August 2, 2003 A stroll down Memory Lane   

West Yellowstone was host to a very well represented old car show on a day that varied from sunny one minute to showers the next. Seeing the old muscle cars that used to be de rigueur during our hey day of high school and college years brought back lots of memories.

Seeing the simplicity of the dash with real metal knobs, the tuck and roll vinyl upholstery which was the note of a more expensive car in those days, and the long shift handles for the four on the floor transmissions reminded me of my first car, a 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix which boasted a 4 barrel carburetor,  Hurst 4 speed transmission, a 389 c.i. engine which pumped out 303 horsepower and sucked gas to the tune of about 6 mpg. But that’s when gas was 24 cents a gallon and my father kept a 200 gallon tank right at our house, to which I thankfully sidled up every night after my long commute to Chico State. No seat belts and high speeds—you wonder how we ever lived through those days! I’d shudder to think of my kids driving those cars today.

Marc’s favorite turned out to be this Chevy, which the owner’s lovingly polished the entire time we were there.

My favorite was this 30’s something Ford convertible, cozy and clean.

Here’s some other notable entries:

For many weeks we’ve been privileged to see all types of bikes, most of which have passed through on their way to the big Sturgis rally in South Dakota and also the 100^th Anniversary celebration for Harley Davidson in Milwaukee, WI coming up later this summer. Here’s an old German Harley which pulled in one night, followed by a custom chopper made by Arlin Ness. Mr. Ness charged the purchaser $30,000 for this machine. The Indian was displayed at the car show.