Somehow, nothing seems to capture “pop” Americana more than cruising around in cars. We admire the vehicles themselves, but we also adore the whole support structure, and the vast array of paraphernalia.
*Road maps. Gas stations. Drive-in movies. Drive-in restaurants. Dairy Queen. Fuzzy dice. Snow chains. Steering wheel covers. Pep Boys. Western Auto. Burma Shave signs. The orange roof on the Howard Johnson’s, and the 28 flavors of ice cream.
*I’ll bet if I asked people what automotive toys they had, sixty years ago, most everyone could answer without hesitation.
*We went to Penn Yan’s Cruisin’ Night last week. They closed off several blocks of Main Street, and lined both sides with vintage vehicles. We strolled along with the mob of happy visitors of every age, from the stroller-and-toddler crowd right up to folks who look like they might have ridden around with Henry Ford.
*One little guy, about two years old, delighted a hundred spectators when an electric guitarist got down on his knees in the street. The little guy rocked right along with every beat.
*Parked near the post office was a vintage fire truck, while the triangular space right in front of Birkett’s Mills was reserved for tractors. Otherwise, though, it’s block after block of vintage cars, vans, and pickups.
*Chevy Bel Airs and Ford Fairlanes, familiar to us from our childhoods. An Edsel, from even earlier. Mercuries. Thunderbirds. A Corvette or two.
*All the way from France, a Citroen. A Jaguar and Mini Coopers (including the model used in the movie “The Italian Job”) from Britain. Plenty of Ford V-8s and Model As from interwar days.
*The stores and shops are open during Cruisin’ Night, and we stopped in at Long’s for a little visit. For two bucks I also indulged in a hot dog with home-made sauerkraut from the Elks.
*When you’re writing a weekly feature, dealng with annual events presents a dilemma. Do you write after the fact (as I’m doing now), and hope that folks remember 51 weeks from now? Or write it up now, and hope I myself remember to dust it off next year?
*Well, I hope you WILL remember Cruisin’ Night next year, in the sad event that you’ve missed it this year. (We go almost every year.) But the summer’s still young, and so am I (more or less). Summer in our neck of the Finger Lakes overflows with car shows and cruising nights.
*July 14 is Cars in the Park Car Show at Hickories Park in Owego.
*August 7 Race Fever brings NASCAR show cars (and a big block party) to Corning Northside.
*On September 6, the Grand Prix Festival will bring some 600 sports cars to Watkins Glen.
*Curtiss Museum’s Wings and Wheels fills Hammondsport with classic and exotic cars, IN ADDITION TO seaplanes, September 14 and 15.
*The Windmill’s Fall Car Show (near Dundee) is on September 28.
*No doubt you can find more! Look around! Take the kids or grandkids!