Of Rods and Rain

The annual Goodguys Columbus PPG Nationals is a short three hour trip from our Western PA. Home base and attracts thousands of the nations fines hot rods, customs and street machines. This year's edition was no exception as the Columbus Expo Center Fairgrounds (and surrounding hotel parking lots!) were packed with an outstanding collection of cars.
My girlfriend Linda and I arrived at our hotel about 10 miles north of the fairgrounds on Friday afternoon and unloaded my '23 T Roadster for the trip down I-71 to meet up with my good friend Gerry and her '51 Chevy Pickup and get our registration credentials. Later, as we all returned to the hotel complex we found hundreds of people lining the street, sipping on a cold beverage and watching the “cruise” as the cars ran up and down the street.
Saturday dawned warm but cloudy with a definite threat of rain. After some breakfast we headed to the show and found a nice place to park. Fortunately, we packed a cooler, pop-up canopy, chairs and my car cover in Gerry's truck (since T-Buckets have virtually no storage space)......because by 11:30 the “scattered showers” had turned into a steady rain. This didn't deter the spirit of the crowd or our determination to have a good time. We parked ourselves under the canopy and enjoyed a couple of beverages ourselves. Eventually Gerry's boyfriend, Dave arrived having ridden his motorcycle from Pittsburgh that morning (the last 70 miles in the rain). By this time we were getting a little damp and everyone was hungry......so we piled into the cab of the truck and set out in search of umbrellas and a decent place to eat. Meanwhile....the steady rain turned into a major monsoon complete with flood warnings. After waiting out the worst of it we returned to the fairgrounds to find the T still high and dry under it's tarp in the parking lot. So far, so good.
By now the rain had pretty much stopped, so we decided to attend the awards ceremony to see the “Street Machine of the Year” and “Street Rod of the Year” crowned. Western Pennsylvania was well represented in the Street machine finals by the guys at RPM out of Warrendale, PA with the '69 Trans am they built for Bryan Frank. In addition, Bill Steele's recently crowned “Hot Rod of the Year” 1930 Model A coupe was on hand for the crowd to admire.
The ride back to the hotel was a little damp as the rain started again (and can be a real adventure with the big rear tires on the T) but it subsided shortly after we got on the interstate and held off long enough for me to get the car back in the trailer.
Sunday was bright and sunny, so we headed to the fairgrounds for one final day of hot rod fun. Although the parking lot wasn't nearly as full as Friday or Saturday, there was still a nice crowd. We hung out for a while before getting ready for our ride home. All and all, it was a great time with great friends and lots of cool cars. Definitely a worthwhile trip!
Here's a shot of our cars on Sunday morning.