A gear-head since my high school days, I go out of my way to admire an old muscle car, or a race car.  An early memory remains of standing outside the fence at the State Fair at Raleigh as the open wheeled dirt track midget cars screamed around the track.  After the race I crossed the track and walked close enough to the cars to feel the heat radiating from the hot motors.  I had a good look at a Offenhauser engine.  The offy had dominated Indy car racing in the early years.  It as an old motor when I saw it as a kid.  Walking across that clay track I could smell the rubber, and the alcohol fumes from the race engines.  I’ve been in love ever since with race car engineering and the shear creative improvisation required in order to “go fast.”

I dropped in at the Grand Dominion car show this past Sunday morning.  It’s a rather high-end car show weighted somewhat toward the rare collectable antique cars, with the mix of street rods, and exotic European sports cars.  I walked around with my camera, lost in my private fantasy of owning a car exquisite in engineering and beauty, but too costly to put at risk driving as it was meant to be driven.  Yes, I know, that’s a contradiction.

By chance I ran into Don, a friend.  I believe he was admiring a corvette.  I commented on how nice he would look behind the wheel of that vehicle.

Here are a few of the photo’s that I took.

I am drawn to the early examples of American automotive history.  The basic simplicity of the machines, with the lines of evolution from the horse and buggy days still evident.  I believe the Ford flat head

engine marked the introduction of the v-8 engine design in a production vehicle.  It was high tech in it’s day.  The driver controlled gas pedal, brake, clutch, steering wheel, and the stick shift–and that was all.  One was entertained by the sensation of

driving and the scenery.  No blue tooth music through the car speakers.

Ford flathead motors are seldom seen today but they were a staple for hot-rodders in the 1950s.

A 389 ci GTO motor takes me back to my high school days.  The GTO was the first of the muscle cars.  I remember the moaning scream of the motor pulling fuel and air through the tri-power carburetors, the tachometer dial approaching 6000 rpm–and the shift into 4th gear.

One of the storied collector cars at the show was a Ford GT40 race car that dominated the 24 hour Le Mans race with four consecutive wins from 1966 through 1969.  The motor is a 302 ci Ford.  Dan Gurney was one of the drivers.  This motor probably has Gurney-Weslake cylinder heads.

Engineering poetry.