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 The Stars and Stripes show is now well into its second decade, and like most well established shows enjoys a strong turn-out year after year. Once again there was a severe weather warning for the weekend and the outlook was to say the least, bleak.
Saturday did indeed prove to be a bit of a wash-out, with relentless rain, however Sunday saw lots of bright sunshine, with occasional dramatic downpour. Northerners are a hardy bunch, as despite the gloomy forecast the show was almost as busy on the Sunday as in previous years when the conditions were positively tropical. The organisers of the Stars and Stripes show do try and give the show a family-friendly feel to it, with fair rides, a wall of death (when was the last time you saw one of those?!), market stalls, line-dancing and all sorts of arena events – somewhat curtailed this year due to the weather – and even an Elvis tribute act.
It’s a great idea, as families come along ostensible to look at the cars, but find so much more to entertain them and keep them occupied. The Stars and Stripes show provides an opportunity for various automotive factions to come together, so there were the Northern Devils P/T Cruiser club, plenty of military enthusiasts, Honda Goldwing enthusiasts and plenty of motorhomes (many of whom had to be towed out of the mud with tractors!).
 Older cars seemed to be far and few on the ground – perhaps their owners are less inclined to take them out in severe rain, after all drum-brakes and cross-plies don’t make for a relaxing drive in the rain! One old car which made it into the cavalcade in the arena was our cover car of November 2004, a 1957 Plymouth Savoy. Owner Marcus Collins of Blackburn had recently returned from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he had witnessed the unveiling of the famous Tulsa Time capsule car, a 1957 Plymouth similar to his own. Sadly the concrete sarcophagus had leaked and the car was a wreck… watch out for a full report soon in Classic American.
There was plenty of late model muscle on display and one intriguing corner of the show field saw a brace of Smokey and the Bandit Trans Ams, one of which belonged to Dennis Williams of Queensferry. With only 35,000 miles on the clock, Dennis has owned the Trans Am from new, buying it from Stadium Garages in Ashton-under-Lyne – it even has the original dealer sticker in the back window! South-African émigré Brad Horn brought along his gorgeous Orange Dodge Challenger which is up for sale, although he’s in two minds to sell it or not.
The show’s organisers must have been delighted with the turn out on Sunday; as for us, we were pleased to see just a bit of sunshine on our third wet weekend in a row! |
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