Words: Mike Aguilar Image courtesy SEMA
In case you didn’t know it, we just celebrated Collector Car Appreciation Day in the United States. The first Collector Car Appreciation Day was on July 9, 2010 and came about mostly because the Senate passed Senate Resolution 513, which had Senators Burr of North Carolina and Tester of Montana as sponsors. On July 14, car enthusiasts were, for the most part, not out in their garagse wrenching or in front of a TV watching races. No; they were out there celebrating the day, their cars and the camaraderie those cars engender. We’ve compiled a list of three of the events of the day that we consider memorable for your enjoyment.
Tri-Valley Event Is All Bow-Tie Affair
Shown above are the cars owned by TVCC members Randy Randleman, Mel Matsuoka, Jerry Clancy and Tim Bosserman. Images courtesy TVCC.net
The Tri-Valley Classic Chevy Club (TVCC) gathered for a club dinner and car show at Elio’s Family Restaurant in San Leandro. Once they had a good-sized crowd in attendance, they held a cruise to Hayward’s Cannery Café, where they held a second car show that included their monthly meeting. Some of the cars there were Jerry Clancy’s ‘56 Bel Air, Mel Matsuoka’s ‘56 and Randy Randleman’s ‘57 Bel Air. Tim Bosserman was also there with his ‘57 210 2-Door.
San Jose Show Has Unique Offerings
This beautiful Camaro SS is one of the dozens of cars that were on display at Hot San Jose Nights. Image courtesy http://www.hotsanjosenights.com/
San Jose’s show was held at a local civilian aviation airfield on the city’s east side called Reid-Hillview Airport. Dozens of cars were on display, but they weren’t the only vehicular attractions at the Ninth Annual Hot San Jose Nights, which this year presented Airport Day & S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Aviation, and Math).
Some of the military vehicles that the Eagle Foundation brought. Some lucky attendees even got to ride in them. Image courtesy http://www.hotsanjosenights.com/
On top of the cars, there were also a number of aircraft on display, but the display put on by the Eagle Foundation had almost as much traffic as the beautiful cars that were shown. Rivaling the car show portion of the event was a number of military and armored vehicles. Finally, the S.T.E.A.M. Festival was great fun for all the kids.
San Jose represented with the antique Fords. Image courtesy http://www.hotsanjosenights.com/
QA1 Open House and #goDRIVEit Cruise Are Two Events in One
The QA1 Open House attendees were impressive rolling up on the Fairgrounds gate together as a group. Image courtesy QA1.com
QA1’s Open House and @goDRIVEit Cruise started with a two hour QA! open house and a two hour car show at the QA1 Facility in Lakeville, Minnesota. Attendees then cruised, as a group, the 27 miles to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for the 2017 Street Machine Nationals. It was an impressive sight as they pulled up at the gates for registration.
Nick Hirsh and his ‘78 Chevy Monte Carlo came in second in the burnout contest on Saturday. Image courtesy streetmachinenationals.net
Between one and three PM there was also a Dyno Challenge where competitors had two pulls to show high readings on the dyno. Saturday’s winner was a ‘99 Chevy Silverado, owned by Michael Morris, which put out an impressive 759 HP. The burnout contest on Saturday was won by a ‘47 Dodge Rat Rod driven by Nick Steinhaus.
The first day’s autocross competition was held between 11AM and four PM and was won by Jose Lessinger with a time of 32.210 seconds. Image courtesy streetmachinenationals.net
Everyone loved the day’s autocross racing, especially the Street Machine Nationals attendees who started the day at the QA! open house. Jose Lessinger parlayed his car’s handling and acceleration and his hand-eye coordination into a winning run on Saturday.
One of the more interesting and impressive vehicles at the QA! open house was this late model Firebird with a unique turbo setup. Image courtesy QA1.com