Eyes on Design car show, or one of the things I like about Detroit.

[Carmine]

Or one of the reasons I'll come back for the summers. Sometimes the stars line up and you have a fantastic day for a car show. This was one of those days.

This show is a charity event that raises money for the Kresge eye institute (aids the blind), so at least your $25 admission (or $125 for the group I took, lol) is for a good cause. It also brings out the royalty of the D3, as show judges and commentators. If you wanted to find Tom Gale, Ed Wellburn, Ralph Giles, etc. in one place on the same day, this would be the place. More on that subject later...

It's held at the Edsel Ford estate in Grosse Pointe Woods. The same stretch of lakefront road used in the end credits of Gran Torino. Incredibly beautiful and now available for such events.

Sometimes the parking itself is a show... The parking guys seem to group interesting cars together, which I why the Magnum went instead of the nicely air conditioned minivan.

I'll be posting more with commentary.

 

[Carmine]

Fifth try to post these pics. I may be giving up... Keep getting a "security" message from the forum software.

 

[65sporty]

Like the pic's your sending so far

 

[Carmine]

It may be the photo size. Wife's phone and I don't know how to cut the file size. Sucks that photobucket turned into a ripoff.

Now it won't even let me post one pic.

 

[Carmine]

Ok, I'll try to skin this cat another way...this should be more of the parking, plus the estate's entry gate and "carriage house".

 

[Carmine]

Ugh, this sucks because these were nice pics and now they are all chopped up. And I friggin hate touch screen phones. If only my BlackBerry had a better camera.

 

[Carmine]

More.

 

[Carmine]

Ok gang this is taking a bit longer than I expected, but I'll go at it again when it starts getting dark. We don't get such beautiful days all that often so I need to take advantage. I may go wash a cbody...

 

[Carmine]

They always seem to have customs paired with originals. I'm sure their reasoning is not the same as mine... "The designers are professionals, you're a guy who can weld."

 

[Carmine]

Doubt you will see this at a cruise night.

 

[Carmine]

Rolling works of art.

 

[Carmine]

Floating work of art. BTW, that's a dohc straight eight.

 

[Carmine]

The 1953 Chrysler showcar that inspired the 1955 Dodge Le Femme.Note plexiglass roof.

 

[Carmine]

This car belongs to a friend. First time being shown after restoration. His wife does impeccable sewing work. She made the dress from a 1957 pattern.

 

[Carmine]

Jet age stuff...

 

[Carmine]

And the reason we're all here...

Fuselage was the design element featured and I realized I would gladly take any of the cars below. Beautiful...

 

[Carmine]

"Graphics" was the name of this grouping.

 

[Carmine]

If I'd known what a super pain in the *** this would be to post photos, I'd have just videoed the whole thing. I took this for the sound (which sounds like crap on a phone). A noon they had all the muscle and race cars fire up.

 

[Carmine]

Now... getting back to the parking lot.

As we left, I was just about to start the car when an older looking gent strolled over and said, "I'm stuggling to remember who did the sides on this car. His first name was Steve...."

To which I replied "did you work in Chrysler design?"

"Yes I did"

"I'm sorry, I don't know your name?"

"Milt Antonick"

(He's probably best known for the Duster)

We'd actually met once before, years ago in line at Painter's Supply and Equipment (a PPG retailer). I was holding the 1/4 extention for my '73 Imperial. He recognized it and struck up a conversation. This time I was smart enough to get his email

 

[Carmine]

Oops... I forgot to post this one. You'll notice people in white gloves touching the cars. They are people helped by the Kresge institute. The give an award based on the favorite car as "felt" by the blind. I suppose this 300L 4-speed iOS in the running.