Miracle Mile Auto Show, Sacramento’s Cruise Fest and Glamour Road are car-lover’s dream
If you, your kids or grandkids are fans of classic autos and muscle cars, particularly from the 1950s and 1960s, you have special opportunities this coming weekend. Both Stockton’s Miracle Mile Auto Show and the annual Sacramento CruiseFest are this Saturday; additionally, the California Auto Museum (CAM) features a special exhibit on Detroit’s glamour car era.
The 3rd Annual Miracle Mile Car Show & Concert is October 7, 2023, Noon to 5 PM. Classic cars, muscle cars and low riders will close down Pacific Avenue in Stockton through the center of the Miracle Mile District with amazing cars, live music, a beer and wine garden and various vendors. It’s a free community event and proceeds will go to the Miracle Mile beautification/improvement efforts. Stop at a favorite Miracle Mile retailer or two, and grab a bite or libation from favorite watering holes like Valley Brew, Whirlow’s and Cocoro while enjoying the classic auto scene!
Sacramento’s annual CruiseFest is also Oct. 7, 3 to 7 PM. CruiseFest, sponsored by the California Auto Museum, takes place on Fulton Avenue from El Camino to Marconi, featuring hundreds of the most interesting classic autos and cool muscle cars you’ll see in the west. Best of all, it’s free to attend the event (and one can still register their classic auto to be part of the cruise).
You can make it a full day of automotive memories by visiting the auto museum that same morning and immerse yourself in the Glamour Road special exhibit featuring the history and back-stories of almost two dozen memorable automobiles that reflect the glamour car era in US autos, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s.
The Glamour Road exhibits tracks American car makers following World War II, who hired designers and stylists from the fashion world to the influence women in car purchases. Splashy paint and interior colors were reflected in the styles of many cars, tail fins reached exotic proportions, all particularly noteworthy in the mid-1950s and 1960s. The Glamour Road exhibit runs to the end of October, and is tied to the beautiful coffee table book, Glamour Road, for sale at the museum.
Among almost two dozen cars in thespecial display is a lovely 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk Sports Coupe. Studebaker marketing brochures of the era targeted women buyers, as example, Going Steady with Studie offered tips in a pink-hued brochure to female buyers, such as how to change a flat tire: “Here’s my advice. Put on some fresh lipstick, fluff up your hairdo, stand in the safe spot off the road, wave and look helpless and feminine. If this doesn’t do the trip, I guess I overestimated men, especially truck drivers”! Such copy likely would’ve been deemed sexist, if it hadn’t been written by one of the USA’s most prominent advertising execs, Bernice Fitz-Gibbons. Detroit in turn continued to crank out scores of models in bright colors, interiors decked out with new gadgets and advertising pitches themed to the female in the household. Other eye-catching exhibit cars include a beautiful 1956 Ford Fairlane SunLiner convertible; a 1958 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday Coupe, a 1963 Ford Thunderbird convertible and a dozen more.
Notes Karen McClaflin, exec director of the museum, “Visiting the California Automobile Museum and then heading out to their 12th Annual CruiseFest on October 7 is the perfect way to spend a fun day checking out everything from classics to the latest and greatest. At the Museum, you’ll see over 150 vehicles on display from classic cars, pickup trucks, muscle cars, lowriders, celebrity cars, antique autos, alternative propulsion cars, and even a motorcycle or two! The Museum opens at 10am, so bring the family and enjoy the vehicles.
She adds, “After your visit to the Museum, head on over to Fulton Avenue for CruiseFest 2023 - Sacramento’s largest free car cruise and auto show featuring over 400 classic and specialty cars cruising the avenue from 3-5pm and then on display from 5-7 for your viewing pleasure. There’ll be food trucks, a beer booth, CruiseFest t-shirts for sale, rock climbing wall, vendor booths and so much more for the whole family! During the Cruise and Show, Fulton Avenue is closed from El Camino to Marconi, so plan to park at one of the neighboring parking lots or on the adjacent streets, bring your lawn chairs or just meander up and down CruiseFest as you ogle some of the most beautiful cars in Sacramento! It’s a full day of automotive nostalgia”!For more information: California Auto Museum and CruiseFest, calautomuseum.org,(916) 442-6802, museum is located at 2200 Front St., Sacramento; Miracle Mile Auto Show, stocktonmiraclemile.com; (209) 623-1144.
Where are you traveling? Contact Tim, tviall@msn.com; happy western sojourning!
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Miracle Mile Auto Show, Sacramento’s Cruise Fest and Glamour Road soon
