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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In traffic behind a Porsche 914

This will not happen again. Someone has actually taken the insane amount of time and trouble required to restore a Porsche 914. This is a really, really bad car. I've discussed it before when I saw one in Ballard a few years ago. But there's a funny article you should read about the 914 on Hagerty.com: "A few things to know before stealing my 914."

"Once you are ready to again try for second, I can offer some advice. One trick that works is to declutch the transmission, pull the lever from the first-gear position, enter into the aforementioned neutral zone, and then rapidly wig-wag the shift knob side-to-side along a lateral axis. If you move the knob quickly enough, the transmission will be out-smarted and cannot anticipate your next move. It is at this time that you should re-attempt to enter second, and most likely you will do so. Surprise is your best weapon against this transmission."

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Old Cars on Shilshole Bay Marina

A lot of folks store their extra car in the big lots out where Ballard meets the water. There are quite a few curiosities parked out there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three old VW buses in one shot. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chevy redesigned the Corvair in 1965 after the car's reputation was pretty much already ruined. As to whether this second-generation Corvair Corsa was safe or not, I don't really have an opinion. Some of these cars were turbocharged. Those rims are from a BMW.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not the same car twice, just the same color. These old Benz diesels are hard to kill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of old Beetles in the land that rust mostly forgot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This MG is immaculate. It must only be here for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, on the other side of the road. If you own a 1983 Lincoln Continental Mark VI and a 1966 Dodge D100 van, you are my kind of weird.

 

 

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2025 Greenwood Car Show: Ford

  

From 1954 to 56, Ford would sell you a car with a transparent plastic top, like this 1955 Crown Victoria. Not for Arizonans I think.

 

  

You're looking at about $200K these days to purchase a 1968 Shelby GT500 Mustang in top condition. Many of the factory Mustang body parts were replaced with fiberglass.

 

 

This 1940 convertible is one of the best-looking cars Ford ever made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original Ford F-100 made between 1953 and 1956 is the classic truck everyone wants. This 1953 has the last of Ford's old-fashioned flathead V-8 engines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very rare 1966 Ford Fairlane GT 390. Ford sold only 4,200 Fairlane GT's that year. They sold 607,000 Mustangs.

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1987 Buick Grand National

It was the end of the line for General Motors' popular old-fashioned RWD coupes, and it was faster than a Corvette. This last addition of the Buick Regal with the Grand National package including turbocharged V-6 looks almost new. Presumably it's garage-stored when it's not chilling out on the north side of Queen Anne. This car would probably sell for about $50,000.

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In Traffic Behind a 1960 Ford Thunderbird

I probably should not inhale for a minute or two.

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2025 Greenwood Car Show: British Sports Cars (With Mostly American Engines)

After World War II the automotive world noticed that England was building nimble sports cars that were nevertheless under-powered and that tended to overheat or see their electrical systems fail pretty quickly. Meanwhile in the United States we were building powerful, reliable V-8 engines, but no sports cars. That's why some of the most famous cars sports are British-built but American powered.

 

Behold, an authentic copy of the car every enthusiast dreams about: A 1964 Ford AC Cobra by Carroll Shelby. At auction, this 289 V-8 powered Cobra would go for about $900,000. If it were the later 427-powered car, it would command at least $1.5 million.

 

You can be forgiven if you've never heard of the British sports car company TVR. They've never made a lot of cars. This TVR Griffith was also powered by the 289 Ford. The first two series of cars had fiberglass bodies, and only 251 cars were sold between 1964 and 1966. This is third-series car from 1966, and it has a hand-made steel body. Only ten were made.

 

I didn't think I'd ever see an Allard J2. And actually I still haven't seen one - this is a replica. The Allard was a British make originally powered by a flathead V-8 made in England by British Ford. Only 90 were made between 1950 and 1952.

 

And finally, a car that's all-British: a 1947 Jaguar Mark IV. If this car is really in good working order, then the owner is a genius.

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2025 Greenwood Car Show: Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth

Perfect weather for this year's Greenwood car show, and it was bigger than ever! Let's kick it off with my favorites: Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth.

 

For the fourth and last year of the Dodge Super Bee, 1971, it was made an option on the Charger; sort of a budget Charger R/T. A very rare car.

  

 

I've written about the 1966 Plymouth Satellite pictured above as far back as the 2018 show. I'm sure most people don't realize that this plain-looking car is one of the show's most valuable entries. The 426 hemi was available only from 1966 to 1971, and the 1966 edition is considered the best. This car is certainly worth six figures.

Pictured below the hemi in yellow is a 1967 Plymouth GTX. The GTX was a new premium edition of the same car as the Satellite, but standard with the 440 "Super Commando" V-8 rated at 375 hp. You could order an even more powerful 426 hemi in the GTX - for about $600 more than the 440!

  

 

Even this little 1966 Plymouth Barracuda came with a V-8. In this case the 273.

 

 

In 1970 the Dart was Dodge's cheapest car. But like everything else then, you could option it out with a pretty ferocious engine. In the case of this Dart GT, a 340 V-8 rated at 275 hp.

 

Between 1951 and 1958, full-size Chrysler products were equipped with the company's original hemi-head engines. These are so popular today that even very ordinary DeSoto sedans are being restored. This 1956 Fireflight coupe has the 331 hemi with dual-quad carbs rated at 255 hp.

 

 

 

Time was when cab over engine trucks like this were seldom seen outside of junkyards. But trucks like this 1955 Dodge COE K-Series are starting to show up at a lot of car shows. They're just cool.

 

I love the old business coupes, like this 1950 Dodge. That's an awful lot of car for a single bench seat.

 

 

This 1935 Chrysler Airflow was ahead of its time. But they didn't sell many. The public thought it was just too weird.

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