The Father's Day Car Show
As we all know, Idora Park brought in other attractions and a lot of times they would be at the ball field. Baseball teams and bands and, of course, the circus came to Idora Park. This one day would be a special day – Father’s Day.
As I was growing up seem like my father worked a lot of hours at his job. He was a machinist. Later on when I got older, I would also become a machinist, and we did work a lot of hours.
Between my father working a lot of hours and me playing a lot of sports, we didn’t spend much time together. But the one thing my father did not like to miss was an antique car show.
One Father’s Day, Idora Park had an antique car show.
My two older brothers were usually were doing what they wanted to do. So when my dad wanted to do something, like go to a car show, he would ask me.
I must admit, if I had the money, I would probably have quite a few antique cars – starting with 1963 Ford Thunderbird, and then a 1964 Plymouth Barracuda. And who wouldn’t want a Corvette of some year?
So on that Sunday we took a ride to Idora Park. There were a lot of reasons to love Idora Park, but the one thing that always hits my mind is that when you pulled into the parking lot you could hear the sound of the Jackrabbit because it was a wooden roller coaster, and the sounds of the people laughing and yelling as they went up and down the hills of the coaster.
It’s kind of funny in life – there are sounds and smells that seem to always stay somewhere in your head.
I guess when you go to a car shows, you’re hoping to see the cars you grew up with. Now, my dad had owned two different Hudsons, and he would always look for those when he was at a car show.
And my dad, who really like Fords, would always be checking out the Fords, like the Thunderbirds from the ’50s.
My mom really liked those two-seaters and they almost bought a ’57 Thunderbird when she was getting ready to retire.
Of course there were Model As and Model Ts there, GM cars and Dodges and Chrysler cars.
My dad was a member and an enthusiast of the Chrysler 300 Club. In fact when I was in high school he had bought himself a rare Chrysler 300 that they called the Silver 300. And there weren’t all that many of those made.
I can remember after looking at the cars for a while we will walk through the park and my dad would treat me to some french fries – those Idora Park french fries – and of course that’s a taste and smell I don’t think any of us will ever forget.
He asked me if I wanted to ride any of the rides and I said no. This was time that I got to spend with my dad, so I was staying right by him. And besides, as I said, it was Father’s Day.
As we were looking around by the french fries stand, my father looked toward the entrance of the park and said, “Chuck, let’s go over there.”
Of course, we all know the antique car ride was over there.
We got into the antique car ride and went for a ride.
At that time I was too small to drive, but I still had fun going with him.
And after that we went back to the car show for another hour and he looked around a little bit longer and then he decided it was time to go.
It’s funny how you try to remember the good times in your life, and a lot of my good times went hand-in-hand with Idora Park.
