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Old-Fashioned Fun at Old Car Festival: 2011

September 12, 2011 Think THF

My husband, the kids and I spent the better part of Sunday at Old Car Festival at Greenfield Village. After all the bad weather we've been having, it was truly glorious to be out and about admiring the hundreds of vehicles displayed (and driving!) in the show.

Vehicles at the show are those built from the 1880s to 1932. It was fascinating to see how many unique ideas different vehicle manufacturers had building some of those really early machines. Since this show is more about what you could see (although the sounds of the old engines were like music), below are (some) photos of this wonderful event. And here's a video of the 1770 Fardier de Cugnot in action.

We were transported to a different time and place during the Old Car Show at Greenfield Village.

My husband asks the driver questions about the three-wheeled 1885 Benz Motorwagen replica.

Here's a replica of Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach's 1885 Reitwagen: the world's first internal combustion motorcycle.

Michael Robinson, from Syracuse, New York, stands beside his 1909 Sears H Runabout. There were 11 Sears Autobuggies at the show.

Judges check out Robinson's 1909 Sears Autobuggy.

The grand-daddy of old vehicles. A working replica of the 1770 Fardier de Cugnot brought to the event from the Tampa Auto Museum.

Some participants displayed technical information on a vehicle at the show, others the history of their vehicles or photos of the restoration process.

Cars take to the road as they tour around the village.

Fourteen-year-old Mary Claire is taking a photo of her dream ride.

It was fun how folks get right into the spirit.

A highlight was watching this team assemble a Model T in a little over 5 minutes, explaining the processes the whole time.

Here they are, posing by the finished car. Awesome.

Henry admires an Electric car from 1925.

We ate our picnic lunch watching the fun and games at Walnut Grove. Drag races, relay races, how-slow-can-you-go races. Good fun.

Some of the technology wasn't always reliable as this driver tries to crank start this Ford.

Kristine Hass is a mother of five and long-time member of The Henry Ford. She frequently blogs about her family's visits to America's Greatest History Attraction.

Michigan, Dearborn, 21st century, 2010s, Old Car Festival, Greenfield Village, events, cars, car shows, by Kristine Hass

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