Tonight was Tuesday and here on Cape Cod that means that Sham Rods is having another car show in Bourne, MA.
There are no entry fees and no prizes, but there are plenty of enthusiasts that come and show off their cars and walk around and admire what others have driven to the show. Cars start gathering a little before five in the afternoon and by six there are hundreds to view with more arriving.
These range from cars from the 1930’s and 1940’s to some early 1950’s cars that may be restored or hot rodded. There are muscle cars from the sixties and seventies as well as some more modern cars.
There were a couple of Packard’s that caught my eye. One was from the tail end of the brand’s life:
Then there was another Packard from the era when Packard competed with such brands as the Duisenberg and the Auburn.
One of my personal favorite cars is the VW Beetle. That’s the one with the air-cooled flat four cylinder engine. I had a few of my own as some of my first cars. There was a beautiful 1961:
Notice that it doesn’t have a fuel gauge. Instead there was a lever to the right of the accelerator pedal that would need to be flipped over when the car started sputtering as it ran out of fuel. By flipping the lever you would get another couple of gallons of gasoline going to the engine. That would get you to a gas station, but you had to remember to flip the lever back or the next time it sputtered you would be out of fuel!
There was a 1963 with a cloth sunroof there, too.
You will notice that to the right of the speedometer is now a gas gauge. That started in 1962. No more flipping the foot lever.
There was even a Baja race bug!
It had just returned from competing in Mexico driving through the Baja peninsula. It was a 1971 Beetle.
There was this American Motors Pacer.
A Ford Bronco Sport.
A Ford Falcon from the sixties.
A 3-window Chevy pickup truck.
A Volvo P1800
There were many great looking hot rods:
There was even an American Motors AMX – sort of. The owner had taken a late model Pontiac GTO and grafted the AMX body on top.
That is what these kind of shows are all about. People showing off their ideas, talents, and independence.
JIM'S GARAGE 
All those scragly pine trees. Sure looks like the Cape. Where was the parking lot? What fun cars. Great pics as usual, bro.
It is held every Tuesday at the Bourne Technical School.
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You get some more interesting cars at this kind of show there than we get in NH, at least where I live. Here the cruise-night types all show up in various hot rods or garage queen pony and muscle cars. You get the feeling they really don’t drive the cars much. They look great and all, it’s just they seem more like moveable furniture than cars. I just don’t get the old-style hot rods, anyway. I appreciate the workmanship, but they don’t get me excited.
The 4th of July parade in my town is pretty good though. I co-chair that event and we do get some nice machines, some real interesting stuff –’30s Packards, pre-war MGs, ’50s & ’60s Euros and domestics, antique fire trucks. Even late ’50s Enfield motorcycles and restored WW 2 Willys jeeps.