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1975 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon
After a year of cancelled car shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s lots of pent-up energy and interest around the 2021 car-event season—car lovers are anxious to get out of the garage and back to their favorite shows and cruise nights. One of our favorite summer “super shows” is the Goodguys Heartland Nationals at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, IA. One of the longest-running events on the Goodguys schedule (this year’s edition was the 30th annual), the Heartland Nats always takes place on the weekend closest to the 4th of July, and regularly draws more than 4000 vehicles. This year’s show enjoyed record-breaking participation: almost 5000 registered vehicles filled the spacious fairgrounds facility.
1979 Chrysler LeBaron coupe
Among the seemingly countless tragedies and hardships that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought upon the world this year, the upending of the normal American summertime car-show season ranks relatively low on the list. Still, it hurts to have so many car shows, car races, cruise nights, and other automotive gatherings either cancelled outright or postponed.
1970 Plymouth Sport Fury GT
If you’re a diehard fan of vintage American performance cars and race cars, it would behoove you to make it to Rosemont, Illinois the weekend before Thanksgiving. That’s when the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals takes over the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, filling the main show floor with a dizzying array of muscle cars, race cars, Corvettes, street machines, and auto-oriented collectibles and memorabilia.
1972 Plymouth Satellite four-door sedan
Summertime is car-show season, and we always try to take in as many automotive get-togethers as we can. Local cruise nights, marque-specific dealership-lot shows, fancy concours gatherings, or what have you… it’s all good. Our Chicagoland home base has plenty of these kinds of events to offer, and in the upper Midwest, car folks know to take advantage when the weather is warm (or, let’s face it—flat-out hot), because it won’t be long before summer’s over and the cold and snow come again.
1970 Dodge Challenger
The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals is widely regarded as the best show of its type in the world. The show celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this month, once again filling the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, with a mind-bending array of vintage and not-so-vintage American muscle cars, race cars, Corvettes, street machines, and auto-oriented collectibles and memorabilia.
Fairly ordinary then, far from ordinary now: a 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 two-door hardtop.
Every summer, the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association stages about 20 annual street rod and custom car events at fairgrounds and other large venues across the country. These are sprawling, weekend-long gatherings that include attractions such as swap meets, manufacturer midways, live music, autocross competitions, and plenty of on-premises cruising. They draw huge numbers of participant vehicles and spectators—the larger events regularly surpass 4000 registered show cars.
Do we have your attention yet? This 1971 Plymouth Duster 340 is finished in Curious Yellow paint that seemed to glow on the show floor. High Impact indeed!
For the past nine years, the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals has taken over the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, on the weekend before Thanksgiving. For American performance-car fanatics, this unparalleled show has become an unmissable season tradition every bit as important as grandma’s turkey and stuffing.
One of the spotlight cars at this year’s show was Bobby Unser’s Boss-429-powered 1969 Torino race car, which was purpose-built by Holman-Moody, Bill Stroppe, and Smokey Yunick to set Pikes Peak records, which it did. Ever seen Goodyear Blue Streak dirt tires before?
The weekend before Thanksgiving is a great time to be in the Chicagoland area if you’re a car guy, because that’s when the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals rolls through town. The 2016 edition of MCACN took over the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, last weekend, bringing with it a bevy of amazing all-American machinery.
Here’s about one half of the 1970-’71 Hemi ‘Cudas and Challengers that were on display at the 2015 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. These are the rarest, most desirable, and most valuable regular-production muscle cars in existence.
The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals rolled through Chicago last weekend, taking over the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. Every year since the inaugural show was held in 2009, MCACN has delivered an unparalleled mix of cream-of-the-crop muscle cars, Corvettes, and racing vehicles, in addition to first-rate attractions such as freshly discovered “barn-find” cars, Schwinn Sting-Rays and other nostalgic “muscle bikes”, and seminars by leading historians and auto-industry luminaries.
“Barn finds” are all the rage these days in the vintage-car world. This 1969 Camaro SS 396 was on display in “as-found” condition, accumulated grime and all.
It’s a summer tradition of mine to attend the Goodguys Heartland Nationals show at the Iowa State Fairgrounds every Fourth of July weekend. I haven’t missed a single show yet, and this year’s edition was the 22nd annual. Goodguys shows are street rod, custom, street machine, and muscle-car events first and foremost, but every year I’m surprised at the number of interesting stock (or at least “stock-ish”) vehicles I find mixed in with the expected T-buckets, ’32 Fords, Tri-Five Chevys, Mustangs, Camaros, and Chevelles. Most Goodguys events draw huge numbers of cars (this year’s Heartland Nats reached a record-breaking 4,300 vehicles), more than any one person can see in a weekend. With that kind of volume, chances are good you’ll find something that’s right up your alley. I decided to chronicle some of the more unusual “non-custom” vehicles I came across. Have a look . . .
