Last weekend, we also took in the Lake Mirror Classic in Lakeland, Florida. It's a multi-faceted event, with a classic-car auction joining the Concours d'Elegance along Lake Mirror and the multi-make show nearby in downtown Lakeland.

Come on in for a look at the Mopars and Mopars-by-merger we saw on the Concours show field....

It wasn't an original 426 Hemi (or even a 426 Max Wedge) car, but John & Patty Jones' '64 Plymouth Savoy from Longwood, Florida had the look of one...

...flawlessly finished with a 528-inch crate Hemi under the hood.

How did this Blue Oval engine get into a Mopar?

Actually, Ma Mopar bought the controlling interest in Britain's Rootes Group in 1964, after Rootes and Sunbeam OK'd the Sunbeam Tiger, which carried a 260-inch V8 (and later a 289) in place of its sibling Alpine's four-banger.

We said "Mopars-by-merger"...that includes the historic brands under the American Motors umbrella, including this "Twin H Power"-powered '52 Hudson Hornet four-door sedan. That twin-carburetor setup on top of the already-strong 308-inch flathead Six made it a real torque monster!

(And seeing one in a four-door Hudson is especially sweet, as rare as they were--and are!)

Honorary Grand Marshal for the Lake Mirror Classic was Bob Tullius, who's the winningest Mopar driver in the history of SCCA's Trans Am series, and winner of the first-ever Trans Am race in '66 (in a '66 Dodge Dart).
 

On the red carpet--a winning '55 Chrysler C300 with a New York Yankee history. Owned by David Broxterman of Lakeland, it was given by the Yanks to then-manager Casey Stengel, in May of '55, who--in turn--gave it to outfielder/pinch hitter Enos Slaughter, who then owned it for eight years. Still wearing its original paint, it scored a Preservation and Survivors' Award at the Lake Mirror Classic Councours, and Bob Tullius presented David with the award.

Also honored with a Preservation and Survivors' Award at  Lake Mirror: this '35 DeSoto Airstream, owned by Steve Pritchard of Kathleen, Florida. (Airstream was the "convential" line of DeSotos and Chryslers that Ma Mopar rushed into production for '35 when sales of the radically-designed Airflows failed to meet expectations.)





We'll take a walk around the downtown show field later....