As a last minute thought I decided to head to the Blue Grass State for the Mecca of street rodding, the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky on July 31st through August 3rd, 2008. It was a swift decision when Gary Moore asked me to ride along with him to the Nationals. It didn’t take me long to pack a variety of T-shirts, kiss the wife goodbye and explain to the dog why I’d be gone for 5 days of hot rod bliss (luckily my wife understands). No need for anything but tees, as I’ve been to Louisville for this show before and it gets hot. Oh, I don’t mean Florida hot where we have a sea breeze, I mean, this is like Africa hot! And true to fashion it was. But the cool sights, sounds and smells of octane would make it more than bearable.

Heading out of town Tuesday evening, Gary and I had the now famous “Don Conely roadster T” in the trailer for the 2-day haul north (check out the September, 2008 issue of Hot Rod Deluxe magazine for a complete feature on this “T”). On our way we stopped in McDonough, GA at the Summit Racing’s store and warehouse facility. Nice place, and it’s conveniently just off interstate 75. After some can’t-live-without-it-purchases, we split for the highway again. We made it past Atlanta and stopped at ol’ Motel 6, ‘cause they left the light on for us. Up early Wednesday morning, quick breakfast at the Waffle King and off we go. It was pretty much smooth sailing until the torrential rains thru Nashville, and we made it later that afternoon where our friends Bucky, Josh and Curtis were awaiting our arrival at the Red Roof. After scoping out the show field for us, and places to refuel our jets for dinner, we were ready for the week’s activities.

Thursday arrives and we’re ready for breakfast before hitting the streets. The weather had been a bit overcast, so instead of bring the “T” out in questionable weather, we decided to let it sit safely in the trailer and catch a ride to registration and do some swap meet scrounging. By Thursday evening, Craig and Ziggy had flown in. Luckily it was nice out, with clear skies and no chance of rain. Nowwwww it’s time to bring out the former 1961 Hot Rod Magazine feature truck. So we stuffed ourselves in and drove the T to a favorite local eating establishment; Rafferty’s. After a great meal with the guys, we cruised the area hotel parking lots looking at all the action. We ran into Sunshine State Rodding News’ Rich Martin with his Merc convertible, along with several other Florida folks all gearing up for the festivities.

Friday rolled around, and it was a bit tough packing both of our 6’ 2” frames in a “T” roadster pickup with a cooler and supplies, but luckily it was a short drive to the fairgrounds. “Ahhhh, the things you do to look cool”, (though what you tell your chiropractor may be different). The swap meet was pretty good, but not as great as you would think for a show that attracts 10,000+ cars. Official numbers were approx. 10,700 registered, it was still a great swap meet, but the vendors inside the air conditioned exhibition buildings is what makes it the “Nationals”. If a product even closely resembles car stuff, it was there. Not sure of the exact numbers for vendors, but it was way more than you could do in a day. Oh, and the 10,000+ cars outside? It’s mind-boggling. You can’t see all of them without killing yourself, so don’t try. Years ago we decided to get up early and sit at the entrance. That’s the way to see the waves of tin without wearing out your shoes. Beware, after a few hours the fumes get to ya and you’ll start getting tired from carbon monoxide poisoning. Here’s a hint; DON’T FALL ASLEEP!

Friday was a great day; the nice thing about the fairgrounds is that when you are weary from walking, they furnish trolleys for folks to ride on, with stops around the massive facility. That’s the way to see some, though not all of the cars, but you get an idea what’s going on and how many pre-’48 cars are there.

Inside the cool vendor areas we saw local artist Eric Brockmeyer of Viera hanging with Mike Adams of MARS (Mike Adams Rod Shop) out of West Palm Beach, Florida. Good to see Mike on the hot rod scene again. Michigan Murray (Topless Tour ’99) out of Detroit was working the Shadow Rods booth. Shadow Rods are the latest in the world of hot rods, doing “T” models in real steel and tons of leg room. Low slung and stretched out. And speaking of T’s, our own Total Performance out of Daytona was in attendance with their slick green King T, sporting salt flats and early 12 spokes. Mickey was busy all weekend and having a blast. Foose Wheels were there; Chip had showed up to sign autographs in the Mothers booth. Streamline out of Colorado had their outrageous semi-truck and trailer inside with all the wares, as well as their new line of steel ’32 bodies. Jerry Dixey from Street Rodder and the Primedia publishing group were there with their give-away ’33 roadster sitting next to the Project X ’57 Chevy. What a history that car has.

Inside the lobby areas is where invitation only builder cars were on display. All were gorgeous. One of our favorites was Hot Rod Haven’s 1932, 3 window out of Albuquerque, NM. No glittery paint, no big inch billet wheels, just a clean, no nonsense, detailed traditional deuce. Those were just some of the incredible cars and vendors that showed up.

Once cooled off, it was time to hit the bricks and check out some cars and trucks. I made my rounds best I could, staying within sight of the buildings so I wouldn’t get lost. While wandering with camera in hand, I saw a lot of cool rides. Like a neat old ’36 Fargo truck (Canadian Dodge), a slick maroon ’32 roadster stuffed with a 409. Talk about a cool alternative. One slick rat rod roadster that used to be a ’37 Chevy, a ’28 Olds Huckster. Can’t say I’ve ever seen one, but it was for sale. The FBI was there. That’s the “Fat Boys of Illinois” car club. What a great name for a club.

We saw F L A Roadster members; Bill and Lana Cuebas taking up shade next to their cool deuce roadster pick-me-up. C & C Rod Shop of Florida had there amazing deuce 5 window in attendance powered by a ZL-1 motor. A reeeeeeally nice car, and with 35K worth of Ram Jet aluminum big block, it oughtta move!

Everywhere you looked there was something cool. Until all the colors started to run together. You start to get whooozy, Fat fenders, roadsters, patina encrusted rods, trucks, you name it, it was there in several varieties of each. Then out of the mist…..or steam, appeared an ice cream stand. Ahhhhhh, a mint chocolate chip oasis awaits.

During the coarse of the day Gary had a visitor that introduced himself as the second owners buddy, whom used to ride in the “T” back in Mississippi. It was interesting to hear some new and different stories about the little brown truck.

Saturday morning arrives and it’s a short day for us, we were due to leave by 2 in the afternoon to get back to Florida in time. We didn’t get a chance to see the Pros Pick area, but we did check out Mopar Country (naturally). Nice rides from the Mopar camp. I had picked out several favorites, a Maroon ’36 Dodge pickup, the Chrysler sponsored design project by Wheel to Wheel Group that used a T body stuffed with the new 392 Hemi. The workmanship on that little black roadster was outstanding. The ’33 Plymouth convert was awful nice too. Then, as I was leaving, out of the corner of my eye was a late arrival, something that I had to check out. It was a ’33 Chrysler 2-Door sedan convertible. Ever seen one? Me neither, because Chrysler only built a total of 210 of them. Viper red, powered with a 5.7 late model Hemi, leather interior and billet wheels, sitting there in all it’s glory…..and lucky me it was for sale! I was a little short of the $120K for it, but it was truly worth it for its rarity alone. Don Cossey out of Nashville is the proud owner/builder, and a lucky one at that.

It was a good day for gathering up our last minute purchases and seeing those cool new products one more time before hitting the road. We decided it was more important to get back to work on time Monday than to possibly win the give-away car. The beautiful ’37 went to one lucky winner on Sunday. I’m sure the previous 2 or 3 numbers called could have been ours, but duty calls.

The trip home was uneventful, thankfully. We stopped in Georgia again for the night and managed to make it home in time to work in the garage. All in all, it was another fine trip involving hot rods. Thanks to Gary Moore for the ride to and fro. Until next time, keep cruising….safely.
-Dennis Sammon, F L A Roadsters

NOTE: After our return we had learned that our own F L A member, Butch Adams from Orlando had a serious accident while at the Nationals. As everyone knows, Butch is a NSRA representative and was helping cleanup late Sunday afternoon when the accident occurred. The F L A Roadster family, as well as the rest of the hot rod community, wishes Butch a speedy recovery. Hope he’ll be back roadstering again soon. CN