Happy Father’s Day to all of the classy dads out there! To all of the dads that have loved and sacrificed to build solid families, and to all of the stepdads who took in their spouse’s children like their own. The world is a much better place because of you. I know several hard working, kind, generous, loving dads that I am so blessed to have in my immediate family.

Every Father’s Day weekend, a small city in North Idaho celebrates by having an old car show and parade. The weekend event is called Car d’ Lane, which is a take-off from the city’s name, Coeur d’Alene. The show draws old car owners (no pun intended) from all over the PNW. Any car or truck can be entered in the parade provided it is 40 years or older. We set up our camp chairs on the sidewalk and watched the parade of cars and trucks on Friday night. My dad had a perpetual smile on his face as the cars drove by and reminded him of his younger days. It was a time when cars had more character and class… and white wall tires.

Does anybody remember riding in the family station wagon? I grew up with five other siblings, so we definitely had a station wagon in the 60’s. They were big enough to hold the entire family and the kitchen sink. What is a seatbelt??? After the station wagon, we got the middle-class icon, a family van.

I think the cars that brought the most nostalgia for me were the “muscle cars” of the 60’s and 70’s. Guys would spend their hard-earned cash fixing their cars up with colorful paint jobs, detailed pin striping, wide tires, headers, loud exhaust pipes and fake fur strategically placed under the back window. I had a 1967 vinyl top Mustang, that worked about half of the time. It was pee green, similar to the one in the photo below. Mr. U drove a much classier 1969 Dodge Charger. It was bright yellow and swooped up. My parents would joke that they could hear him coming to pick me up on a date about two miles before he came around the corner to our house. Oh, how we wish we had those two cars again!

Yep, I miss the good ole “muscle car” days when we would cruise down main street for several laps and then stop at Pappy’s Pizza to chat with friends, and everyone would pitch in their last dollar to get a pizza to share. Back when gas was .59 cents/gallon.

The car show had quite a few other unique cars and trucks that shot fire from their exhaust and did fancy tricks with their hydraulics.

Did anyone else have a cool “muscle car” that you wish you still owned, or a car that brings back lots of memories?