With a Charmed Third Date
By Megan McKinney
The above poster tells the whole story—almost. Like so many events, The Lake Bluff History Museum Auto Show missed its 2020 annual date and was rescheduled for June 2021. But when the date arrived torrential rains and frighteningly high winds forced the postponement of the day’s presentation. As we now near the second rescheduled 2021 date, Classic Chicago is borrowing the below images from the 2019 show to give viewers a taste of what’s ahead.
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
John Gutt won the Best in Show award for his 1955 Chevy Nomad at the 2019 Auto Show. After buying the handsome car on Ebay a few years ago, he remembers it as “a fun drive” but with some issues. “Things leaked and made noise, and once in a while it would just stop running.” It was well worth a resto-mod—the restoration of a classic car in which the original esthetics are retained while making significant high-performance upgrades. In this case, improvements included ”better brakes, a more reliable engine, and better-fitting body panels”. In addition, the Nomad’s evocative mid-century colors, Regal Turquoise/ India Ivory, were restored. “We ended up with a late-model car,” says Gutt, “with the classic looks of an older car,”
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
The 2021 Lake Bluff History Museum Auto Show will display scores of beautifully restored and maintained classic cars from the early 1900s through the 1980s in downtown Lake Bluff on Saturday, October 9, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Especially important this year, the event is entirely outdoors.
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
The spectrum of models is amazing…
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
Each with its own personality—and sometimes the name on the license plate is as elegant as the vehicle itself.
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
According to the sponsoring Lake Bluff History Museum, “Vehicles typically featured include the Museum’s restored 1931 Lake Bluff Ice Truck plus Corvettes, Mustangs, Cobras and Birds, Packards, Woodies, Jaguars, Rolls . . . GTOs, Chevys, Buicks … a monster truck or two, hot rods, Lincolns, the occasional Ferrari . . . and more!”
Lake Bluff’s Original Ice Truck. It was the restoration of this amazing-looking vehicle that we have to thank for the Lake Bluff History Museum Auto Show. Read on.
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
Also, from the Museum, “You’ll see original stock cars that look just as they did when they came off the assembly line, as well as resto-mods that are the shells of original cars with the power train of modern vehicles.”
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
The annual Auto Show began in 2013 when the foursome Ray Kracik, John Tiffany, Steve Willard and Denny Hermann, joined by other car enthusiasts, helped the Museum restore a 1931 Lake Bluff Ice Truck to its original glory. This led the men to decide that—while unveiling their Ice Truck job—to include vehicles from their own collections as well.
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
The energy at the Auto Show is high and exciting, permeated with the passionate vibrations of classic car owners.
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
It would be difficult to choose a favorite among these great automobiles.
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
What a marvelous way to spend an October Saturday afternoon.
Photo credit: Marcus Norman
See you on October 9!
Edited by Amanda K. O’Brien
Author Photo: Robert F. Carl
