After we spent a weekend away from car shows and cruises to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, I flew solo and hit the road with Jeff Strong of Strong Keepsake Images to take in the Adirondack Nationals held at beautiful Lake George, NY. The event, hosted by Albany Rods and Kustoms, was held over the weekend of September 10th-12th. The show had plenty of 1960s and 1970s muscle cars, classic Corvettes, Thunderbirds, 1950s Chevys and T-buckets to keep any hot rod fan happy. It was, however, very noticable that a growing number of exhibitors opted for trucks over cars. These ranged from a forest green 1960 Ford F100 that looked as though it had just been driven off of the dealer's lot, to a superb 1955 Ford with hand-crafted maple boards lining the bed. I spotted Jim Robinson's beautiful bright yellow and green converted 1942 Ford fire truck, and a wood-paneled 1931 Model A truck that’s featured on the front cover and October page of a calendar produced by Hemmings Motor News.
On Saturday the 11th, with temperatures in the low 80s, approximately 1,700 cars packed into the showground. Couple that with around 80,000 spectators and it was a very busy time for all concerned. Among the attendees was Orange County Choppers’ Paul Teutel Sr., the star of the tv series “American Chopper.” Paul was showing his superb GTO. During the day I took a welcomed break from pounding the grounds and spent some time enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the lake. Even then there was no peace as cars and bikes cruised the lake road!
Jim Robinson’s wife Debbie summed it up when she said that the one thing that really makes the Adirondack Nationals stand out is the cruising at night. "There are not many shows that let you do that. Most places, you don't have anything to do after the show. The cruising is a lot of fun."
One of my enduring memories was seeing the main road into the Fort William Henry showground lined with spectators in lawn chairs enjoying the sight of the cars cruising by all day long. Many of these cars never even entered the showground as the town of Lake George became the East Coast capital of hot rodding for three superb days.
After more than 60 shows this year, I’m growing tired of hearing “Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys! I know it’s hot rod tradition, etc., but after nearly a season it wears thin. I have to give a special mention to the music that was played at Lake George by a guy called K-Man. He did a superb job. It was traditional rock and roll, but he played so many new and rare tracks that I found I was spending as much time listening to the tunes as I was taking photographs! K-Man started at 8am and was still going strong at 5pm on both Friday and Saturday. He started again on Sunday morning and used a radio mic to give a comentary on the cars arriving. He made a good event even better.
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