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Friday’s cruise was literally a wash out (rain) but Saturday the morning broke with that big light in the East sky cranking up what would become a Chamber of Commerce, picture perfect day for the Fredericksburg Classic & Muscle Car Club’s annual car show. The show is held at the Chancellor Baptist Church in Chancellor, VA and offers a paved parking lot for the cars but the perimeter grassed areas can be used for setting up canopies and chairs…. The club has always run a great show and this day was no exception. The restroom facility was only 500 miles through the woods from the show area but when you finally got to them they were inside the church and very welcome. I think I saw little benches to rest on before you walked back. The food was catered by VA BBQ and was OK….I just wished they would have advertised that they had hot dogs….no one knew they were selling them and near the end of the show they had so many left that they started selling them for $1 each! This show always has a few vendors and Saturday I think they had 4-5 of them set up. Some thought the entry fee of $20 was a little pricey but I have to remember that this club, like most other “real” clubs, contributes greatly to charitable organizations because of their efforts. This club specializes on local families that have missed the normal government safety nets and need a hand….$20 doesn’t seem like too much….
This show almost exclusively represents local road driven cars…. But this year someone brought their trophy car in a trailer….does this car ever see a road? Those that know me know I don’t compete in the shows so I don’t have a dog in this race but although that car was very nice and it won best of show, I thought it was tasteless to drag it to a small local show and impress the lesser country bumpkins with this national caliber trophy car! I don’t see the payback for spending 200K on a car to get a $30 trophy? It seems it is more about flaunting the owner’s wealth than sharing his passion of the hobby with everyone. I have no problem bringing a trophy car to a local show so those that are not able to attend a “trophy car show” can see it….but the car should not compete, it should be displayed. I’ll get off my soapbox now.
I think there were 115 cars which included some club cars. The club cars were not allowed to compete for the trophies, which is as it should be. There were a few “special club recognition” awards presented to their members for their service to the club and community. The car I liked the best was the silver ’34 Chevy 4 dr. Master….a very nice ride and the burgundy/black ’31 Ford 4dr Sedan was cool too. There was a good mix of new and old cars which is also a good thing when you are trying to maximize the amount of $’s you raise for your charity. I think it will be a very long time, if ever, before we go back to narrowly restricting the year of the cars that can participate in local shows.
The award ceremony was long….some complained about the length….some rudely left as soon as they received their trophy. I liked the way Gary ran the award ceremony….he took the time to announce the name of the sponsor for each trophy, the name of the winner, the car the trophy was for and any other pertinent information. He allowed each winner their 1 minute of time in the spotlight….sometimes this is the only time a person gets recognition for their labor of love….Most of us appreciated the way Gary presented the awards. The trophies were very nice and worth competing for! After the ceremony we packed up and cruised to Bruster’s in Stafford, VA
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