Classics

Armed Forces Day, 2020

In the past, we have posted about Armed Forces Day on this blog. Our old home in K’Stan was located in a community that actually had an Armed Forces Day parade annually and we blogged about those back then. Well, today, there probably aren’t any parades out there because of the dreaded COVID-19. That’s a loss for them for sure.

The lack of parades, however, did not deter the intrepid airmen piloting the two North American AT6 Airplanes shown flying in formation above our Wickenburg home today. The resonant sound of the radial engines overhead brought us out of the house this morning and what a sweet sound it was to hear.

I managed to capture the above image of the high-flying planes as they passed over our place with the new 400mm lens. They were quite high, perhaps eight or ten thousand feet AGL. The planes made several passes over the area which was a delight to see these two nostalgic beauties as they transited the area.

We see that there have been several organized fly-overs in various places around the country, including the Phoenix area, but unfortunately not visible here. It is not known by us if this was an organized fly-over or just a couple of vintage AAF Trainers out for fun. Regardless, they were awesome.

We wish our Military Men and Women Godspeed on this Armed Forces Day and pray for their safety in harm’s way. May God bless them and their families on this day.

Gold Rush Days Classic Car Show

The Town of Wickenburg celebrated the annual “Gold Rush Days” event this weekend; included in the festivities is a lot of Rodeo, a big parade and a Classic Car Show. Damsel and I attended the Car Show on Friday and the Parade on Saturday.

The image above is of a classic 1960’s Oldsmobile Convertible with a very nostalgic accessory (see inset) showing how some of us used to hear the sound track of movies at a Drive-in Theater. This set of Drive-in Theater Speakers was typical of those mounted on posts throughout the drive-ins in those days (I believe there are some active drive-in theaters still in existence today; we saw one in Barstow, CA last year).

The rest of the car show was as per the usual guys that show up with a few items that stood out. Upper left below is a 1930’s Auburn which was sometimes marketed as a Cord. Upper right is a very nice Chevrolet Touring Car. Below lower left is a very clean ans shiny 1940 Chevrolet. Finally, the lower right is of some sort a rust bucket with rip saws for a grill. There were only a few shiny parts including the hood ornament – we felt like we needed tetanus vaccinations after standing close to it.

We both enjoy the Gold Rush weekend; it gets us out of the house, gives us a lot of walking exercise and is always a great #photo-op. Click on any image above to enlarge.

16 Feb 2020 by CapnBob Arizona Classics Nostalgia

The Wickenburg Quilt Show

The Damsel and I took time out from our busy retirement lifestyle today to attend the Quilt Show being put on at the Community Center Downtown. I posted the photo I took of one of the unusual quilts featuring “Hot Rodding USA.” Click on the image to enlarge.

There were hundreds of quilts on display, each one being a unique artwork unto itself. There were themes of Christmas, Halloween, Cowgirls, Boots, Aprons, Winter Scenes, Animals (Dogs, Cats, Horses, Livestock), Rodeo, University of Arizona and a myriad of more conventional quilting styles.

The people attending and running the show were mostly in the “senior” category, although I did see a couple of under 12 kids at one point. Despite being a weekday afternoon, there were a lot of people attending. We had to park out in back of the community center and walk a bit to get inside.

Inside the community center, there were vendors catering to quilt hobby aficionados as well as vendors selling finished quilts. Some, but not all of the quilts in the display area had Price Tags on them. Like you might expect of original folk art, some of them were a bit pricey now, but might continue to increase in value as time goes on.

We enjoyed our little outing today, and expect to attend more local events in the near future. There’s always something going on of interest in our little western town.

24 Jan 2020 by CapnBob Arizona Classics Nostalgia Notions Retirement

Classic 1950’s Chevrolet Sedan

Last Thursday was our nominal weekly shopping day, so we found ourselves out of the house and going to both downtown and uptown to visit a few places to gather provisions for the week. We also stopped into one of the local “touristy” emporiums to get a couple of belated gifts for the Damsel. The story at the link describes the latter.

On the way toward the downtown end of things we passed this very clean Chevy sedan driving in the opposite direction. Damsel (as she often does when seeing a classic) grabbed her camera and snapped this photo of the early 50’s Chevy as it rolled by us on Wickenburg Way.

We probably have seen this nice car many times in the past. There are a lot of classics that not only are brought out for our regular car shows, but are used by their owners as a means of transportation in addition to being a classic show car. I can personally think of several of these that are regularly seen around town and not always recorded by a camera shot.

Just a note about the computer environment here, we are posting this with the new system in place, enjoying the much quicker response times as we edit our work. We still have some more “cleanup” to accomplish, but there’s no hurry as we’re on RST – Retirement Standard Time.

12 Jan 2020 by CapnBob Arizona Classics Nostalgia Photography

Classic 1935 Ford Sedan

Damsel captured this photo of a classic old Ford V8 this morning on our way back from the “environmental services” facility (a.k.a. dump) on the west side of town. I saw this guy the other day when I was getting ready to leave the chiropractor’s office. I had a camera then, but the classic went by before I could grab and shoot. I’m glad that we saw it again today. It’s a beauty.

We went to the dump to dispose of a mattress that we bought when we first moved into the house. The mattress was our first place to sleep until we took our time to acquire the house furnishings as the first year here went by. Now, the 8-year old mattress has seen better days and needed to be replaced with a new one.

The new mattress is similar to the one we got for the RV last year. Same brand but a queen instead of king size. The new mattress is intended to help me get over the lower back problems I have been having since mid-February. The visits to the chiropractor have helped a lot, but we’re still not a hundred percent on being able to function normally.

I’ve had back problems since I was a young man, but it usually would heal quickly and get back to normal, Not so, as a septuagenarian. It takes time and visits to the chiropractor now, but it will get better soon. And a new memory foam mattress will help too, I’m sure.

08 Mar 2019 by CapnBob Arizona Classics Nostalgia Photography Something Shiny

Classic Ford Stake Bed Truck

Earlier this week, I went to the dentist for a check-up and cleaning. Since the dentist’s office is about 400 feet west of where we get our F-150 serviced, I figured to kill two birds by dropping off the truck and walking over to the dentist. The idea was to have the truck be finished when I was done at the dentist. Naturally, that didn’t happen. I had to wait at the Quick Lane an additional hour while they finished with the service.

While I was waiting, I was texting with Damsel and captured this photo of a late 1920’s Ford Stake Bed Truck that the dealer had on display in the showroom. I sent the photo to my computer so I could post it here. The classic truck was clean inside and out. I didn’t open the hood, but I’m sure it is clean in there as well. Click on the image to enlarge.

The visit to the dentist went well. No new problems with the teeth and the oral cancer screening was negative. The hygienist says to “keep up the good home care.”

11 Jan 2019 by CapnBob Classics Nostalgia

2018 Cops Who Care Car Show

We drove over to the Community Center this morning to attend the Annual Cops Who Care classic car show. We donated a few unwrapped toys for their Christmas “Toyz for Totz” Gift program. We browsed around the lot where there were scores of Custom and Classic Cars and Trucks. Here are a few photos that one or the other of us took. Click on any image to enlarge.