GSTA offers upper Midwest a sneak peek to show season

This weekend, I packed it up and headed to the annual Gopher State Timing Association's 56th annual GSTA Rod & Custom Spectacular, held April 14-15. Despite the name, this indoor event at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds Coliseum welcomes stockers, rods, racecars and anything else with wheels.

I've been dropping in on this show since my own wheels said "BMX" on the handlebars and I don't think I've ever seen the same car twice at this event. That's not surprising, given the variety of cars and the strength of the hobby in the Upper Midwest, particularly the Twin Cities where the fairgrounds are located. Like many Upper Midwesterners, I attended the show to mentally mark the beginning of car show season for the year, but I also went to find a few story leads. Here's a taste of what I found for future OCW stories:

Barn finds, 1932 Ford roadsters, the 1950s and period hot rods are all hot right now, and this Deuce has all of that going for it. The car was built in the late 1950s and never saw the road once the calendar flipped to 1960. Turns out this car is owned by the husband of a girl I went to car shows with as a kid, so it won't be hard to track down.

This 1935 Plymouth coupe was advertising the 28th Annual Midwest Mopars in the Park car show, a great event for fans of "The Pentastar." This year's event will be held June 2-3, 2012. Check it out at www.midwestmopars.com.

Save for a windy day on Lake Superior, you won't get too much surf action on Minnesota's 10,000-plus lakes. This metal 1950 Olds woodie was displayed by Ed Flaherty.

Angelo Van BogartAuthor

Angelo Van Bogart is the editor of Old Cars magazine and wrote the column "Hot Wheels Hunting" for Toy Cars & Models magazine for several years. He has authored several books including "Hot Wheels 40 Years," "Hot Wheels Classics: The Redline Era" and "Cadillac: 100 Years of Innovation." His 2023 book "Inside the Duesenberg SSJ" is his latest. He can be reached at avanbogart@aimmedia.com