17th Annual
Nostalgia Day
Sep. 24, 2006
 Dash plaque awarded to the participants at the show. |
For a second year in a row, Lynn enters Bugsby in the Nostalgia Day car show, hosted by the Altamont Cruisers. Like many car shows, the monies collected at Nostalgia Day are donated to charities. As like last year, Lynn enters Bugsby in the pre-1950 stock car category.
This was a huge show, apparently getting bigger every year. This year there are more than 500 cars on display on nine square blocks of downtown Livermore, with cars lining both sides of most streets. In spite of the large number of beautiful cars, it's a safe bet that Bugsby is the oldest car at the show.
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| Here's just a few sample shots of the nine square blocks that ae lined with cars. Every one of them are beautifully painted and equipped. |
Lynn thinks up a (weak) joke based on his observations of these last two years at Nostalgia Day. He observes that clubs of the same type of car arrange to park together at the show. For example, Mustangs park together; GTOs park together; early 1950 Fords park together. Lynn's joke is that every year, without failure, he's arranged that all the Kissel's park together. The joke, of course, is that Bugsby is the only Kissel at the show!
This is the fourth (and last?) recent car show at which Lynn shows Bugsby's running chassis without the body. The body is still in the body shop undergoing a restoration of the rear deck.
Lynn was pleased that many of the spectators remember him and the car from last year. He has a great day handing out his new brochure and telling people about Kissel cars and 1920's automotive technology. In fact, Lynn is so busy talking to others all day that he forgets to take a picture of Bugsby at the show! How rude!
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| These are just a few of the gorgeous cars on display. |
The car show runs from 9 AM to 3 PM and the gates nominally open at 7 AM. Based on his experience from last year, Lynn resolves to arrive as early as possible. When he arrived at about 8:30 AM last year, all the choice parking spots had already been taken; most of the participants apparently arrive much earlier. Lynn pulls up to the entrance at 6:45 AM (the earliest he could safely hit the streets due to Bugsby's lack of headlights). In spite of this, all the choice spots are again taken. Talking to other participants, Lynn speculates that many cars must have arrived at 3 AM or have spent the previous night parked for the show. (Lynn makes a mental note to arrive still earlier next year.)
Like last year, Lynn encountered several very knowledgable individuals that teach him something new about his car. For example, one man tells Lynn that Bugsby should have originally had a positive ground electrical system. That is, the positive terminal of the battery is connected to the frame of the car; most modern cars are negative ground. Lynn expresses some skepticism (he knows that the car is currently wired with a negative ground) and suggested that he and the visitor examine the wiring diagrams of the car that Lynn has on display. Much to Lynn's surprise and amusement, the wiring diagrams clearly show a positive ground system. Although Lynn knows that many old cars had positive grounds, he was not aware that Bugsby had that configuration, in spite of the fact that he has examined the diagrams several times before. It's experiences like this that keep Lynn the humble and lovable fellow that he is.
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Last updated: May 24, 2009