While going through some old photo albums, I ran across some pictures I took at a June 1964 Custom Car Show that I had attended as a 13-year-old at the Asbury Park, New Jersey Convention Hall.
Convention Hall is a great old building right on the ocean side of the boardwalk in Asbury Park and has a wonderful & varied history. High School Basketball, Roller Derby, flower shows and, oh yeah, back in the 60’s, every weekend, it hosted BIG name concert acts that liked to hit the Jersey Shore for a quick extra payday before moving on to New York City. The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Beach Boys and many others all played Convention Hall….sometimes two shows a night!
Convention Hall also hosted a Custom Car Show every year, sometimes promoted by the local hot rod club The Haulin’ Gents. The facility usually housed around 60 cars with the cream of the crop displayed on the main floor while the rest were relegated to the promenade around the top perimeter of the building.
There were usually a couple of feature cars brought in…..ones that had seen exposure in Hot Rod, Car Craft, Hop Up or other national magazines of the day…..that would be the big draw. In ’64 it was the “X-Sonic” a full custom bubble top ’56 Corvette and the ’60 Thunderbird “Electra”, another full custom, this time with twin bubble tops! (bubble tops were BIG I the 60’s!) For us east coast hot rodders getting to see these famous cars up close was a real treat.
Sadly, with the proliferation of cruise nights across the country, the day of the local indoor custom car show has long since past. I’m just grateful I grew up during a time where I got to experience that part of American culture first hand.
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