When you’re into cars, the summer is guaranteed to be the busiest time of the year for you. There are car shows, meets, races to watch, track days, days spent in the garage… It depends on what you’re into, but regardless, when the weather is warm and the sky is sunny you will be busy.

We had a weekend back in July that involved three different events in one weekend. The first event was something I look forward to every third Saturday of the month, the Tire Rack Cars and Coffee meet. It’s a relaxed environment and car people of all types mingle and talk about what they love.

The mid-sixties, a great time in automotive history.

From a distance this car looks pretty normal.

What’s this?! It’s a turbocharged LS V8 powering a Subaru.

I didn’t get a chance to look closely at this truck. All manner of cars and trucks show up for the meet.

BMW performance

The classic whale tail Porsche.

Here’s a one-owner Mustang. It had some work done to make it a little more suitable on the track.

The factory gauges weren’t working right, so the owner installed some digital ones to monitor vehicle and engine speed.

There was a driving program at the small track to help teens learn the limits of the cars they’re learning to drive.

After the meet at the Tire Rack warehouse, it was time to drive home and pick up my wife. A coworker’s son-in-law works at US12 Speed and Custom in New Buffalo, Michigan. The shop was having their annual car show. I’ve been invited the past few years, but have always been busy. I figured we could check it out this year. So after a delicious lunch at the Stray Dog in New Buffalo, we went.

I love the look of the customs being built these days.

There was a Lincoln truck in the shop with a crazy amount of detailed metalwork.

It kind of has a steampunk vibe.

We took this photo because I like the switch box up near the ceiling. I’ve been frustrated with the electronics in the Miata lately and like the idea of a simple box like this to control all the essential functions.

Yes! This jet-powered dragster was fired up. The police were kind enough to block traffic for a minute while the fog of smoke that was created rolled away.

I’m glad we went. It was cool to see the cars, especially the dragster. I’ve seen jet-powered cars at air shows before, but never up close. We headed home after stopping at Oink’s for some ice cream.

Sunday was left unplanned, but it didn’t stay that way. My parents were going to the Gilmore Car Museum near Kalamazoo and invited my wife and me to join. Knowing that we won’t live in this area forever, we decided to go along.

Here’s a 1929 Duesenberg.

I found this somewhat luxurious Studebaker truck pretty cool. Definitely a rarity.

The helicopter-engined Tucker.

Someone was telling me the other day how much they didn’t like old style flames. They prefer the photorealistic vinyl printed stuff. To each their own, I guess.

When it comes to muscle cars, I’m a Mopar guy. I was really happy to see this Charger Daytona on display.

Here’s the Little Deuce Coupe, the one on the cover of the Beach Boys album. This was built some in Michigan and more details were finished at George Barris’s shop in California. It’s a piece of custom automotive history.

There wasa turbocharged F1 or Indy car that looked like it was from the 80’s.

We had lunch at this diner on the grounds.

This is my kind of Bentley.

One of the new buildings on the grounds, a faux Cadillac dealership on the outside.

So much detail. I wonder if cars will ever have this level of detail in their design again.

Inside the Ford Model A building there was a display with all sorts of license plate ornamentation.

The garage/gas station on the grounds is iconic, but here’s a shot of the stocked interior.

I’m interested to know how the museum came to own this bus and how it was transported to the US. It looks to be about the same age as my father-in-law’s London taxi.

It’s a great museum. I’ve been there before, but it had been a while. The new buildings are a good addition. It’s funny to think that it’s such a large, quality auto museum and it’s not far away.

I didn’t get to work on the Miata that weekend, but it was fun. As I said, when cars are your hobby the summer is a busy time.