Car Show
Cruising at Cruisin’ the Coast
By: Rick Schmidt & Steve Harrison
On the morning of October 4, Georgianna & I met Jan & Steve Harrison and headed south on I-85 for this year’s Cruisin’ the Coast®. Participating in Cruisin’ the Coast® has been a bucket list item for some time and this year we were going to check out the cruise.
For those who may not be familiar with Cruisin’ the Coast® the following is a brief description from the Cruisin’ The Coast® web site:
“Welcome to America’s Largest Block Party. Cruisin’ the Coast® began in 1996 as a festival to celebrate antique, classic and hot rod vehicles, nostalgic music and related events. 374 vehicles registered that first year and this year we had 8,130 registered vehicles. Car enthusiasts from 41 states plus Canada, Puerto Rico and Germany drove to the Mississippi Gulf Coast this year to showcase their rides and to cruise our beautiful 30-mile stretch of beach side highway (US-90) with designated venue stops in Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, D’Iberville, Gulfport, Pass Christian, Pascagoula and Ocean Springs. Each venue is set up as a mini festival with a stage for live bands, streets reserved for registered cruisers to drive thru each venue (just like back in the day when you cruised thru your local hamburger stand), reserved parking for registered cruisers, spectator parking, and vendors for food and event merchandise. Registered cruisers receive an ID card in their registration packets to exhibit all week in their car’s front window; this ID allows entry into the venues where reserved parking is available. Our weeklong event includes cruise-ins, a Salute To Our Veterans event, car auction, swap meet, car corral, and a parade. Spectators are welcome and will find that our cruisers love to talk “old cars.”
A note at this point is that to be officially registered with Cruisin’ the Coast® you must have a 1989 or older vehicle. That is not to say that if you don’t have a “qualifying” vehicle you cannot enjoy Cruisin’ the Coast®. Because the majority of events occur on public roads and the various venue events are open to all, there is no reason that you should not attend and enjoy Cruisin’ the Coast® regardless of the age of your vehicle.
The drive down was uneventful until we were approaching Montgomery. Because we left early to clear Atlanta before the morning rush hour and because of the time zone change we were in Montgomery’s morning rush hour. Typical stop and go traffic that became really exciting really quick. I can say that Jan & Steve and Georgianna & I were as close as could be to being involved in a major accident without actually having a bent fender or two. As it was our Saleen sustained paint damage due to pieces of plastic bumper supports flying out from the 4 car chain reaction wreck in the lane beside us.
Happily the balance of the 6 hour drive to Biloxi was without any additional excitement.
We checked into our motel, unloaded and headed out to see what Cruisin’ the Coast® was all about. As we headed West on US-90 to the registration site we were immediately engulfed in a slowly rolling car show. This was to be the normal traffic pattern for the rest of the week. As we discovered, the best way to enjoy Cruisin’ the Coast® was to either find yourself a shady spot somewhere along US-90 and watch the parade of Hot Rods drive by or in a similar vein find a good spot at one of the venues and watch the Hot Rods drive by. We used both approaches during our time there.
At registration we found a shady place to park, strolled around looking at the cars and of course bought shirts and ate ice cream.
Our first venue after registration was the Margaritaville Casino. The casino blocked off one of their parking lots for Cruisin’ the Coast® participants. In the parking lot there was food (cheese burger in paradise!), music and some fun games. We found great parking places where we could enjoy the event and also watch the cars going by on US-90.
In Pass Christian we watched legal, city police approved burn-outs after which we found a good shady spot to watch the Hot Rods cruise by. That afternoon, a half block away, there was a group called “NA NA SHA” performing a 2 hour concert. What could be better Hot Rods and Oldies Music!
Of all of the venues we visited, we considered this location in Ocean Springs the best. Ocean Springs is a nice little town with many food choices and more importantly a lot of shaded spots along the street. We stayed in Ocean Springs for a little over 4 hours watching the non-stop parade of Hot Rods roll-by.
We were surprised to find Dennis Gage in Oceans Springs filming (taping?) a segment for his show “My Classic Car” as the Cruisin’ the Coast® schedule had him in Pass Christian that day (Friday). I guess hurricane Nate changed his schedule as well. He took a little time out to sign autographs for us and chat – nice guy!
We left a day early due to hurricane Nate’s projected land fall. When we left on Saturday morning the weather was cloudy, but up to that point the weather had been great with clear blue skies. Many people left Friday afternoon but since we had tickets to the Beach Boys we decided to stay and enjoy the concert. In the picture below can you guess who has joined Mike Love & the Beach Boys on stage? The guest performer played the guitar, sang and was killer on the drums!
A gold star if you guessed John Stamos!
After thoroughly enjoying the Beach Boys we headed back to the motel and packed as much as we could for Saturday morning’s early departure.
This was the first time being chased out of a car show due to a hurricane!
After having a bit of excitement on the trip down, thankfully the drive back to Atlanta was without incident.
In closing, if you enjoy seeing a wide variety of Hot Rods from barely driveable street gassers or restored stockers or rat rods, Cruisin’ the Coast® is the show for you.
Maggie Valley Write-up on Ford Muscle.Com
Kudos are given to our Club’s Maggie Valley show and congratulations to Rick Hayslip on his blue Saleen being in the author’s top 5 show picks!
Our Five Favorites From The 44th Maggie Valley Show
Maggie Valley, North Carolina is well known for its mini-trucking events and motorcycle rallies. Its maybe even better known as the home of the legendary moonshiner Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton. However, once a year in early October, Maggie Valley turns into Mustang Valley as hundreds of the nicest Ford Mustangs in the south invade the town for the annual Mustang and Shelby All-Ford Show presented each year by the North East Georgia Mustang Club.
We were on hand for the 44th edition of this event in search of the coolest Fords on property at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds and what we found certainly were impressive! Check out or top five Fords from the event below.
#5 – 1967 Shelby GT500
If you read our article last month about the Pigeon Forge Rod Run, you know that starting these lists off with a Shelby GT500 for sale is becoming a bit of a trend. This red beauty was parked toward the back of the show field in the car corral area and posted for sale.
The seller stated that is 1967 Shelby GT500 only had 33,000 original miles on the clock, and from looking at the car, we believe it. This was a nice, original Shelby that while showing some wear around the edges, could stillbe enjoyed and driven. One look at the rear inner fenders and we got the picture that someone had been doing just that. There was plenty of burnt rubber present.
If you have an extra $125,000 laying around, you too can burn rubber in this GT500…
Forget the timeless look of the GT500 or the legendary power of the 427 engine, we were most impressed by that 8-track player! Hopefully that tape goes with the car or that might just be a deal breaker for a potential buyer!
#4 – Clean Coyote SN95
Gone are the days when most any Mustang with a DOHC or Coyote is automatically attention-worthy. Nowadays, even with the engine swap, it still takes something special to get our cameras shooting. This ultra-clean, red SN95 did just that.
Never mind the Coyote 5.0 shoved in between the fenders, this is a super-clean convertible with ’03-’04 Cobra seats, Auto Meter gauges, and a perfect stance. This car has the look. Oh yeah, it does have that Coyote in it too, we cannot ignore that fact for long. The overall all execution of this car is top notch, one of the cleanest SN95s we have saw in a long time.
Cover one eye and pretend that Coyote is not under the hood, this is still one super clean convertible! The red and silver go together perfect, the stance is just right, there is nothing not to like about this SN95!
#3 – Bright Atlantic Blue Saleen Cobra
Saleens are rare. Cobras are rare. But Saleen Cobras truly limited. Throw in the Bright Atlantic paint and you can see why we picked this one. To add more allure, the convertible and white top factor, mix it all together and what do you get? A one of one collector piece that is out-of-this- world cool. Owner Rick Hayslip (Georgia State Representative for the Saleen Club Of America) tells us this is one of only 65 Cobra Saleens built between 1996 and 1998, only 34 of which were convertibles. This is the only one painted Bright Atlantic Blue.
Bright Atlantic Blue is one of the prettiest shades of blue to ever grace a Mustang and the white top and silver Saleen stripes just add to that effect.
#2 – Flashback S197
The current Mustang styling is so engraved in our mind that it is often easy to forget that this all started with the retro movement. Frankie DeFeo’s “1970 Flashback” pays homage to that retro styling with some cool under the hood artwork and custom touches through out the car.
The car also has plenty of modern touches including an awesome sound system ready to play your favorite ’70s tunes at the click of a button. The red paint is a mile deep and looks awesome. This one clean S197!
Now you see it, now you don’t! Just on of the many cool tricks on this 2006 Ford Mustang!
#1 – Boss 429 Street Racer
One of the most legendary Mustangs of all time is the Boss 429. Available to the public strictly to meet NASCAR production numbers, these cars came from the factory as a race-ready street terror. This Grabber Blue 1970 is one of only 62 in this shade and one of only 500 1970 Boss Mustangs to roll off the assembly line. But beyond all that, this Boss has some extra special history.
The car was modified in the ’70s by legendary factory Ford racer Hubert Platt. Although it has since been returned to original form, the Platt treatment included a Weiand intake manifold with dual center squirt Holley carbs; Hooker headers; a Lakewood scatter shield; an aluminum flywheel and a 4.56 Traction-Lok rearend.
As the story goes, even with the legendary drag racers hand on the car, most of this cars racing action was scene stoplight to stoplight on Saturday nights! Check out the cool vintage photo of the Boss below…
Every time we put these Top 5 and Top 10 lists together, we have just as many cool rides that could have made the list. Here are some close calls from this event.
Check more pictures by following this link to Ford Muscle.com: