April 28th

1:30 was to be the time for our little caravan to meet at the "Top of the Hill". We all must have wanted to get to Old Town early or something, by 1:10 we were on the Osceola Parkway headed to the Cruise. Steve Mc in the "Grinster", Tony & Sharon in "Lucy" the red Ranchero, Linda & me in our little Corvair Coupe and Mike in his Corvair convertible. Ron H. was at the gate as usual, Tony & Sharon led us down the brick streets to the "Registration" area. Dave, not in a Poodle Skirt, logged us in. Bratt had to work her regular job today. We made our way down to Block 4, the favorite weekly spot of the "Florida Antique and Classic Cruisers Association", that would be us, behind "Black Hills Minerals". "Trophy Row" was sparsely populated at this time. A few "Regulars" were in place. Like Roger & Sue in the Camaro tonight. Ron S, in his '37 Chevy Pickup, Bill in his '47 Plymouth and Gary & Kathy's Fairlane at the bottom of Block 3. Mark, the keeper of "T-Rex" was in Town with the family and not the car but he did stop by to say hi and pick up his newsletter.

About 3:00 Linda and I would set out to drop off the Newsletters. By now John B had parked his 'Vette near Bruce's Split Widow 'Vette. Dave & Arlene were spotted in the '56 Mercedes parked in their spot. "Big John" in his Shelby convertible on the corner. Bob in his green GMC was in the "Looney Bin" as were Larry & Cris that had the Mustang out tonight. The "Red Line Rodders" along with the "Rat Pack" were parked near Bob & Marge's Buick. Ralph and Shirley were in their viewing spot under the stairs at the top of Block 2, by the main stage. Emil was in Block 1 in his "Fat Fendered Ford". After we made the rounds we settled back into Block 4 and watched the cars come in for a while. Graham, G4HFG, from Oldham, England was back on my shoulder via HAM radio getting the scoop on the cars as he does most every week. Dan & Liz arrived in the '41 Willys pickup followed by Jeff in his '59 Edsel Ranger. By now Ann, the Beer Lady, had the '59 El Camino "Beer Truck" set up in it's normal place. Block 4 was filling up with many of it's "Regulars". Tony, "The Timer" told us it was time for eats. So back up "Trophy Row", by now even more of the "Regulars" were in place. Ron & Shirley were out in their '53 Chevy I know it is boring to read that we seem to head to "Flippers" every week, it is just a nice place to eat, the food is always good and the entire staff is efficient and friendly. Jane, that we have named our "Official Server", always goes out of her way to be sure all is right at our table. Thank You. While dinning alfresco, Joe & Kay, Tony, Marianne, Dave & Arlene, Russ & Phyllis along with many other Cruisers arrived. We all headed back down to the cars around 5:00, I would stop in to see Mike Singer at "Old Town Radio", he has been it's voice for many years, almost since the beginning. He always tries to give us something special each and every week, his nostalgic Automobile advertisements, the vintage promo's from stations all over the USA, like WLS in Chicago and many others. Thank You Mike.

After we made it back to the cars, many of the open spots were filled with more and more of the "Stars" that make this Cruise in what it is and has been for nearly 17 years. Neil & Elaine brought both of their vintage British Sports cars out. Joe & Harriet came out in their rose colored T-Bird. Bob B arrived in his '68 Chevelle, Gary & Wanda were in "Remember When", their '55 Blue Flamed black '55 Chevy. Bob N. was out in his '36 Humpback Ford and "Bo" in his Corvair convertible, just to name a few more. "The Dukes" were set up on the corner entertaining a very large group of people, when I stopped by they were autographing a few CD's. A first timer was out tonight, I didn't get his name, I was too busy ogling the 1953 Triumph Mayflower that he drove in. This automobile was intended to be Great Britain's entry into the "American Car Market" reflected by it's model name, "Mayflower". This car looked as though it was "Factory Fresh". This particular car was a right hand control and wasn't originally built to ship to the USA. It even has the original license plate that was registered by the DVLA, back in the UK along with it's 1953 Road Fund Tax Disc, in the windshield.

Micha, Lee & Rich led Clint & Lynn Olson in their '49 Ford pickup. April's "Cruiser of the Month" to block 4 right at 8:15. Followed by the cars from the top 3 blocks to the staging area that Block 4 becomes at this time. Mike Singer, who had been playing his great mix of nostalgic music all evening gave the safety announcements the National Anthem was then played. "Wolfman Jack" proclaimed "It's the Saturday Nite Cruise". Lee led the '49 Ford from the turn at "Kids Town", followed by the rest of the 229 Cruisers onto the bricks of "Deac Hundley Blvd." for this the 879th running of this Central Florida tradition to a near capacity crowd of cheering spectators.

Thank you Old Town for letting us, the curators of this "Rolling Display of Automotive History", the cars that are the "Stars", to be their guests this evening. Thank you to the Old Town Merchants Association and the Sponsors of this event, Valvoline & the A&W to name a few. Thank you to Rich, Joe, Ron, Lee, Nikki, Micha and the entire Cruise Staff for keeping us all safe. Thank you to our fellow Cruisers for making this our 231st consecutive Saturday a fun and Safe one.

James  Noll 
  1941  Ford  Coupe

Nick  Schultz 
  1965  Ford  Mustang

Louie  Piazza*
  1952  Ford  Customline

Nick  Bazar 
  1969  Datsun   

Miguel  Gonzalez 
  1967  Volkswagon  Beetle

George  P 
  1956  Oldsmobile   

Roy  Campbell 
  1968  Charger  General Lee

Ernie  Derouchie 
  1934  Ford   

 Here are the Photos.

Click on any photo for a larger view.

 See you all "Out there"

 879/231/44/8
 
 

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