Friday, March 23, 2012

Muscle Cars and Trolley Cars... a potent combination

I was invited by a gentleman to come and view the Trolley Car facility in Kenosha, WI. I'm a fan of trains and trolleys, so I jumped at the chance to see the place. Also since the Tour was only a few hours long, it gave me plenty of time to go Barn Find hunting around the area.

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The Vintage Trolley Cars of Kenosha are a real treat. The line loops around the downtown area and along the lakefront. The Lakefront once the site of an American Motors factory. It has all been redeveloped into a Museum Campus and lakefront homes. The Trolley Barn where they are stored is able to hold eight Trolleys on tracks, and 2 on the side. They do all the restoration and maintenance in this one building.

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After the Tour I had no definitive plans, so I started running around looking for Barn Finds. Right away I found something special, a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T in Plum Crazy Purple. It was sitting next to a lone house on an old cobble stone street on one side. It had been sitting there for a long time it looked like. I sat there for a second looking at the bullet holes in the windows and contemplated not going to the door and asking about the car.

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Luck was on my side, the father of the owner walked out and was on his way to the store. I talked to him for a moment and he said he would let my son know I stopped by, but asked I not lift up the cover. So I thanked him, snapped some pictures from the road and went on my way. I have yet to hear from the son.

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I continued on my way though, started driving around the area looking for a restaurant to grab some lunch at. When ever I travel on an expedition I never hit up the normal fast food fair. I always try to go someplace local. Not finding anything that really made me want to pull over for... I drove further and further away from Kenosha. On my way to eat, I discovered a 1970 Mustang Fastback sitting in a yard just off the road. Looks as though it had a cheap repaint. The Mustang did not look to be in terrible shape... from the road. Unfortunately nobody was home to talk more about the car.

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Finally finding a nice restaurant in Downtown Racine. I made a loop to get back to the road home and ran across this 1968 American Motors Javelin SST. Definitely rough, but a good project for someone.

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Popping out back on the main street, out of the corner of my eye, behind a busindss there sat a row of cars, mostly Dodge and Plymouth vehicles from the looks of it. I called the number on the building, but no body answered. So I snapped a few pictures from the road and headed back to Kenosha.

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Back in Kenosha, Brad the Trolley engineer had brought out another one to move some stuff around in the barn. And just as he did, a couple came up and asked to take some wedding pictures in it. So they did! I pulled up just as they were finishing up.

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Parting company with my friend, I went and followed up on another yard full of cool cars in Kenosha. I had visited the yard on another expedition, but the owner made it very clear by a large sign in his driveway not to step foot on his land. So I took some pictures from my car of some of the cool stuff he had lying around, turned around and headed out of town.

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On the way home, not expecting anything special, I found some of the coolest finds of the day. Sitting next to an old repair shop in I don't know where Illinois was a Pinto station wagon, a 1970 Dodge Coronet and first generation bug sitting in the back of a truck. And just a little bit down the road was more cars sitting outside another old repair shop.

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So sad to see so many good projects sitting out there rusting away. Hoping for the day when someone brings them home and restores them.

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