Labor Day Weekend Car Show Draws 2,000 Spectators
Yes, believe it or not this IS a Mercedes-Benz. Just one of many unique vehicles at the Danbury War Memorial Car show.
While many Westporters were spending the last big weekend of summer at Compo, Sherwood Island or cruising on Long Island Sound, our neighbors to the north spent part of their Labor Day weekend at one of Fairfield County's larger car shows, the annual Danbury War Memorial car show.
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Located in the heart of Danbury at Rogers Park, the Danbury War Memorial which is a non-profit recreational and educational facility providing organized sports, personal fitness, as well as community events. All profits gained will be used for continuous improvements to the building. The grounds are also the site of Memorials built to honor the fallen lost in World War Two, The Korean and Viet Nam conflicts and will soon be home for a Memorial for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Half-Million Dollar Traffic Jam! - The classic, vintage and unique vehicles in this line are easily worth $500,000 or probably more. This beauty in green a modified Charger muscle car and only about 500 were ever built. After its initial year in NASCAR, they banned the Daytona for being too fast to safely race. This makes it one of the most important cars in motorsport history for the changes it forced in the racing series. With its huge, 23-inch tall-rear airfoil and deeply slanted nose, it was obvious that the Charger Daytona existed only to win races at fast NASCAR tracks.
The competition debut for the Dodge Charger Daytona came at Alabama International Motor Speedway (now Talladega Superspeedway) on September 14, 1969. In fact, partly as a result of it's highly banked turns at 32º Buddy Baker (NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020) was the first NASCAR driver to break 200 MPH turning a lap of 200.447 mph in Dodge Daytona. This legendary automotive icon was also the first car to win at the new Alabama Motor Speedway. Most NASCAR legends like Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough and 34 other drivers boycotted the race after multiple tire failures occurred in practice which the drivers attributed to the track being too fast causing premature tire wear.
This year's record attendance was due in part to the two hundred or so exceptional vehicles, everything from perfectly restored vintage antiques, to legendary American Muscle Cars of the 60's and 70's, to a few trucks like few have seen. There were a few European high end cars as well as a couple of exotics like the Lamborghini with the intake covers specifying "remove before flight" evoking those used on Amercia's military jet aircraft. Several active duty Army soldiers attached to the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Danbury were on hand to pose for photos with one of their vehicles.
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Edsel was a make of car and a new car making division introduced by the Ford Motor Company on September 4, 1957. The company called that day, "E-Day." The car was named after Henry Ford's son, Edsel Ford. The Edsel was also considered one of the biggest failures in history although some say it was simply ahead of it's time. It was sold for only three years, ending in 1960.
The ROUSH 2010 427R™ Mustang was the first in the lineup of new ROUSH® 2010 Mustangs to have a ROUSHcharger® supercharger installed which boosts the horsepower to 435 and offers 400 lb.-ft. of torque. Roush Racing, the original name of the company started by Jack Rousch was one of the most successful teams in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) racing history.
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Another legend in SCCA racing was this Boss 302 Mustang, introduced in 1969 and driven in the Trans-Am series at Lime Rock, CT by a legendary driver, Parnelli Jones. Jones battled another legend, Mark Donohue driving the Roger Penske Z-28 Camaros. Donohue tragically was killed after crashing during a warm-up run for the Austrian Grand Prix.
This Boss was painted red, but the original 1969 Boss 302, of which only 1628 were built to qualify for Trans-Am series racing, was only available in Bright Yellow, Calypso Coral, Wimbledon White, and Acapulco Blue. The Boss was rated at 290 horsepower (probably more) and was one of only a few cars on the market at the time that had a nearly one-to-one cubic inch-to-horsepower ratio. The car cost about $3600. (almost 36K in today's dollars) and the current average selling price according to Classics.com is over $88,000. with a top selling price of nearly $260,000.
One of the cars taking home a trophy was The Mercury Cyclone Spoiler (above, right) which was launched Into the NASCAR Battle When Cale Yarborough Won The Daytona 500 In 1968 in a Woods Brothers Cyclone. The Cale Yarborough Edition Was Red And White Like His Woods Brothers Car With A Signature. Only 41 Cale Yarborough Spoilers were built with the largest engine available, the legendary 428 Cobra Jet Ram Air! These cars were only built one model year, 1969. Cyclones have sold for an average of $65,000 and as much as $100,000. Yarborough, former NASCAR Winston cup series driver, owner, Businessman, and farmer, not all that an unusual occupation for the mostly southern based stock car divers. He is only one of two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive Championships, winning in 1976, 1977, And 1978.
Above left, Rayanne of Danbury pauses next to the trophy-winning Cale Yarborough Cyclone Spoiler.
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This truck certainly raised a few eyebrows.
This 1926 Mack Model AC "Bulldog" 600 GPM pumper, (above, right) purchased new by New Brunswick, New Jersey,made an appearance. This four-speed chain-drive vehicle is powered by a four-cylinder dual ignition engine. It is owned by Henry Sanford of Redding, Connecticut.
Several active duty Army soldiers attached to the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Danbury were on hand to pose for photos with one of their vehicles.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.