West Hollywood, California (November 2, 2009) - The second annual Palm Springs Classic Car Show, sponsored by Great Autos of Yesteryear, marked a watershed for gay car collectors and aficionados, as the gay/straight crowd attending the event saw no sexual preference in the beautiful restorations of classic automobiles collected there. 
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
Great Autos is a gay car club with chapters throughout southern California, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Long Beach Orange County and Palm Springs.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
The members love their vintage Detroit metal, in particular, cars from the glory days of the American automotive industry of the 1950s and 1960s.
Of course, some cars are older; however the fastest growing collector segment is muscle cars the 1970s.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
The $10 admission benefited three desert charities: Desert Outreach Foundation, Golden Rainbow Senior Center and Desert AIDS Project.
It was a hot, sunny day in the desert and there was so much polished chrome on these cars that you needed special sunglasses to shield your eyes.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
These dinosaurs and relics are really works of art sculpted in metal, glass, leather, Bakelite, wood, plastic, fabric and chrome (the more chrome the better, of course). Styling was king.
Technology was reserved for the most luxurious models.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
Power windows, brakes and steering were highly-coveted options.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
Seats were upholstered by coach builders. They even put lead in bumpers to smooth out the ride.
Aerodynamics, safety and fuel economy weren't even part of the equation.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
Most of the cars were well-kept daily drivers.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
However, as much as I like these rolling sculptures, they never would be my daily drive as they can't cope in the modern traffic environment filled with cars that can out-perform and out-maneuver them.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
Even if you are surrounded by extra ton of metal and glass, without modern safety equipment, they are very dangerous for the driver, passengers and anyone (or thing) they hit.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
But enough of the buzz-kill safety lecture; I love these cars and wish I could have lived during the times when each new model year was more fantastic than the last.
Photo by Todd Bianco. WeHo News. |
We no longer have an annual GM Motorama, but we still have great shows like this to remind us of another era.
For many years, Todd “Evan” Bianco has written about cars and Los Angeles on his website acarisnotarefrigerator.com from his West Hollywood base.
Mr. Bianco’s focuses on the car biz and cars as they exist with us here in WeHo and Los Angeles, not in Detroit. He covers subjects as diverse as hybrid hype, the influence of the Asians in So Cal, trends, etc.
Mr. Bianco had a weekly radio show on Sirius Out-Q for a year, and returned to the air with The John McMullen Show on KNEWS AM 870 * 1140 * 1250 knewsradio.com on March 3, 2008.
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