Trip to Kruse International Auto Auction

This morning, I loaded up a friend and his three boys and made the 2-hour trek to Auburn, Indiana. I've been wanting to take another trip to the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum. I've been up there a few times in the past, and I had a few free tickets that I received in a raffle a few years ago.



Well, this weekend seemed like a great time to head up. School's out and the Kruse Spring 2007 Auto Auction was taking place. This is something that I can remember attending with my father when I was a little guy, and I've been wanting to get back up there for this as well. I was hoping to take my father and oldest son with me, but they decided to take my father's 1947 chevy coupe to a cruise-in instead. (This is story for another blog).




The weather could not have been more beautiful. Blue skies and 85 degrees. We started at the Kruse Auction. We walked around and looked at all the vehicles that were waiting to be sold. Then we went into some of the buildings. A local Corvette club had several cars in one of the buildings, while another building was filled with car related/flea market stuff. Finally, we ventured into the main building were the auctions would be taking place. We sat down and watched as a motorcyle that did not meet reserve left the rotating stage. Next, a 1941 Chevrolet "Rat rod" drove onto the stage. The car was in primer with suicide doors. One of the auctioneers opened the door to reveal black leather seats and door panels that had green flame inserts. Another auctioneer said that the car had a 454 under the hood. At any rate, the car didn't bring the $10,000.00 (ha!) that the owner thought it was worth.



Next was a wave of several cars with "no reserve". The first was a good-looking 1973 Mercedes sedan. Sort of a metallic blue. The car was very straight, and ended up going for a mere $950.00 dollars! Next, an Austin Healey and then an Alpine Sunbeam both went for under $2,000.00 each.



After a few more cars had entered and left the auction area, my friend's boys decided they were getting hunger, so we got up and left the auction. We drove around Auburn until we found a Subway.

All in all, a great trip to the Kruse Auction. Next time I might even consider bringing along my checkbook.

After lunch we went on the the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum, and then the Kruse Automobile and Carriage Museum and the WWII Victory Museum. I will continue to tell the story of our adventures (and include addtional pictures taken on the trip) in future blog entries.

CRAP! I tried to clean up my hard drive tonight and load a bunch of my pics onto a CD to free up some space. I thought I got all the pictures I took in Auburn onto the disc. However, while I was trying to load some more pics into this post...I've realized that I may have LOST everything!!!! (did I already say, "crap"?)

My friend the "Wheeler-Dealer"

O.k., I've "blogged" before about my friend that has the Shay A and two 57 chevys. He recently came back from a winter in Florida, and to my dismay, came back without any of his "toys".
One of the enjoyable things over the past couple of summers has been to borrow a car or a motorcycle and "joy-ride." Unfortunately, he trailered everything down to his winter home, and left them there.

However, knowing my friend, I knew it wouldn't be too long before he would find something to bring home. Well...this week while driving by his house, my wife noticed that he had another 57 chevy behind his barn.
On the way home from my parents house, my oldest son and I stopped to check out the latest ride. The car was found in Winchester, Indiana. My friend tells me he actually stopped to look at a 1968 Camaro convertible. The guy wanted $30,000.00 for the Camaro, but my friend began to "shoot the bull" with the guy about his 57 chevys, and the guy said, "Well, I might have one of those for sale too!" The car turned out to be a two-door post.
To make a long story short, the guy called him a day or two later and made my friend an offer. The deal was over in less than 24 hours and my friend owned a 3rd '57.Looking the car over, we found it to be in "decent" shape. The carpet is missing and the floors have been replaced. The front bench has been replaced with buckets, and the headliner is missing.
A Hurst shifter on a Muncie 4 speed sets behind a 327. The car would make a decent "driver", but if you wanted to have a "show car", you would need to get some door panels and do some body work.

Get that 40+ year-old body into shape!

One of the things I've always enjoyed about summertime is the chance to get some exercise on a bike.

When I was younger, a friend of mine and I used to love to take long bike rides during the summer months. A couple of times we rode 30 miles or so in one day just to be able to say "we did it". (of course a couple of girls at the end of those rides were certainly "motivating factors". :)

During those days, the bike of "choice" was a good 10-speed. Mine was a Huffy, with a denim seat and denim wrapped handlebars. These bikes were built for racing and NOT designed for comfort. The handlebars (ram-like) forced the rider into a back-breaking position.


Once I married (some 20 years ago), my wife and I purchased matching bikes. During that time, mountain bikes were just becoming popular. We enjoyed riding these bikes, and added all the "accessories" (child trailer, goose-neck tandem child seat, etc.) that a growing family needs. Although more comfortable than a 10-speed, the mountain-bikes still were not the most comfortable for an ever aging body.

No....I longed for the days when riding a bike was fun, and comfortable. The times when one could spend an entire afternoon on a bike and your tailbone would never "scream" back. Back then, I had a Schwinn Stingray. You know the type, ape-hanger handlebars, a banana seat, and a nice wide racing slick on the rear. Dad bought mine used. When we brought it home, it had an orange, metal-flake paint job. I didn't have it too long before my father customized it. Since it was right around the time of the bicentennial, and Evel Knievel was "king", dad gave it a nice white paint job, a red/white/blue banana seat, and some custom pinstriping on the chain-guard. I don't have any pics here, but today I did a google search and found a pic of a bike that is VERY close (minus the goofy streamers and discs in the spokes.) the frame color and seat are DEAD ON!

Well...welcome back from nostalgia lane to the 21st century...were the body is now 40+ years old and the tailbone an back do not enjoy being contorted into strange and unusual riding positions. I've been wanting to get a new bike that is very comfortable to ride, but a 40 year-old man on a Schwinn Orange Crate just looks ridiculous! (See photo)

So...I've been checking out some companies that make some pretty cool cruisers! Places like Dyno and Nirve both have websites with a variety of cruisers. Everything from Tiki, to Salt-flats, to hotrod themed bikes. I would like to purchase something in the near future so that I can get my 40+ year-old booty back into some kind of shape so that I will be able to enjoy the rest of the time with my kids at home and one day my grandkids.

I've provided links to a couple of websites below. ENJOY!


http://www.kustomkruiser.com/


http://www.nirve.com/cruisers.asp?cat=streetstrip&cid=576