2026 Greenwood Car Show: Chrysler

The red car is a 1970 or 1971 Plymouth Barracuda convertible, the orange car is a Dodge Challenger R/T from the same years. Both are powered by the legendary 426 hemi. These have got to be "tribute" cars. If they were original hemi convertibles, they'd be worth seven figures.

This 1966 hemi-powered Plymouth Satellite is at the show every year. I always love seeing it.

A rare 1971 Plymouth Road Runner.

A very nice 1969 Plymouth Road Runner. This one is the fixed-pillar coupe, not the hardtop.

This rare 1956 Dodge Royal Lancer is remarkable is that it's one of the few smaller Chrysler cars powered by the original hemi-head engine series made from 1951-59. In this case it's the 315 c.i. The hemi engines powered nearly all the Imperials, Chryslers and DeSotos in the 50s, but only a handful of Dodge cars and no Plymouths.

Another very nice 'Cuda convertible.

A very original Doge Challenger.

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2026 Greenwood Car Show: General Motors

It's my biggest car spotting day of the year, the Greenwood car show. Let's start with GM.

With GTOs, you may be looking at a "tribute car" which is a polite name for "fake". Take an ordinary Pontiac LeMans, update the engine and the badges, and you've got a much more valuable GTO. Both this 1969 GTO Judge and this 1968 convertible appear authentic to me, though the Judge doesn't have the correct air cleaner to make the ram air induction system work. Fun fact: When the Judge was first offered, it only came in this color.

I've posted this incredible car before, but there's nothing more amazing than seeing a fuel-injected 1963 Corvette split-window.

Restored 1957 Bel Air convertibles like this one sometimes go for over $100K now. The hardtop coupes aren't much less. Always interesting to compare them to a car that's never been restored, like the sedan here. That off-pink color looks odd today but was popular in the 50s.

Very nice 1966 Sting Ray.

The 1970 Chevelle Super Sport is considered the pinnacle of GM muscle. This one has the 396. The truly legendary examples have the 454.

This 1964 Pontic LeMans coupe has 326 badges, but it appears the owner has dropped a 389 tri-power engine under the hood.

This 1948 Buick is just a great looking car.

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Restoration Shop in Ballard

It's easy enough to sink tens of thousands of dollars into your classic car. When I checked out these vehicles at the restoration shop in Ballard, it struck me that each had some good points and some bad points for your restoration dollar.

1951 Chevy 3100 Advanced-Design truck
Pro: Everybody loves it. Easy to maintain.
Con: Hard to drive.

1962 Ford Thunderbird
Pro: Well-built and powerful. Makes a statement.
Con: Old man's car. Kind of tacky.

1982 Jaguar XJ-S
Pro: It's a V-12 supercar. Surprisingly affordable.
Con: It's surprisingly affordable because it's impossible to keep running.

1981 Fiat 124 Spider
Pro: Fun.
Con: Not very reliable.

1980 MGB
Pro: Fun.
Con: Not very reliable.

1958 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
Pro: Wow power, easy to maintain the drivetrain.
Con: Kind of a money pit - it's got power everything with 1950s wiring.

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