Much like our favorite Weekend Edition Editor, UDMan’s life these days, this olelongrooffan recently embarked on a new job situation and, as a result, I was unable to attend the Rolex24 at Daytona International Speedway for the first time in a dang long time. I first attended the 24 in 1989 just a few short months after this olelongrooffan relocated to the Sunshine State from my home in the ShowMe State. I remember this as I have, well actually that traveling museum piece of art is currently in the possession of thejeepjunkie, a poster of the Miller High Life winning Porsche 962. And yes, it is framed. When I asked thejeepjunkie if he would like to have it in his possession, there was not a moment of hesitation before he responded in the affirmative. “That is one of the coolest things I think you own.” It was a pleasure to transfer the possession of it to my little, but bigger, brother and the fact he thought it was that cool provides this olelongrooffan yet another way to Celebrate Life.

So I can hear my fellow Hoons wondering what this olelongrooffan did instead of heading up to my easily gained access racetrack that last weekend in January? Well, all ya’all will need to make the jump to see what I was able to attend that Saturday prior to returning to my new old hometown to catch most of the Rolex24 on about fifteen different Fox networks.

Well, as that first image may provide a hint, I attended the Southwest Florida Street Rod Nationals up at the JetBlue Stadium in the town that is home to the Edison Estate as well as the Henry Ford Museum. And yeah, there were quite a few street rods to be seen. That one in the first image was one of the show cars in attendance. As usual, the car corral and the lot provided at least as many sights to be seen by this olelongrooffan. Heck, I hadn’t even gotten in the driveway of this show before seeing this loaded to passenger capacity Nebraska Farm Truck in the slot in front of my longerroof.

But yeah, in the corral area were a bunch of pretty cool *ss cars including this Willys street rod. And check out in the background of this image and you’ll see a few more of the sweeties this olelongrooffan spotted that day.

But under the Willys bonnet was this sight to be seen. Yeah, some Hoon sunk a boat load of US dollars in this chromed out blown engine. I can only wonder how much frame and body reinforcement would be necessary if thejeepjunkie were to drop this beast in his Willys CJ2A?

And right next door to that Willys was this GTO with its Tri Powered (is that right?) engine.

I’m calling this Goat vert a ’64 due to the horizontal nature of its lights out front. A good buddy in high school had a post version of these beauties back in the mid ’70’s. Yeah, Wizzbaum was always a blast. He sold that Goat to buy a ’77 3/4 ton Bowtie 4WD brown pickup truck. And yes, fellow Hoon Marcal, his family is from Conway.

Even though the front of this classic Beetle is obscured by that canvas beach chair, I had to include this image just to share with my fellow Hoons the variety of different extremely Hoonible automobiles and trucks at that show this day. 

But wait, what’s that over there? Of course it is a beautiful Volkswagen Type III. Yeah, black steelies with beauty rings and chrome hubcaps. What’s not to like?

And this one was in immaculate condition throughout. And that cap located under the rear deck lid? It is used to add oil to this rear engined classic.

And it possessed the bragging rights to be the Sport Edition of this year’s Type 3. Yes, overall, it was a beautiful as everything in this image represents. And not to be self promoting, Hooniverse 2015 calendar with this image? Ahh, probably not.

Parked immediately adjacent to that Type 3 was this shiny red 1960 Chevrolet Belair. I only know it was a 60 due to the wraparound windshield a fellow Hoon pointed out to this olelongrooffan many moons ago when I spotted a longroof 61 on a day On The Road with this olelongrooffan.

While I am not sure those exterior mirrors are stock, I would be surprised to learn that interior was not a factory offering back in the day. Yeah, bright red and white checkers FTW.

And thejeepjunkie has always tried to tell this olelongrooffan that only Willys offered flat fenders. These wings sure say something different.

So after checking out that Type 3 and that Bowtie flat fender, I headed back to the rows of awesome vehicles and spotted this 66 Super Sport convertible. Say what you will, I have always found this body style of mid 60’s Chevy to be one of my favorites. Bus Plunge’s gorgeous wife, the PRVTRN had a cherry red hardtop 66 back in the day that was absolutely gorgeous and I loved it. Of course, this olelongrooffan wants the longroof version.

And what car show would be complete without a Ford GT for our fellow Hoon, $kaycog, to lust over? In PMY no less.

But it was that Bug with the Deutschland emblem this olelongrooffan just couldn’t get enough of viewing.

Even though there was a C7 convertible parked right next to it. And as much as this olelongrooffan likes the lines of this new Stingray, especially in ALMS TUDOR livery, those will always be Camaro taillights. A real Corvette should possess round lights out back.

But my attention kept returning to that clean air cooled ride nestled between those PMY super cars. Its engine looked cleaner than any semi daily driver Type I this olelongrooffan has seen in quite some time. Now why would I suggest this is a daily driver? Check out that hood release catch just above that smiley face rubber gasket. See how its paint is chipped from the catch and release lever. Yeah, this bug is driven.

And from a time when no sealed beam headlights were the norm. My British Racing Green 66 (at least I remember it to be 66) had the very same type of headlights. And check out the contours of that fender around that lens. That is true artwork.

Yeah, the wear around that Wolfsburg emblem backs up my near daily driver status of this sweetie.

And how can my fellow Hoons not like a true steel dash worthy of daisy and Bug inspired magnets? And man, there is a story about a long a snowy Interstate 44 night in my old bug that will be shared one day soon. And yes, it was 420 inspired.

But this is a street rod and muscle car show so let’s get to back to them. Back in the day, this Satellite Sebring Road Runner was quite the catch. I’m not sure if this one had the original Beep-Beep horn with the Road Runner’s voice but I like to think it did. I’m a thinkin’ this body style first arrived in 1971 and it has always been one of my favorite body style of that era muscle car.

But this is a street rod show and this 50 Merc Lead Sled had everything except the Desoto toothed grille. I mean, check this thing out. “A” pillar spot lights, shaved everything, understated side pipes, chopped roof….

a totally tricked out engine compartment with more carp than this olelongrooffan even knows how to describe and the obligatory framed plaque on display.

And this louvered hood with the discreet flames just added to its beauty.

I would suspect this interior has had a bunch of modernization added to it. Padded dash, after market A/C, center console and seats but, dang, it does have a row your own shifter and based on those handles located on the “A” pillar, those spotlights out front are operable. FTW.

Yeah, this Lead Sled is not something this olelongrooffan would Hoon around but I sure can appreciate its beauty. The wheels on this one, the same as the one in the trunk, are something memorable as I heard as least two or three of those “old guys” looking at this ride talking about it. And just to let my fellow Hoons know, I heard this beast start up as I was heading out to catch the Rolex24 a bit later and those are definitely no FART cans on the rear of this Merc. It sounded Awesome. Yeah, this is an extremely nice example of a disappearing breed of automobile.

And just to remind this olelongrooffan that I am now living in the Home of The Swamp Buggy Races, not 10 miles from the Florida Everglades, I spotted these things just the next row over.

Just beyond those Monster Truck Wannabes, this olelongrooffan spotted this pretty dang cool old pickemup truck. It took awhile for the crowd to almost clear out from around it so I could capture these coupla images. The sign I saw out front called it a Peterbilt but aside from the exposed rivets and the small rear window, I didn’t see it.

However, when I returned to the crowdless front end, this is what I saw. Certainly the lines of a Peterbilt cab but what the h*ll is that motor? It appeared to be twin carbs on top but what is that just below? I was certainly bamboozled. But that state of mind is certainly not an unfamiliar position for this olelongrooffan.

Just to show my fellow Hoons the variety of vehicles seen at this show, this was the next one that caught my attention. While it possesses a license plate, notice there is not little sticker that denotes its month and year of expiration? It certainly caught mine as I have often wondered about I could get the same non expiring license plate for one of my rides. My buddy, TheKenMan, has a Wisconsin Street Rod plate that he moves around at will among his 40 or so vehicles.

Yeah, that plate adorned the rear end of this Italian Red Super Car parked amongst all of those street rods.

And as this olelongrooffan is not really a Ferrari fanboy, I had to grab this image so I knew what it was. Yeah, an F430. Probably something I should know about but its roof is really to short to capture my attention, other than to share with my fellow Hoons.

But the status of its registration was something I thought my fellow Hoons could identify with.

And this olelongrooffan figured my fellow Hoons might like to see more of this burgundy AMX with a white vinyl top. But that will have to wait for another day.

That’s it for now.

Copywrite Hooniverse 2014/longrooffan