Town Overrun by Classic Car Show,Rats Everywhere-Cruisin' Sherwood 2015

You can find a “Greatest Hits” collection of this author’s best works, available in Kindle and printed book format, on Amazon at - http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Car-Stories-Innovative-Meetings/dp/1530003954

Following a Friday Night Rally I was back up early this Saturday morning to enjoy the Oregon "launch" car show  of 2015, the Cruisin' Sherwood show.  The thing about Sherwood is it's early enough in the year that people aren't actually tired of looking at '68 Camaros; we've all forgotten that we saw 112 Camaros at various shows last year.  On top of that, generally, the rain has stopped by the time the Sherwood show rolls around.  Like Mole from the Wind in the Willows, Oregonians in June just want to get out of our wet holes and see the world. The Sherwood show is a welcomed sign that winter is over and Oregonians come out in droves and literally completely take over this small town.

I wasn't going to drive my car, preferring to only spectate and hang out with family & friends,  but a friend owned a piece of property next to the show and he thought if there were some cars on it next to his realty sign it might draw people to check out the lots.  I was happy to help him out but there was a problem.  His lots were past the town closure checkpoints.  The volunteers were very grumpy about letting anyone in and out during the show.  On my way in I think I only won the argument because the gas and oil fumes from my British car caused the volunteer's eyes to water and he may have enjoyed a slight feeling of "high" from the fumes.   Later in the day I'd have to threaten to run over the rickety barriers, tell them I had appendicitis, claim I just pooped my pants, and was driving myself to the hospital before a different volunteer caved and let me out.

Once into the show I had about an hour before the family came.  That meant I had about an hour to look at the cars.  I have no idea why, but once family and friends arrive at these events I am no longer able to progress down a street and turn onto the next street.  You'll move 40 feet in an hour, but it will have been incredibly busy; someone new will arrive in the parking lot you'll need to go get, one of the kids needs their diaper changed, one of the adults will want to stop at the food stand/antique shop/etc, another kid will need food now, one of the adults will be chatting with a long lost friend, then suddenly you'll realize another child is crawling into one of the exposed engine bays on a '34 Ford, your wife will find an item in the antique shop she wants to show you, etc etc.  and hour later you're halfway down the street you started on.  I'm not complaining, I actually have more fun when  my friends and family are there, but I knew I had only one hour to truly walk around town and look at cars.

Some highlights included the cleanest MG motor I've ever seen!  This picture probably means little or nothing to you.  You might even dismiss it as a "little" four cylinder.  What you don't understand, if you don't own an MG, is that it's impossible to keep an MG from leaking and that this man must be practicing witchcraft.

The 4x4 section included the best looking 70s Camaro I've ever seen.  If Chevy had produced this car maybe the 70's Camaro wouldn't be so disregarded.... no, it still would have had only 120 hp from the factory as a V8.  I had a 76 Camaro and it would only spin an inside wheel if  you were in the middle of a corner in 4 inches of water.

This circa 1950 Ford has only one upgrade, Moon wheels.  It's a testament to Moon really.  With those discs he converted a total piece of junk into a truck where you can't help but wonder, "is there a massive big block hidden under the hood?"  I believe Moon wheels elicit subconscious considerations of 1950's SoCal racers and so it's genius to slap a pair on a total tanker and enjoy the association. Owner is probably a psychologist conducting an experiment.

This car made me feel old.  

It turns out, when Marty goes to the "future" in Back to Future II, he visits October 21^st 2015.  It's the future... and that means I'm old.  Sigh.  On a positive note, Nike claims that in recognition of this milestone movie date, they plan on releasing self tightening shoes like those in the movie.  Kinda cool.... kinda more, "I FEEL OLD".  No problem, I'll just console myself by turning up this Metallica on the classic rock station.  The "classic rock" station. OLD OLD OLD OLD AAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! I NEED TO BUY A CORVETTE!!!!!!!

.... sorry, I'm back.

I asked this guy if his car was comfortable to drive.  His response was to the effect of, "I'm just happy my teenage kids can't touch the pedals."

Soon the whole town was overrun.  People were everywhere.  I ran into all sorts of people I used to know, and some I still do (we moved to the country several years ago).  I even ran into a guy whose organizational project I took over.  We were talking and he casually mentioned that if the project was ever back on it's feet he had new ideas.  Funny thing is, the project has been ongoing since he left.  I wasn't sure if he didn't know that the project was still going, or if I'd just been kicked.  I pondered that one for seconds after our conversation.  In the end, I realized he's either very talented at put downs the style of my wife's British melodrama's, or he genuinely didn't know the project was still alive.

One of the great things about the Sherwood show is it's truly a community event.  All the coffee shops are doing major business, the center of town is taken over by shops selling their products, kids showing off their dance school routines, car dealerships trying to get you to sit in their cars for the price of a free balloon for your child who desperately wants one (brilliant if evil, like stuffed animals on the bottom shelf at checkouts).  It's a lot of fun, even if by the middle of the day you're waiting in line 20 minutes for a snow cone.

At one point I wanted to get my daughter a little cup of water, only to be told by the coffee shop, "We're not giving out free cups of water today. You can buy a bottle."  It's been like 6 months since I wanted to hit a hipster but it happened again right then.

My oldest daughter is 18 months and she's always been on the smaller side.  She doesn't intake much.  This came in handy at the caramel popcorn stand when after a few "samples" of popcorn she'd had her fill.  I'll save that purchase for a future year when my kids can fight over a whole bag while mom and I beg for a few kernels.

There was a body shop advertising table on the sidewalk around the corner from where I parked my car.  I need some bodywork done so I started inquiring about costs.  There was more than one guy in the booth and I was the only one there. They told me they'd have to see the car to give any costs.  I said it's around the corner, "under that tree right there".  They said they'd have to see it. I repeated where it was.  It was worse than trying to communicate with my 18 month when she's crying.  What we had was a total communication failure.  What I was saying was "walk with me to my car".  What they were saying was, "I'm comfortable sitting here, drive it by the shop someday so there are no witnesses to hear how much I quote you."

Speaking of quotes, when my friends arrived their 15 year old son professed his love of Impalas.  I told him I'd seen one for sale for $2500 and he was excited to see a car in his budget so we trekked about 3 streets to see it.  3 streets when you're moving 4 families along at a car show is no small feat.  We arrived only to find a price tag of $12,500.  Oops, I thought it was a great restoration project at $2500, as did the 15 year old.  At $12,500 it moves it back into the territory of old man toy.  And we wonder why the youth aren't interested in classic cars?

I blame this partly on Craigslist.  I believe Craigslist has hyper-inflated the cost of project cars and perpetuated the American consumerism.  What sort of dork would pay $12,500 for a rusty Impala?  Now I know I have my rusty MGA for sale on Craigslist for $11k, and I might drive 24 hours this weekend to trade it for another car that's in pieces, but that's different because they're both British so I can't be suffering from consumerism can I?  Yes, I am a hypocrite.

Anyways, the Sherwood car show was great!  Always a nice launch to the summer.  A lot of fun cars, and interesting people.  I'd highly recommend getting some friends and family and walking around it next year.

Excellent Classic and Custom Car Show in Oregon - Cruisin' Sherwood

You can find a “Greatest Hits” collection of this author’s best works, available in Kindle and printed book format, on Amazon at - http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Car-Stories-Innovative-Meetings/dp/1530003954

There's a car culture in the Pacific NW that's pretty exceptional.  Maybe it's the rainy winters that allow people to hole up and prep their cars all winter, but when summer rolls around some beautiful classics and customs hit the street.  The Sherwood Cruisin' is hosted in the small suburban Portland town of Sherwood, Oregon and packs the town from one end to the other. It's not Monterey's car week, but it's free entrance for spectators a short distance from Portland brings out the crowds, and vendors. The town business' doors are open; expectantly hoping and I'm sure it doesn't disappoint (antique shops, museums, restaurants and coffee shops mainly).

I'm going to break a 10th grade rule of writing, and author this from the "I" perspective just to give you a flavor of what my experience was, in case you're thinking of attending in future years.

First, let's talk about culture.  The weather's started to turn summer-like (most the time) by June up here in the NW and there's a large rumbling of cars shaking off their garage dust and returning to the highways and raceways.  My friends that autocross or race on the track have already had a couple of turns at the wheel. Our semi-famous Beaches Cruise In at Portland International Raceway also started the first Wednesday in June.  The Cascade Car Clubs Friday Night Rally is on their fourth rally by June.

My project 1957 MGA is just coming together this year (registration last month - www.budgetmga.blogspot.com) and the night before I'd just competed in my first Friday night rally and had an absolutely great time.

The morning of Sherwood, our group of car enthusiasts that serve Jesus (Gearheadz Portland) got together for coffee and breakfast to, as the Hawaiians put it, "talk story"and discuss how we can help people this summer using the automotive skills and passions the Lord has graced us with (or possibly cursed if you ask our wives).  I left that meeting charged from being around some great guys with great plans.

I picked up my wife Kellie on the way to Sherwood.  About a half mile to mile out from town the spectator cars started to line the streets.  After parking the VW, I was glad I hadn't brought the MGA because we would have been quite a ways out of town and I still don't consider the MGA the most secure vehicle to lock up, even though it's the coupe. I'm pretty sure if you gave me a screwdriver and about 5 seconds I could be in the locked MGA.

On top of that, the parking lots were filled with other classics that people had drove to the show but like me, for some reason had decided that either they didn't want to pay the $25 car entrance fee or time didn't allow them to enter the show.  I saw 50's corvette's, hot rod Chevelles, various MOPAR badges and more gracing the parking lots outside of town.

On a whim I started calling friends to see if anyone else would be willing to come out.  A surprising number of people responded and said they'd meet us there and ironically, at the same time I received an invite from one of my good buddies.  We all decided to meet up at the nice coffee shop in town set up in an antique Craftsman home.

The coffee shop was a great place to wait for friends.  Sitting on the grounds of the coffee shop was an old oval window Bug (cool, but unfortunately just a year or two after they got rid of the flip-up side indicators).  The cars were lined up in front but you could still find a chair.  I talked quite a bit with a guy whose Camaro was sitting in front of us and learned a lot about the car (a custom 67).

After our friends joined us, we took a walk around the town.

Interesting Rear End

The Cruisin' Sherwood is a great showing of cars.  I appreciate that it doesn't pander to one crowd.  I saw rust bucket cars from the 20's but I also saw supercar modern Mercedes.  I appreciated that the show was more about what's interesting, rather than what's expensive, or perfect.

I like that the alternator is covered for rain the but the intakes aren't

One particularly interesting truck was made out of a RV.  He'd destroyed the body and put the running gear back together like a hot rod.  He mounted a vintage Mack grille on it, and some old rusty Montana farm trucks cab and had himself quite the unique little car.

I saw an Austin Healey painted the exact colors I want to paint my car, with the exact Rudge wheels I want to put on my car.  It confirmed what Kellie and I both thought; it'll be a great looking car when it's finished.  My wife decided this one was her favorite out of all the cars.  She has champagne taste on a beer budget I always say.

There weren't just American muscle cars either.  I passed a Fiat bus, beautiful 30's Packard convertible, military convoy trucks, rat rods, and one off customs.

I even ran into some friends from other car events.  In my last blog at VintageandClassicCar.Blogspot.com I mentioned that a gentleman and his son were showing a Bentley at cars and coffee but told me they also had a DB3 Aston Martin.  Well I ran into them with the Aston.  I had a good chat with the father.  He's got an interesting dilemma on his hands. In the 40 plus years he's owned the Aston he's polished it too much and he's starting to wear through the paint.  His paint guys told him to dust it only and not to apply anything to it moving forward.  I could tell this wasn't what he wanted to hear and he wasn't quite sure that just dusting it would achieve his goals of keeping paint on it.

In addition, there was a pretty good showing from the local vendors.  I had no idea that the shop that is locally called SoCal Speed Shop is truly licensed by both SoCal and Moon Speed Shop to sell their stuff!  After we buy this house, if I ever have money in my pocket again, I might have to stop by and pick up some fun stuff.  For now, a Moon ball will have to do.  Kellie and I (well, I hope Kellie too) have a fondness for Moon because on a visit to L.A. we stopped by one of their cruise ins and saw some wildly cool creations.

This last one was at Moon

The guys that do the vinyl wraps (basically a sticker instead of painting) were demonstrating their process by covering an 80s Ferrari in flat black.

Wrapped Camaro

I wandered up to a VW van that had been converted to a trailer.  Pretty cool stuff but the price tag's a little steep for my budget ($20k).
http://dub-box-usa.com/gallery

On the other side of the tracks there was a burnout competition.  Looks like a lot of people were really into it, but for some reason it just didn't catch my attention. I'm just not that into seeing people smoke dollars off their tires.  I compare it to hunting elephants for ivory; yes, hunting is useful and I'm all for people having game meat but shooting an elephant so you can pull off some decorations isn't something I can get behind.  Much the same way having a motor with some massive horsepower is awesome, but smoking your $500 dollar tires while chalked in one place doesn't seem productive.

Eventually we tired of wandering and sat down in one of the nice forested parks to hang out and catch up with our friends.

When we all parted ways I made another pass through the last couple of streets I hadn't seen.

We noticed several of the antique shops and pioneer museums were open so we made our way through them.  Standing on the top floor of the rickety wooden 1860 pioneer house with 20 other people scared me slightly as I could imagine at any second we would all be heading quickly for the 1st floor but luckily it held us.

In that same area I noticed they'd set up some fair type games for kids; probably a nice stop for those bringing kids along.

We ended up leaving about 3 and I was sorry it was over.  It'd been a really nice day and I felt really relaxed by the end of it.  If you get the chance, make sure you check out the future Cruisein' Sherwoods.  They're well worth the small effort to get to Sherwood.

As I was driving home, I was contemplating what made events like this so fun for people.  I think some would argue it's the evil materialism, but I think in most cases I would disagree.  Yes, sometimes people are just flaunting that they have money, but in the vast majority of the cases, I see people trying to show their God given talents.  I see the creativity and skill that our creator gave coming through in these cars.  The convenient thing about cars is you can take them somewhere to show what you've been up to.  If houses were mobile, or gardens, I think you'd see the same sort of thing. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you can hole yourself in your garage and work on your car and say you're serving God; it's very clear God wants us pursuing justice and caring for those others don't care for.  I am saying though, that in some ways I think building and customizing cars is simply a showcase of the work God did in us, giving us a creative mind and skilled hands.