I think there was a familiar famous face driving this one...











A few from the survivor tent...

The Mopar Hall of Fame event was in the evening at the Camp Hill Radisson. I thought that it might be pretty cool but I had no idea how cool! Totally mind blowing! This years inductees were the following;

The Golden Commandos Club
Buddy Baker
Roger Lindamood
Bud Faubel
Arlen Vanke
Don Garlits
Bill "Maverick" Golden
William M. Brownlie (father of the first three generations of Chargers and designer of many top of the line models)
Christine - movie car
And a special Lifetime Achievement Award wet to
Tom Hoover

Some of the speeches were really mind blowing and it seems that even if these people are almost like Gods to the average Mopar enthusiast they are really humble people who really appreciate being honored in this way. Truly one of the best evenings of my life. There is a dvd available from this event and I would urge anyone interested in Chrysler history to buy it.

http://moparhalloffame.com/

Arnie Cunningham seemed to be in a hurry to the event...yes, that is one of the real movie cars.





























Bud Faubel is a true showman;



Tom Hoover was recovering from some health issues, glad he is doing better. I wish everything he has seen and done at Chrysler could come out as a book...



Get the dvd!

Some of the "Christine" actors were present and for a fee you could have your picture taken with the movie car...hmmmmm..







Maybe I'm beating a dead horse here but still a few from the survivor tent...and had to take a last look at the Max Wedges..and get an autographed poster from Mr Lindmood...

















It was a good thing to go back as I noticed this big folder about one of my favorite cars, familiar from magazines so many years ago;













These are the guys to talk to about manual transmission needs;







Jim found me a super deal on C-body Road Wheels. Time to load up and head towards new adventures!

It's always nice to meet folks on the road who know what they are talking about;





Now, that ugly french thing moves along fine while on an American truck but by itself...not so much.





Somebody waits for some paint to appear...



You know you are in a civilized country when there is a pump for race gas;



Love the covered bridges;



Here's a hauler for someone;



Helped Jim to install a rebuilt TF in a customer car;



Believe it or not, that is original paint! 383 with Edelbrock heads, very nice ride!



Ultimate A-body for the A-body guru;



Another Dart under restoration;

Bosak Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Merrillville, IN (bosakmotor.com) had a car show which was perfect as we were going to pick up a car to transport it for the coming Belvidere Mopar Happening. But I had some suggestions for stops on the way. I don't know about you guys but I have always wondered if the building where Sun tachs were designed and built is still standing? The address is clearly printed on the tachs, 6323 Avondale, Chicago. Turns out that the building is fine and to prove how small the world is Jim has actually worked in the very same building after Sun moved out. Sun was bought by Snap-On in the early 90:s and the rights to manufacture the vintage style tachs were sold to Sunpro/Actron. Here's how the facility looks today;









Another interesting stop would be the former Nichels Engineering building in Indiana. Here's a good read of the history of the man and the company;

http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Ray_Nichels.htm

Serious history has been made on this site;





That would be me holding a photo (sorry about the glare) of the 99 Dow Chemicals Dodge Daytona driven by Charlie Glotzbach and built by Nichels Engineering;



Back in the day;

I drive past here every single day on my way to and from work. I had no idea.



Ryan

Yep, I worked there as an instructor in 1986 when it was a school called The Center for Robotics Technology. Unfortunately they were not prepared very well and I went on to head-up the Robotics/Automated Manufacturing school at Triton College. Man, that seems like another lifetime ago, I wish I would have kept working in that field but most of it went overseas by the early 90's.

Yeah, sometimes cool history is just in front of us and we have no idea! That is why I really enjoy driving around with some automotive/architectural history buff to tell me about all the interesting things I'd miss otherwise. No matter how much you research nothing beats having a local guru showing you around.

Well, to the Bosak show. There was a bunch of old and new MoPar vehicles around and also some tasty treats were offered! Much appreciated!

This beast we took to the Belvidere show...

Some reloading before hitting the road towards the Belvidere Mopar Happening!



A pleasant drive through the northern Illinois farmlands;



Greeting us at the gate were two Belvidere police cars, the Dart was the first of its kind, donated to the Belvidere PD by Chrysler;







This 72 Demon created quite a bit of excitement in some circles;







I seemed to be the only guy excited about this 67 New Yorker;

I really wanted to see the Meltdown Drags at the close by Byron track and John (slax69gts) and his son offered me a ride! Thanks guys! This event is only for old style cars, no billet or modern stuff and the cut off year is 1973 if I remember correctly. Not a great number of Mopars but still a super day with an insane amount of neat old stuff! And there would be plenty of time for Mopar stuff in the evening and on Sunday!

The ride there is quite scenic and as a bonus we passed the Chrysler Belvidere plant!

Here's me trying to use the new video camera. Some starting line footage;

http://youtu.be/C2-vJUAa6ho

After the fun and nostalgic mayhem at the drags we got back to the Belvidere show just in time for the dealer cruise!

















First stop was Jack Wolf Dodge Chrysler Jeep;



















Runnin' on fumes...I got worried about Jim a bit here because he decided to wash the Ute? What's up with that?

The other dealer stop was Anderson Dodge Chrysler Jeep;























These guys may look harmless but they mean business!

http://youtu.be/1VKIYaXX1Io

The evening was still young and since the Poplar Grove Wheels and Wings Museum hosted a show with farm tractors as the main attraction we decided to check it out. Probably the most impressive thing was the Waukesha Hangar that was saved from demolition and moved to the site from Wisconsin. Here's some details;

http://www.poplargrovewingsandwheels.com...mp;Type=B_BASIC

Sadly that building was closed...but it is a beauty;



This is the guy in front of the museum;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elrey_Borge_Jeppesen







Very interesting prefabricated 1930:s automotive service building;











Some ice cream and back to the show field for some bench racing...

I liked this...wasn't expensive either...





Anybody know this guy? He had some items I might be interested in...





Mr Norm was once again satisfying the needs of the buying public;









Here's so much class that the Benz people of today will never be even able to understand;