This weekend I'm in Chicago at the Chevy Vettefest. I drove down in my '89 Caprice 9C1 police car. It's not an "old car" to me, but I guess it qualifies as "special interest." In any case, I was invited to put it in the show next to where I'll be selling my car books. I thought that sounded like a neat idea.

The show is held indoors at the convention center in Rosemont, Ill. (near O'Hare Airport) so I decided to arrive early to get the car indoors without a big hassle. When I got near O'Hare, I called promoter Bob Ashton on my cell phone and he told me where to bring the 9C1. The building was just about empty, then Bob comes riding up to the entry door on a bicycle.

I thought that was cool. In fact, Bob is about the coolest show promoter I know. He used to work with GM and now he works for my old friend Robert Larivee's son and his partners at Championship Auto Shows.  What I like about Bob is his "laid back" attitude.

When I first met Bob last year, his show "World of Wheels" show in Green Bay, Wis., was in full swing. People were asking him a million questions at once. But I never saw Bob get the slightest bit worked up. I asked him how he stayed so cool on the "Big Weekend." He told me, "This is a car show - it's not life or death!"

Last night, after the show hall was all closed up, I ran into Bob and his wife Vicky in the hotel lobby and we ate dinner together. One of the attractions that Bob put together for the show this weekend is giant exhibit of big-block LS6 Chevys, and he was telling me how one "regular guy" hobbyist and his friend were dragging an LS6 Camaro all the way from Seattle, Wash., on an open trailer - a 4,000-mile trip.

   Bob couldn't believe this man had signed on to help him put together what may be the best LS6 display EVER. But I immediately understood the Camaro owner's motivation - he was just trying to help out "Mr Cool"

What would Harley Earl think about GM hiring outside shops to build its show cars? GM is currently taking proposals for 2008 SEMA Show vehicles that showcase its vehicles tricked out with accessories. Key passenger cars to be showcased include the Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac Vibe and G8 and Saturn Astra, but other models may qualify on a limited basis.

In the good old days, this kind of project would have been a big secret and Harley's famous GM Art & Color Section would have been very jealous of sharing design responsibility. But today, it's "out-sourced."

Shops that are SEMA members that are interested in developing a GM project car for the 2008 SEMA Show are encouraged to contact: Bob Kern, SEMA Relations Manager 2382 Browning Dr., No 100 Orion, MI 48360 It is recommended that proposals be submitted early and no later than May 15. Approved projects will need to be completed by October 18.

Short blog today. I have to leave for the Superpower Show at the Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., this weekend. The show sponsored by Undercar Digest is for professionals who do suspension, brake, exhaust and "undercar" repairs. Sometimes Old Cars Weekly advertiser Fred Kanter (Packard Industries and Kanter Auto Products) will be giving a seminar on the old car repair market and I'm anxious to hear it.

Anyway, before I leave, I wanted to drop some advice that may save you money. I heat my shop with propane. This year we had a long winter and a lot of snow. The100 inches of snow pretty much buried my propane tank and I didn't even try reading it. I just thought the propane would last the full season like it did the past two years.

Tonight was woork-on-the-car night, so I went out in the afternoon to turn on the radiant heating system. No dice! Out of fuel. So, I call for a propane delivery and guess what . . . $70 extra to do a pressure check and light the pilot light. Ouch! I just blew 70 bucks by not checking the fuel level sooner. Maybe this will inspire a few of you who live where it's still chilly to check your tanks and not make the same mistake.

It never fails to amaze me that the old car hobby is big and small at the same time. If you have read this blog for a while, you know that the local car folks in the Iola area get together at a Burger King in Waupaca (13 miles away) every Wednesday night, all year round, to bench race.

I always think of this as a small, local gathering, but sometimes the national "reach" of the local scuttlebutt is just atonishing.

Last night Dennis and Kathy Bickford of Vintage Woodworks (a local shop that specializes in Chrysler Town & Countrys) were there and they started talking about another shop they had been to in Napannee, Ind. I immediately realized they were talking about Eric LeVine's shop, that I once wrote about many years ago. Hi Eric. Nice to know you're still at it.

After awhile, Ken Buttolph showed up and said that ring gear sales guru Al Suehring (notice the "ring" in his name) had just got back from the prewar swap in Chickashaw, Okla. Well, Ken said that Al had seen a 1940 Buick Century for sale out there and I realized that it was the same car I had seen at the end of February in Atlantic City, only for twice as much!

The hobby is big, Iola is small. Or, at least that's how I see it.

But . . . I may be wrong. 

Maybe it's just that I'm retired now, but I'm starting to wonder why we don't have old cars shows every day? Why are they just on Fridays and weekends?

John Armstrong of the POCI Oakland Chapter called today and wanted to know if I could attend their event on September 5. It's the 100th anniversary of the founding of Pontiac's parent, you know.

I could be there if that wasn't the same time as Auburn or if it didn't conflict with the MG club's annual gathering. Or there may be vintage racing that weekend or an antiquemotorcycle show.

Point is, there's always more than one thing going on.

Now, if we just freed up Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and spread things out a bit . . . Does anyone out there have any problems with doing old car stuff 365 days a year?

I didn't think so. 

Old Cars Weekly editor Angelo Van Bogart got pretty excited when I told him that I had been invited to bring my "boxcar" to the Chevy Vettefest http://chevyvettefestnewsletter.googlepages.com/home at the convention center in Rosemont, Ill., next weekend. "Boxcar" is the term that police car collectors use to describe Chevys like my '89 Caprice 9C1. The car is a former Wisconsin State Patrol "supervisor's" car, or at least so I've been told. It is burgundy, instead of dark blue, and has a camel colored "police" bucket seat interior. It has the full 9C1 package with 350 V-8, guages, certified speedo, ticket light, tranny cooler, Posi and other goodies, but it never had cop-car stuff like a cage, a push bumper or a light bar. So no extra holes were drilled anywhere but the dash, where a radio must have been. The car has 100,000 miles, but it's been repainted and looks very clean. I only drive it a few times a year, although I sometimes go halfway across the contry, like I did last month. It's pure luxury to cruise along in a vehicle that lets you stretch your 60-year-old legs out absolutely straight. It runs great and moves out if you need to. Sure it sucks gas, but the pluses outweigh the minuses. Automotive expert Matt Joseph calls it a "supercar" and says that Japanese cars never would have gained market share in America if GM and Ford had just built nothing but police cars. Others have described it as a 3/4-ton truck with a Caprice body. As we all know, Angelo loves full-size Chevys of this era and though a 9C1 isn't the fanciest model, it sure has "attitude." It will be fun showing it in Chicago, but it will be even more fun driving it down.

Made a stop at a place call Port-A-Chopper (www.portachopper.com) in Elkhart, Indiana to visit some fellows I met at a motorcycle trade show in Indianapolis. They work for an outfit called QC Metal Fab that may have made the hinges for the hood of your RV/ The product they're involved with the Port-A-Chopper trailer. This little rig breaks down in 15 min. and stores in back of a minivan. It can haul a motorcycle, a jet ski or even your swap meet purchases if you add their cycle, watercraft or utility kit. The kits adapt one trailer into three options, all using the same license plate! And if you live in a townhouse or condo where trailers outside are verboten, you can haul goods or vehicles home, take apart the trailer and store the pieces in the garage. If you're pulling a bike or a boat, you can do it with a 35-mpg Honda Civic and cut your hauling costs. Their newest product is a bigger double trailer that hauls up to 2,000 lb. loads. My MG TD won't quite ride that one safely, but a Vespa 400 or Berkley might.

If you want to get into car collecting for the first time or build up the car collection you already have, this is the year to do it. There are some great bargains around, especially if you like late-1930s cars and 1940s cars like I do.

Here are a few examples from the recent Atlantic City Classic Car Auction, How about a "barn find" 1941 Lincoln Zephyr with its original, smooth-running V-12 for $11,000? The solid original car had bee n stored in a barn in Maine for 50 years and even had new brakes, new brake lines and new fuel lines.

Another very nice car was a 1940 Buick Century trunk sedan with dual sidemounts. Ron Kowalke rated it #3. It didn't seem to need much of anything other than a few taps on the carb bowl to help it start. It sold for $15,700. What a bargain.

Sellers may not like the fact that the prices are leveling off, but it's the ups and downs of any market that drive commerce. When prices drop, people buy cars. When people buy cars, vendors sell parts, books and tires. Then, the vendors go to the food stand and buy hot dogs. That's how the economy works.

Another good thing - the people who buy now are buying low and will probably make money when the market cycles back up. That means they'll stay in the hobby longer.

Tell that food stand to heat up a few more franks!

No wonder I don't go to the movies! While I was working on my MG Magnette last night, John Marks of Barrington, Ill. called. Of late, John has been helping Wayne Lensing of the Historic Auto Attractions Museum. It was not long ago that I blogged about the museum and remarked that the folks shooting a movie called "Public Enemy" ought to visit Wayne's museum. The movie is about John Dillinger and Wayne has a real John Dillinger car in his collection. I thought it would be nice to see the car in the movie because of the historical accuracy.

It turns out that John Marks did invite the movie people to come see the car and they decided to rent it for the film. They even fixed a bullet hole in the trunk (that shouldn't have been there). And they took the car all the way up to Columbus, Wis., where the filming was being done. But director Micheal Mann didn't like the way the car looked and sent it home without using it.

Is that dumb or what? The car was the REAL THING. It would have made the silly movie a lot more authentic. It could even have been used to hype the degree of realism in the film. But it wasn't the right color or something! Could you imagine old Public Enemy No. 1 turning down a hot '32 Studebaker getaway car because the pinstripe was the wrong shade?

 Oh well. That's Hollywood for you. I think I'll wait until it comes on TV. Oops. I can't do that because I don't watch television either. 

Here's a real challenge for you. I just finished writing about the Model T Assembly competition that's going to be part of the Model T Ford 2008 Centennial Party in Richmond, Ind. on July 21-28 (www.mtfca.com)

On the 23rd and 24th Model T Assembly competitions will be held from 2-4 pm. On the 25th, the finals will be held during the same hours. The idea is to build a Model T, from parts to running car, in 15 to 30 minutes. The fastest team wins.

If you think you're a real restorer, here's the chance to prove it. Only 6 teams are currently entered. There's room for more. Get yourself a Model T, get five other restorers, practice up and prove your skills in Indiana.

It's a chance to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience - as well as some real old-car fun.