The Perfect Car Show

By Jim McGowan

For the last 23 years, the Central Oregon Classic Chevy Club has put on the Flashback Cruz in Bend, Oregon. Situated along the meandering Deschutes River, in tree-covered Drake Park, this show attracts cars from all over the west, and northwest particularly. This year approximately 500 vehicles of all makes, marques and descriptions were on display, some ratty, some racy and most radiant.

The 2008 event was my second visit to this show, as I planned a family visit to Bend that just happened to occur over the same weekend. Brilliant! The show was great in ’06 and even better in ’08. One of the most attractive aspects, besides the great variety of cars, is the location. The park provides plenty of shade, a spectacular view of the river and is big enough to comfortably accommodate a large number of vehicles. No door dings in this group.
   

Anyone who has ever been involved with producing and directing a car show of this size knows how difficult it really is. The Classic Chevy Club crew has it all together, and for an innocent bystander like me, it all appeared to go off without a hitch. There are also other events tied to the Saturday show. In the evening, several square blocks of old downtown Bend, are closed for cruising. After several hours, the cars can angle park at the curb, and a street dance entertains the folks after dark. On Sunday other car related events in the area are available to those who choose to attend.

The show is usually the first weekend of August, so if you’re in the area, it’s worth a stroll. One item of note, as I drove back to LA a few days later, I saw two vehicles that were at the show being trailered back through central California.  Depending on where they were going in SoCal, that’s about 16-hundred miles round trip. Obviously, the trek and show was worth the effort and expense to those folks. You couldn’t get a better recommendation that that! For future show information contact  http://www.centraloregonclassicchevyclub.com.

As usual there was an array of Tri-Five Chevy’s in attendance. This two-tone purple street machine was a small-block powered show car. Another first, there were more ’55-’56 models than big finned ‘57’s.

We mentioned “racy”, well here she is. Check out this full-on nostalgia racer with all the right parts. Notice the beer keg gas tank and long tube headers. This style was the predecessor of the altered wheelbase cars of the Sixties.

This blown Chevy 5-window coupe just had an offspring. The matching junior version was cruising the streets of Bend that evening with the car owner sitting on the roof. It sounded like it was powered by a lawnmower engine. Great fun!

Here’s one you don’t see very often. A beautifully restored ’65 Buick Grand Sport ragtop. Red on red with a black top makes for a great combination. The 401cid engine was backed by a Powerglide trans.

The retro look is now very strong with the street rod crew. Fifties style mild customizing on the exterior, wide whites and mostly stock exterior keeps this ’40 two-door coupe nice and clean. Love those period four-bar spinner hubcaps.

I also mentioned ratty, well here is one example in black “suede” that was done quite nicely. It had no holes or rust in the body, windows in place, a carbureted small-block with zoomie style headers and chopped and channeled just right. Rat rod, your call!

There were several Ford stockers parked among the throngs of modified machines. This ’40 two-door still sported a completely stock exterior and original flathead. It was a great restoration of a neat classic vehicle.

This early Fifties Chevy was lowered and fitted with full length “lakes pipes”. These early two and four-door cars have been a favorite of the custom car crowd for years, and are now part of the “rock-a-billy” car culture.  

This 1939 Austin Bantam 20-HP, 4-cylinder roadster was beautifully restored and drew a lot of attention. You can see the Deschutes River serenely flowing by in the background.

What kind of a car show would this be without an outrageously cool Willys street rod. This car was done to the max and already had a blue ribbon displayed on the windshield.

Cover your eyes Packard guys! How about a ‘38 Packard roadster street rod? Boy, I’d sure have to think long and hard about that conversion. But, that’s what makes this hobby interesting. One man’s classic is another man’s street rod.

Here’s a ‘70 Boss 302 with all the bells and whistles. Rear window slats, front and rear spoilers, Magnum 500 wheels, four-gears and shaker hood. What more could you want in your garage?

This is a numbers matching ’66 L79 Nova, which features a 350 HP, 327 cid engine, an M21 four-speed and GM 12-bolt post rear end. This is a very rare car with a special opposed dual snorkel air cleaner. Try and find that part today.

This stunning Cougar GT also features a blue ribbon on the windshield. Except for the contemporary wheels, this is a beautiful restoration. I only saw one Cougar at this show, too bad, as they are a great car to restore.

This Chevy suicide door sedan was a knock out, and definitely a no expense spared street rod build. It was a car that people had to stop and examine instead of simply strolling by.

Here’s a modified ’64 GTO convert with the Tri-Power option and a four-gear. The dark red exterior with white interior was snappy and the car presented nicely.

We can’t leave out the bear in the broom closet. Here’s the famous ’70 Six-Pack, 440cid Challenger R/T! This brute, with the right driver, could beat the venerated Hemi cars all day long. Obviously a regular on the show circuit, it was a magnificent restoration.

Got Truck? Big, flamed and ready to haul that derelict car from in front of your house. Big is beautiful, as evidenced by the blue ribbon hanging in the window. This is one that can’t sneak up on you.

The early gasser style treatment on this Corvette combines racecar with street machine. Injector stacks through the hood are certainly intimidating!

A very nicely restored ’65 GTO hardtop featured a huge laundry list of options including the rare early GM transistorized ignition system. The fortunate owner had the build sheet displayed in the window, and he was constantly barraged with questions about his car.

THAT’s ALL FOLKS! The Central Oregon Classic Chevy Club used the bandstand area in Drake Park for the trophy presentation. Beautifully designed acrylic trophies, and mounted posters made for the event, were given away to the winners.

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