A Fairly Sparse Crowd at the Mt. Orab Lions Club Car Show

In past years there have been at least 100 cars and trucks on hand for the Mt. Orab Lions Club Shine in the Park Car Show. This year, due to a couple of factors, the turnout was only about 60 vehicles. The biggest culprit was that there were a couple of other big shows being held in the area. Still, the rides that were on hand were worth checking out. Among them was a Chevrolet Nova station wagon, a restomod Ford coupe, a Chevy Nova coupe, a Ford 100 pickup truck, a 1962 Ford Fairlane, another Ford 100 pickup truck, and a tubbed Ford street rod. 

 

Mid-Century Gems at Mt. Orab

The 35th Annual Mt Orab Lions Club Shine in the Park car show held at Mt. Orab Park right in the center of town saw around 60 vehicles show up on a warm, humid day. Among those vehicles were a number of absolute gems from the middle of the 20th Century. There was a 1948 Packard Super Eight Victoria convertible, a concours quality 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T convertible, a 1971 Plymouth Duster, a 1963 Ford Thunderbird, a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, a pretty rare Chevy Impala station wagon, and something a bit older, a 1930s era Chevy panel van. 

 

Mt. Orab Lions Help the World to See

The Mt. Orab Lions Club takes donations of glasses and distributes them to people around the world in need to help seeing. That is just one of the many things the organization does. They also hand out multiple scholarships to local students. These are just a couple of the things the 39th Shine in the Park car show raised money for. Among the over 60 cars and trucks on hand for this year's show was an extremely rare Chevrolet Corvair 95 Rampside. While the Rampside in itself isn't rare, this was one of 900 constructed for the U.S. Navy and one of only about 20 known to still exist. Also on hand for the event was a 1955 Chevy Bel Air, a fifth generation of C 5 Corvette, a 1979 Ford Fairmont, a first-generation Chevy Camaro, a Chevy HHR, and a cool paint job on a Pontiac GTO.

35thh Annual Mt. Orab Lions Club Shine in the Park

 

For the 35th time Mt. Orab Park saw cars both old and new roll in to celebrate the Lions Club Shine in the Park. Over 60 vehicles rolled into the park on a hot and humid day. Among them was a 1939 Buick Roadmaster, a C2 Chevrolet Corvette, a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1, a 1969 Boss 302 Mustang, a 2003 Chevy SSR, and a second-generation Vette convertible. 

Turbocharged Era at the Cincinnati Concours

 

A goal for many is to increase the power of their automobile engine. One way to do this is to increase the amount of air mixing with the fuel. One of the first highly successful methods was the supercharger, basically a mechanical device that would generally run off of belt attached to the engine's crankshaft. A more efficient way is the turbocharger. This is more efficient, running off of the exhaust gasses, allowing for air to be compressed at the intake. This means more air being forced into the piston, creating a more powerful explosion and therefore, more power. OK, so that is the most basic explanation possible, but the result is more power. Starting around the mid-1970s, commercial vehicles began getting turbochargers, in some cases as a result of government legislation. The Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance had a special display class for Turbo Era Cars which included a 1991 Nissan 300XZ Twin Turbo. The car has a three-liter inline six-cylinder engine that generates 272 horsepower.

This is a rare 1987 Chevrolet Calloway Corvette Convertible. Calloways were special orders with higher performance, and most were coupes with convertibles being quite rare. The car has a 350 cubic inch twin turbo V 8 engine that turns out 345 horsepower.

1979 was the last year that Porsche made a turbo 930 for the United States market. They did not start again until 1986. This 1979 930 is one of only 652 built that year. The car has a 3.3-liter flat six turbo engine that puts out 253 horsepower and allows the car to go from zero to 60 in a blistering five seconds.

Here is a 1974 BMW 2002 turbo that is one of only 1672 made that year. These were highly successful rally cars based partly on their two-liter inline four-cylinder engine that creates 170 horsepower. A quick side note, a friend of mine had one of these and, yes, they are fun to drive.

This is a "Dealer Collection" special edition 1994 Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo2. Only 173 of these were built. It has a two-liter inline four-cylinder turbo engine that churns out 215 horsepower.

Here is a 1987 Buick Grand National GNX, which held the distinction of being America's quickest production car for its time. The GNX was modified by McLaren/ASC for high performance. It has a 3.8-liter V 6 turbo engine good for 300 horsepower.

This is a high-performance 1986 Ford Mustang SVO. It possesses a 2.3-liter inline four-cylinder turbocharged engine that creates 205 horsepower.

In 1985 the Ferrari 288 GTO was manufactured for racing homologation. Only 272 were built to meet the requirements. At the time this was the fastest production car in the world, powered by a 2.8-liter V 8 turbo engine that generates 400 horsepower and can shoot the car down the road at 186 plus miles per hour.

This 1983 Renault R5 Turbo 2 was built as a factory homologation car for Group B rally racing. It has a 1379 cc inline four-cylinder turbo engine that is mid mounted and which creates 158 horsepower.

This wraps up the coverage of this year's Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance. Let me know what you thought by either leaving a message (no ads, please, they just get deleted) or by dropping me a note at turnerbudds@yahoo.com.

Fast and Furious Cars at the Cincinnati Concours

 

Each year the Cincinnati Concourse d'Elegance features special displays in addition to all of the other classes. This year, one of the special displays was cars from the Fast and Furious movie series. For this the organizers found automobiles of the same make, model and year as some that had appeared in one or more of the films. On display was a 2000 TVR Tuscan. The Tuscan is extremely light, weighing only 2400 pounds, thanks in part to a fiberglass body and a tubular frame. The car sports a four-liter inline six-cylinder engine that generates 380 horsepower. This allows the car to go from zero to 60 in four seconds and to reach a top speed of 180 miles per hour.

This is a 1996 Acura Integra GS-R. Those letters stand for "Grand Sport Racing," signifying that this car has some special "go fast" features to accompany it's 1.8-liter inline four-cylinder engine that puts out 170 horsepower. In addition to a sophisticated electronic system, the car has an upgraded suspension as well as a front spoiler.

Here is a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse. This is a replica of the car which stared in the initial racing scene in the first movie in 2001. The car has a two-liter inline four-cylinder engine that turns out 140 horsepower. 

This 1993 Nissan R32 Skyline GTR is a V-Spec or Victory Specification car, meaning it is loaded with extras to go faster. And go fast it does, with a 2.6-liter inline six-cylinder engine, this car raced in Japanese Group A and won every race for four years.

This 1995 Toyota Supra has been heavily modified by the current owner. The most noticeable upgrade is to the 3-liter inline six-cylinder engine giving it 1000 horsepower. 

Toyota's halo car in 1993, the Soarer, designed to introduce a lot of new technology. The car features a 2.5-liter inline six-cylinder engine that creates 305 horsepower. This car has seen modifications including to the suspension and incorporating numerous racing high performance parts.

The Cars of Cars at the Cincinnati Concours

 

Each year the Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance has Special Displays for unique or different types of automobiles. This year they had three. This first one is quite fitting as it highlights the cars from the Disney animated features Cars. It's fitting because Cincinnati was one of the very first concours events to take part in the Hagerty Youth Judging program. This was the 15th year that young judges got to make their choices. Concours programmers managed to assemble real automobiles that resemble the ones from the movie. Among them was a 1976 International Loadstar that resembles "Tow Mater," the comic relief for the films. This is a medium duty truck packing a 350 horsepower V 8 engine. 

Of course, there has to be Lightening McQueen. This is a full-sized replica built by Scotlea Hot Rods. In the movie this is a "Piston Cup Racer" that has a 6.2-liter V 8 that generates 550 horsepower.

This 1951 Hudson Hornet represents Doc Hudson from the movie. In the movie Doc is a retired racer and serves as the mayor and doctor of the local town. In reality the Hudson was the fastest street legal car built in 1951, powered by a 308 cubic inch inline six-cylinder engine turning out 170 horsepower that could hurtle the car to 107 miles per hour.

A 2010 Maserati Quatraporte Sport GT represents Carlo Maserati, a character in Cars 2. The real car 4.7-liter V 8 that generates 435 horsepower.

This 2007 Ferrari F430 represents the character Michael Schumacher who, in both the movies and in reality, was a famous F1 racer most noted for wins with team Ferrari. This car runs on a 4.3-liter V 8 that creates 480 horsepower. This car was the last Ferrari to have a gated gear shifter.

This 1968 Fiat 500 represented the character Luigi who, in the movies, runs the Casa Della Tire Shop. The 500 is a small "city" car which, following World War II, was the "Peoples'" car of Italy. It has a 650-cc flat/boxer two-cylinder engine that produces all of 28 horespower.

This 1990 Mazda Miata were there to represent Lightning McQueen's biggest fans, the twins Tia and Mia. The world's bestselling sports car has a 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder engine that turns out 116 horsepower.