Show Down In SoCal

Crowded streets, glistening paint jobs, and the sound of eight powerful cylinders are what today’s car shows are all about. Children follow alongside their parents, unable to grasp the event they are taking part in, but the memories of mirror-like paint and earth-moving sounds will be left in their heads for years to come. It’s these memories that are responsible for the resurrection of so many cars that continually add to the show scenes across the world.

Car shows filled the month of September in Southern California despite the recent attacks on the nation. In the second weekend of the month, the city of San Bernardino held its 12th annual Route 66 Rendezvous cruise and car show. There were plenty of manufacturer tents to check out, cars to see, and food to eat. The participants parked their cars up and down the city streets until it was time to cruise the boulevard. As the sun began to set and the temperature dropped, the city opened up 25 blocks of cruising asphalt. For those who crave power and tire-frying excitement, Firestone presented a burnout and flame-throwing contest. The Route 66 Rendezvous event attracted over a half-million people and 2,000-plus pre-’72 musclecar and street rods. For further information on this event, check out www.route-66.org.

Even this wasn’t enough for die-hard Southern California enthusiasts, so the following weekend another 3,000-plus automobiles gathered to support research for Prostate cancer at the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center. The 2nd annual Cruisin’ for a Cure event took place on three abandoned runways at the El Toro Marine base in the city of Irvine. This event had it all, musclecars, motorcycles, customized street rods, and some race cars too. One day simply wasn’t enough for this car show. The event raised $168,000 and grew so large that local authorities nearly shut it down due to enormous lines of hot rods congesting the streets.

Cruising and showing off your car at the local burger joint started out as a pastime. Today, it has grown into an event that draws people from all around the country.