This past weekend marked the thirteenth annual Show & Go Car Show for Charity in Downtown Riverside, CA. For those unfamiliar with the area, Riverside has a rich automotive history, so it's only fitting there would be a show of this magnitude held there.
About one thousand cars attended: most of them classics, hot rods, muscles, and kits. The show was so extensive the entire downtown area had been closed off to regular traffic. Surrounded by vehicles of eras past, I felt like I had stepped back in time.
I have a confession to make though: I am horrible at identifying classics and hot rods, save for iconic cars that everybody knows. As I walked up and down each street, I had a difficult time discerning what many of the cars were.
Unless they had obvious badging to help me figure it out, I was completely stumped. All I knew was they were simply gorgeous to behold.
Of course there were some vehicles I couldn't possibly mistake, like this 1960 Corvette.
Or this A/C Cobra (couldn't get close enough to tell if it was a replica or the real deal).
The impalas were easy to spot, they were some of lowest cars at the show. (These were getting slammed to the ground before the JDM crowd thought it was cool).
Nothing says "old school" quite like a big Cadillac with fins. Very much how Mercedes & BMW's are status symbols today, it was understood that anyone with a Cadillac had it made.
I think I would've preferred to have one of these instead of a Benz or a Bimmer back in the day. Cadillac knew how to keep it classy (and still does today).
While I enjoy the finer things in life, I also admire the rough and tough spirit of a good muscle car. There were quite a few with big engines, but this Chevelle (I think it's a Chevelle, right?) was one of my favorites.
So many mustangs showed up I lost count rather quickly, but only a few of them really stood out to me.
And Bel Airs? They were everywhere, and came in different variations. The coupes and sedans were the most common.
The convertibles weren't as plentiful but what they lacked in quantity they made up for in quality.
I even saw the wagon version, called a Nomad.
Amongst all the period-correct restorations I found a multitude of oddities, starting with some interesting color choices.
Followed by some builds and modifications that were just plain crazy.
I was also lucky enough to find some treats. Never thought I'd see a Porsche 356!
Nor a Ford GT...
...with the engine exposed for all to see.
And I certainly was not expecting a Delorean DMC-12. Had it been a successful time machine though, I suppose it wouldn't come as a surprise to find it on the street sometime in the past. Maybe the owner really liked all those old cars and wanted to see them in their prime!
Towards the end of the afternoon however, I was slowly coming back to reality as I encountered some modern vehicles. It seemed a bit weird for this 350z to be present, it was the only tuner!
Even though cars have changed, the feeling you get from them remains the same and extends to all generations. I think that's the whole point of this event, and I look forward to it again next year.
-Etoria ❤
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