Finishing Up the Shine in the Park Car Show

 

Today marks the last post from the 35th Annual Mt. Orab Lions Club Shine in the Park car show. Held at Mt. Orab Park, this show saw about 60 cars and trucks show up on a hot and humid day. As always, let me know what you think of the vehicles that were on display by either leaving a comment (no ads, please, they just get deleted) or by dropping me an email at turnerbudds@yahoo.com. There was a quite rare car at the show, an actual 1932 Austin Seven that had been customized into a street rod. Also on hand for the event was a Porsche 911, a 1955 Chevy Bel Air, its slightly younger brother, a 1956 Bel Air, a hot rod that started life as a Ford coupe, a 1965 Chevy Corvair, a Jaguar S Type, and a Chevrolet Camaro. 

Some Old and Some New(ish) at Mt. Orab

 

The 35th Annual Mt. Orab Lions Club Shine in the Park car show saw around 60 cars and trucks roll into Mt. Orab Park. Among them were some old, some newer, some that were modified, and a lot of cars from Chevrolet. Among them was a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air that was showing its age, a Chevy Nova Super Sport, a slightly modified 1934 Chevy coupe, a Chevy Chevelle, a Chevy Corvette, a well restored Chevy Bel Air, and a Volkswagen Type 1 or Beetle convertible. 

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.