convertible. Probably came stock with a 283, good bet it has been replaced by a 350 cubic inch truck engine block with four bolt mains, 2.20 “fuelie” heads off a fuel injected 327 engine that came in Corvettes, maybe blueprinted and balanced. Looks pretty much like the original 283, but with somewhat better performance.

This red and white 55 is one of the cleanest old Chevys I’ve ever seen. All stock down to the hubcaps and trim, in absolutely mint condition. This car won the Mayors Trophy.

And what may have been the hottest car in the show; this 1956 Nomad

It may look like a stock Chevy, but the body was about the only thing that came from the General Motors factory.

Almost everything on this car has been custom built; frame, suspension, brakes, interior and engine parts, down to the smallest details. Even the hood hinges were precision machined, the welding on the frame was cleaner than most motorcycles. This is a real car lover with a few extra bucks to spend.

All the vehicles weren’t hot rods or custom cars. This is the Pacific Northwest after all, check out this old Mack logging truck. Chain drive, wheels are rubber glued to metal rims. This rig starts right up using the hand crank in front of the truck and it was driven to the show on the street, probably a little slower than most of the weekend traffic.

All the classic vehicles weren’t in the show, either. Check out this old BMW motorcycle and sidecar somebody cruised to the show with

If you get a chance, check out the show next year. It’s free, lots of fun and there are things for the whole family to do.