SATURDAY AT IOLA – HIGHLIGHTS

This was the heaviest traffic day in town, but not bad at all. Once again the cars were fabulous. The cars in the "Ragtops & Roadsters" theme tent organized by the Wisconsin Society of Automotive Historians were a real treat to see. We marked up a Car Show Directory for people we wanted to see in the swap meet and made our rounds, before heading to the ICA Auction near the Car Corral. We were looking for a cheap motorcycle with a title for my son Jesse. Several of the good ones were sold. Many that remained had no titles. We did not want to have title hassles, so we moved on. There were lots of good buys on cars in the auction. Practical Midwesterners are not known for making silly purchases and the cars that did sell all seemed like solid values for the buck. If you want to attend an auction with realistic prices, put the Iola sale on your list for next year. This was my first Iola show as a "civilian" -- not working for the publishing company -- and it was totally enjoyable for me. I got to walk around with my friends Jim Rugowski, Dick Feuz and Marv Richer, as well as my youngest son Jesse Gunnell. As I said several times, there was a very good selection of vehicles and an outstanding presentation of the 1930s and 1940s cars that I really like most of all. The daytime weather was generally cool and sunny for most of the days. The crowd was big enough to make Iola impressive, but down from the bumper-to-bumper hoardes of other years. I had the most fun I have had at Iola in a long time, although my now-60-year-old bones are feeling it at night. We need some young blood in this hobby.