One Busy Day...

As a kid growing up with a car enthusiast father, one learns to appreciate cool cars and motorsports history.  It has been thoroughly engrained in me and I miss my old 63' Dodge Dart.  So, it is a wonderful pleasure to go to a big car show once in a while and share some of your knowledge with your own son.
I had just sat down to coffee with Kim and Pat after the finish of the Southgate ride and they had mentioned the Lake Mirror Classic was going on. I was ecstatic and had to go tell my son.  He kind of didn't know what to say.  I told him there would be some cool cars like what he likes to watch on Top Gear.  He said that he had never seen a Ferrari in real life so off we went.  It was going to be a busy day;  92 miles on the bike, a car show, the Florida game and a free jazz concert provided by PSC.
It was fun finding a place to park.  We managed to find a place that I knew wouldn't be too far away from the downtown area and still not too close so we could leave quickly if we needed to.  Jared was
still skeptical as he wondered where the cars were.  I told him that the show took up almost all of downtown Lakeland.  And, as we started to see the cars, the words cool, and awesome began to fly from his lips.  I had told him to bring his camera, but it was having battery issues so he didn't get many pictures.  I did, though, and will share a few.

The Start of the Show

 

Jared got to see a Ferrari!!!  OK, more than one:-)

We then met up with Kim and proceeded to tell stories of old cars.  One of my favorites was of him having his uncle pick him up in one of these and getting his drivers license.  The instructor was so busy messing with the cool interior, he didn't care how Kim was driving.  I'm sure this is why Kim is a crazy driver to this day.  Just kidding, Kim:-) 

Kim and the car that earned him his drivers license:-)

We then walked around the lake and were witness to a racing legend.  Brian Redman was discussing his history and brought along with him his Porsche 908/3.  Some history on the car can be seen here.

From then on it was just cars, cars, cars...

Jared really wanted to drive this...

And, there it was!  There had to be at least one, considering it was one of the more common cars of the era.  A Dart!

This was a 65' and mine didn't have wheelie bars or a manifold you could put a fist into, but I bet this one doesn't drive too well around corners:-)  And, what kind of guy takes out the push button transmission...
Then it was goodbye to Kim and hello to the Florida game.  Wow what a blowout!  But, the game lasted a long time and didn't finish until late and we hadn't eaten dinner.  So we stayed and ate Bratwursts and potato soup and watched some of the Alabama game and some of the Miami game.  Then it was off to the house and to bed exhausted more from the walking around than from anything else.  What a good day!