2019 Then & Now Car Show, Lake Forest, IL. - Pt. 1

Last Sunday (10/13/2019) was the first annual Then & Now Car Show in Lake Forest, Illinois. It's an invitation-only show, with collectors and dealers from around Chicago bringing their most interesting / rare / exotic / valuable, or "interarexoticuable" cars, competing for awards in various classes.

My buddy Tim (in the leather hat and goggles), when he brings something to a show, typically likes to bring several somethings from his collection of mid-century English cars. This means he needs to recruit drivers to drive some of his cars for him. Long story less long, I drove his Hillman Minx Mk 2 to the show, which presented a substantial learning experience. No power steering. No power brakes. Four-speed column shifter where 1st gear is non-synchro, so you can only use it from a dead stop or you'll crunch gears... or, if you're me, crunch even more gears.

Here are a million photos from the show. The other million will go up tomorrow.

FAQ: "What's with these pictures? Did you use some kind of janky old lens you pulled from a garage sale's butthole?"

Answer (short version): Yes.

Answer (long version): How dare you! I'll have you know I paid good money to pull that Janky old lens from Ebay's butthole. It's a 1985 Tokina 28-85 F/3.5 - f4.5. However, my copy of this lens is messed up or dirty in some kind of way that gives it personality and charm. Maybe it's got some haze on the elements inside or something, but it's definitely not accurate, and it's definitely not sharp. It's lacking in contrast, and bright light sources tend to bloom with a golden, peach-colored fuzz. Resulting photos are soft and dreamy, with a kind of pink gradient leading into the light source of the scene. It's my current favorite. If I were to have it serviced and cleaned, it would probably lose all of it's personality and I'd be left with a not-sharp, not-very-good vintage manual focus zoom lens with loads of color fringing that I never use again. The way I see it, photography is an art form, and this lens is a very interesting brush.

Anyway. The photos.

That's Tim. He brought three cars to the show. This green one his his pride and joy: a 1951 Jowett Jupiter. Aluminum body, flat-four horizontally opposed engine, with leather piping on the front fenders. 500 of them were built, and there are maybe twelve of them in the U.S. I'm sure securing replacement parts is super easy.

How you get aluminum to form compound curves is beyond me. Those light brown stripes on the
fenders? Yep. Leather piping, like on a couch.

Here we see the World War I Flying Ace, readying his Sopweth CamelSinger 9 Roadster for dawn
battle.

Mercifully, I was not asked to drive the Singer, or I would have had to steer from the right side of
the vehicle while carefully destroying the gearbox with my left hand.

One of the Mini Cooper variants. An old Clubman maybe?

A 1964 (I think) Caterham 7, which looks pretty much exactly like a 2020 Caterham 7.

The dash of the Jowett Jupiter. The car was restored by the previous owner, and the current
owner has been unable to find out what kind of wood was used. The color name and paint code for
the car is also an ongoing mystery.

A Jag XK120 Coupe.

Yep. A Lamborghini Countach. Fun facts: The wing was completely non-functional, but was added
because it looked cool. Also, the name "countach" is not a real word, but is an Italian interjection
one might use when seeing something beautiful, like when the English say "phwooaaah!" The
Italians, man.

It's not the one you think. That's an Aston Martin DB4. The one in Goldfinger was a DB5... not that
I could tell the difference by looking... or that it matters much.

A 1991 911 Carrera, dressed up as a 1973 RSR tribute. I don't care how you get there, as long as
you add fender flares.

This is a 1957 Triumph Devin, which is a kit car. That's not an epithet. The owner described it as
much. I think it's a Triumph TR-6 chassis, with a fiberglass body by Devin.

A Ferrari Dino, named after Enzo Ferrari's son. Initially, the Dino was not designated as a proper
Ferrari, as it was "only" powered by a V6, which was designed by Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari.
Eventually, Dino persuaded his father to grant the car full Ferrari badging. It's not the first time that
Enzo seems to have needed to lighten up a little. The Dino is eye-wateringly pretty.

It's kind of hard to find a bad angle to shoot a Dino from.

A 2002 Morgan Plus 8, which looks pretty much exactly like every previous Morgan since the
beginning of time... except for the ones with three wheels. The modern, large-diameter wheels are
kind of a giveaway. Morgan is also notable for still using wood in the chassis of their cars.

Bonnet straps are bad ass. Fur-lined ones are badder ass.

This woody still has the lettering from when it served as a summer camp transport vehicle, which is
pretty adorable.

This is a one-off Excalibur. That means it was basically hand built and is unique in the world.
Excalibur may sound familiar as the brand made popular by TV show pimps driving their 1930's
looking coupes around, with the big silver headers. It seems they made other things, too. This car
rode to the show from the Milwaukee area in a covered trailer. The gentleman in the red jacket is
the owner.

The rest of the photos tomorrow!