Iola Old Car Show takes spotlight

While the world may be looking at Greece and China, in Iola, Wis., today all eyes are on the numerous classic cars that have rolled into town for the annual old car show.

More than 100,000 people usually come to town over the course of the show, which started yesterday.

I was working at the base of the old forest fire spotting tower that has been a landmark on the old car show grounds since it was moved here in 1980.

Then, of course, we joked that it was Chet Krause’s oil well.

While there is no oil gushing, people certainly gush about their old cars.

Muscle cars seem to get the most attention these days as attendees around my age revel in their memories of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The most startling thing for me had nothing to do with Muscle cars.

It was seeing several of the Chrysler K-cars among the classics.

That really makes me stop and think that time is rushing by very fast.

Those cars saved Chrysler, gave Lee Iacocca a top-notch reputation and were simply current models at the car shows I worked here in the early 1980s.

In those days three decades ago we still had long lines of Model-Ts and Model As that would come into town in groups. Unfortunately, that generation has passed from the scene and hardly any of those cars are to be seen now.

Yes, I know there is no numismatic content in this blog except that the show is held on grounds that completely surround the Krause Publications building and Old Cars is a sister newspaper to Numismatic News.

But the interesting thing about collectors is that they tend to collect more than one thing.

Somewhere in the swap area there could be someone with some old coins to match the old automobile models. If there is, someone will find them I am sure.

Tomorrow I will be joining my work crew to cook hamburgers on a large two-sided gas grill that can cook 200 at a time.

If you come to the car show, get hungry and follow your nose to the main food area, you will likely see me there.

This task is very different from what I do at coin shows and I am grateful for the opportunity each year to prove to myself that coin shows are way better.

But don’t tell that to a car collector.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2014 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."