Saturday, July 11, 2009
My feet and ankles started aching two hours ago, I'm dehydrated, I've been at this for seven hours and yet I keep going. I've scouted every corner of this property for prizes to behold and oddities not worth mentioning. My camera ran out of memory at three hours in and all I have to convince myself to keep going is the sight around me, which makes it all worth it. I'm not working in a mine surrounded by gold; I'm not running a marathon in California; I'm at Iola Old Car Show in Iola, Wisconsin, one of thousands to come to buy parts at the giant swap meet or just stare at the cars all day long.
Iola is the largest real car show ever to hit Wisconsin. The show, auction, swap meet, and car corral probably bring most of the year's revenue to little Iola, Wisconsin, keeping it alive until next year. Every year the week after Independence day, thousands flock to northwest Wisconsin to show, trade, and sell your cars and parts. Showcased are everything from Duesenburgs to a custom Cavelier made to look like a cross between a '57 Bel Air, a '53 Corvette, a '60 Impala, and an '01 Corvette. This show is the ultimate car show in the Miswest that any big car enthusiast comes to every year to find parts and check out the competition. To show the size of the Iola show, there were five Kaiser Darrins being showed, of which only 435 were ever made. There were at lest two Amphicars, and I recognized some of the cars from magazines. This show is huge, so why weren't you there?
