2016 Goodguys South West Nationals

by Conrad Monroe

Westworld in Scottsdale AZ

img_1042
In camera panorama made by the IPhone 7 Plus – nice little feature.

November 17 – 20, 2016

Another great Goodguys show is in the books. This year’s fall show was one of the larger ones with around 3000 cars on the fields at Westworld in Scottsdale.  Lucky for me, Michelle and I had just recently purchased new IPhones which provided me a back up camera. I packed my camera bag with my standard complement of Nikkor lenses into the back of the wagon, but left my Nikon DSLR on the front seat of my pickup, which I had parked in the shop… All in all my IPhone 7 Plus did more than a credible job of documenting some of the activities during the run of the show.

Thursday was registration and the shop tours. I did not get an exact count but I am guessing that we had a good 300 plus cars on this years tour.  We left toward the end and hit the Baer Brakes, Martin Classic Car Museum and the Hot Rod Interior stops. Baer proves that high quality products can be manufactured in the USA at a competitive price.  Hot Rod Interiors does some really high quality interior design and fabrication. They had several great examples of their work on display, I especially loved the 1939 Lincoln Zephyr!

Run your mouse over the image to display the slideshow controls

  • 2016 Goodguys SW_001 Monroe

Registration and Baer Brakes

We generally spend Friday visiting the Swap Meet and Vendor tent.  This year the Swap Meet & Car Corral were perhaps the largest in my memory. It ran the entire length of the south side of the field.

  • 2016 Goodguys SW_094 Monroe

The Swap Meet and Vendor Tent

Saturday was spent walking the field and finding vehicles that struck my fancy, and to be honest there were quite a few that put a smile on my face.

To start with we parked in Home Built heaven and we were placed right next to 1968 Mercury 4 door wagon. The owners were great to talk with, he built the car in his home shop and was faced with many of the same issues that I had to deal with, namely finding parts for something other than a tri-five Chevy or a prewar Ford.  He also made the same choice as I did and went with a 2005 fuel injected computer controlled engine. Instead of a Dodge he used a 4.6 L Ford with a computer controlled transmission.  This year they have put over 14K miles on the wagon… my kind of folks.

Another car that caught my eye was Dan Burdett’s 1930 5 window Model A coupe with a period correct hot rodded 4 banger engine. The quality of Dan’s work is phenomenal attention to detail after detail. When you have some time, take a close look at this car, well worth the time.

  • 2016 Goodguys SW_148 Monroe

  • 2016 Goodguys SW_246 Monroe

Saturday Car Show

Sunday is the awards day, however this year the weather on Sunday was turning sour as the morning progressed. After taking a series of photos of a really nice Dodge and Dan’s Model A Ford, Michelle and I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and we headed home staying ahead of the storm.

  • 2016 Goodguys SW_312 Monroe

A Few Parting Shots…

Next up the Over The Hill Gang – Phoenix annual Christmas Party! See you all there!