Dearborn — Tim and Sue Swanson drove their 50-foot cabin cruiser across Lake Erie and up the Detroit River to get to Saturday’s Motor Muster vintage automobile show in The Henry Ford.
“We came just for this,” Tim Swanson said as he and his wife ogled a 1965 Plymouth Satellite. “I grew up in Michigan, in the Big Rapids area, so we try to make it back up here when we can.”
Sue Swanson added: “Boats, trains and automobiles — we took a boat and a train to see these cars, so all modes of transportation were involved..”
The Swansons’ commute to the Motor Muster was dwarfed by the 600 miles traveled by Princeton, N.J., residents Randi and Glenn Protter, who also traveled to Dearborn for the car show.
“This is a great way to spend Father’s Day weekend,” Glenn Protter said.
“We have classic car shows on the East Coast, but nothing like this,” Randi Protter said as she, her husband and their 28-year-old son, Conner Protter checked out a 1957 Chrysler 300C.
The Motor Muster started as the Old Car Festival in 1951, with some claiming it’s the oldest continuously running classic car show in the world. The show changed its name to the Motor Muster in 1986, with more than 600 classic cars and trucks on display on the Greenfield Village grounds each year.
Saturday’s show brought back memories for Litchfield Mich. resident Dave Houcher.
“I used to have a ’68 (Plymouth) Road Runner,” Houcher said. “I bought it new — $3,300 out the door. I’m hoping we see one (a Road Runner) here.”
Sue Houcher said she, her husband and their late grandson, Arthur Lake, attended a Motor Muster 16 years ago.
“We had a ball with him — and we found a Road Runner,” she said. “This is our second time here, and it’s just great.”
Clarkston resident Kent Wallace tinkered with his 1967 Dodge Coronet RT, which he said he obtained 35 years ago.
“I traded a bunch of stuff for it — old cars, parts and junk,” he said. “It’s been completely restored; it’s a rotisserie restoration, which means I basically took everything off down to the frame.”
Unlike some classic car owners whose vehicles spend most days locked in a garage beneath a tarp, Wallace said he drives his vehicle “quite a bit.”
“I basically sold everything to finance this,” he said. “It’s an expensive hobby. My wife thinks it’s cool, although I don’t know if she’s as into it as I am.”
ghunter@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2134
@GeorgeHunter_DN
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Classic car fans flock to Dearborn for The Henry Ford’s Motor Muster
Reporting by George Hunter, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By George Hunter, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
