Showing at an indoor event is always a bit of a hassle. For those of us that live out of town it adds a degree of difficulty to show at an event like the 2015 Starbird Devlin Show. For me it started Wednesday evening with a 90 mile drive to Wichita to drop off my daily driver in a parking garage. Then Thursday I took off mid morning to get the Galaxie washed and drive her to Century II. By 4pm I had the Galaxie in the show and cleaned up and I was back at work. I even had a few minutes to stop by Deville’s Barber Shop & Shaving Parlor to get myself looking good for the weekend.
For the 2nd year in a row I’ve been asked by my friend and mentor Doug Reed to include my car in the Kustom City display in the Starbird-Devlin Car Show held in Wichita’s Century II Convention Center. To me, it’s an honor. I get to display my car along side some of my favorite kustoms and hang out with some of my favorite people. Today was the move-in for our group, so early this morning I fired up my Galaxie and made the 80 mile drive down to Century II. An early morning drive with some great tunes in my favorite car is an amazing thing for my attitude.
As soon as I pulled in I was greeted by one of my friends from the Kustom City display, I was waved into the building and directed to my parking spot with a bunch of rides that far outclass mine. As last year, some of the cars in the display are immortalized on Dennis McPhail’s Kustom City poster, it’s a real big deal to me to even be in the same display as all of these cars.
After getting the cars into position I spent about an hour hand wiping down the car. In my haste to get to the show and see my kustom family I forgot to stop and hit the car wash. Thankfully I had a fresh bottle of Meguiar’s Quik Detailer in the trunk, I cleaned every damn surface of the exterior with the stuff. 🙂 Then it was off to walk around the show a bit and see who else was already set up or in the process.
Out for a morning drive in my Galaxie 500 with my bug collection.
Here are some of the photos I took while walking around.
Floyd\’s 58 Edsel Wagon kustom. The car features a bunch of great pinstriping and a full kustom interior by Fast AL’s Upholstery amongst more kool touches.
Floyd’s Edsel Wagon. We talked today about me shooting a feature on it for a magazine, I can’t wait!
I keep running into this beautiful Mercury from Nebraska, and I’m not mad about that.Troy Pate’s newly finished hot rod. It was his uncle’s street beast back in the old days and was finished just before the show. I REALLY want a ride 🙂
Michael Behrendt’s 34 Ford Coupe. The car was given to him years ago on the condition that he someday build the car. Nothing on the car is newer than 53 except the 59 Olds steering wheel. The east coast channeling lends to the car’s Norm Grabowski’s Kookie Car-esque profile. I’ve been given a ride in the car and it was a blast!Goren brought this beautiful 48 Merc up from Texas.Chaotic Customs has their normal huge display full of just about everything you need for you hot rod or kustom. The new sign is kool too.Devlin Hot Rods shop is just up the street from Century II and they had some very nice rides in their display. There’s a giant glass wall behind that curtain so look for more photos of these rides later, I’ll shoot them when the sun goes down tomorrow.These are the cars parked in front of me in the Kustom City display. Johnny Hammann’s 58 Chevy (as it was built in 76), Terry Cook’s Chevy, and Jack’s 51 Ford.Looking back down Kustom City. We have 10 cars this year in the display, I’ve been asked to help round up cars for next year and I’m an ambitious fella. Let’s shoot for 20 cars for 2015. If you have a kustom and want to hang out with some awesome people, send me a message here.Hub and Gloria Harness’ beautiful “Cinnamon” One of my favorite kustoms on the planet. They have been so amazingly supportive over the last few years and I’m lucky and honored to know them.
Just because this year is almost over doesn’t mean that we can’t be looking forward to the start of next year! In these parts January has but one major event. The Starbird-Devlin Rod & Customs Charities Car Show. The show goes down this January 17-19th at the Century II in Wichita, KS. Last year’s show was the first time that I displayed my car for an indoor show and I really had a good time, this year I will again be a part of the Kustom City display featuring Wichita area kustoms. I’m honored to get to have my Galaxie with these beautiful cars!
Here’s a slide show of the photos from this year’s event.
in the trunk, I cleaned every damn surface of the exterior with the stuff. 🙂 Then it was off to walk around the show a bit and see who else was already set up or in the process.
