The Royce Files

Well, there haven't been any updates for weeks. Pitful, I know. But here's what happened in short summary since Memorial Day. 1. Went on my adventure hiking trip on the North Country Trail in 2 different locations. One near Remer, MN and the other in the BWCA on The Kek . The whole Kekekabic Trail is enough for another post so I'll not drop the details here. To say the least, that trail kicked my butt. 2. The following weekend involved traveling to 3 different locales. I went to a wedding in Mo-town and then watched a triathlon in Buffalo. My MFG was competing in it. I should post stuff on that later. It was really cool. 3. I forgot what happened the following weekend. I remember seeing my MFG and shopping. 4. The next weekend was the annual pilgrimage to the car show with the Green Hornet, the family's 1951 Pontiac Chieftain . I went down on Thursday and had to return on Saturday because I needed to do music the next day. It was a long weekend that ended with some...

Another post about the Back to the 50s car show. This post's theme is nameplates and I've got a dandy amount of classy ones here to display. The Plymouth Belvedere with some spots of rust. A lot of nameplates used a cursive script. Ford Galaxie 5 00 adds a regal touch with a crown emblem. A Chrysler Imperial with a bird emblem harkening to either the Great Seal of the United States or the flag of Mexico or perhaps even German symbolism of the past. Imperial is also the chief beer in Costa Rica . And I conclude with the fabluous Ford Thunderbird with its cool font. I like the reflection of the Tiny Tim donut stand in the paint.

The Back to the 50s swap meet of a few weeks ago has many remarkable finds. None of which I purchased. I don't have room for this stuff. But the internets do. So let's begin our tour. Here we find 2 bottles of Schmidt's City Club beer, a  Whistle Beverage bottle  of some kind (I believe it is a soft drink bottle but I could be wrong), and a goblet with the mark of Pabst Blue Ribbon  (of which one is already owned in my family). Brewed in St. Paul, City Club began its life as a near-beer during prohibition. Some of my ancestors lived in the shadow of the brewery that made it along the Mississippi River. It's still there but not sure if its being used for much brewing any more. In a previous signs of beer post I wrote more on Schmidt's. A few years after prohibition, 1936 to be exact, City Club became a full blow beer. Production of the label disappeared in the 1950s. Then in 1997 the then current owner of the label and Schmidt brewery, Stroh's, decided to re...

It has nearly been a week but here's the post you've been waiting for about Back to the Fifties. This year my immediate family and the 51 Pontiac was joined by my MFG (mostly Finnish girlfriend). It was a pleasant time. There was plenty of opportunities to cat nap in between walking around the grounds. My brother in law made some delicious food. A record number of pre-1964 cars were on hand (most of them Chevys.) In this post we will see a few green colored cars . Why green? I thought it would be unique. However, I discovered it was far from uncommon. Orange would have been a better choice. Nonetheless, here they are: This last one is what I call a forest service green. The forest service has a considerable number of vehicle of  this particular shade of green.

It's Back to the 50s weekend and the Green Hornet will be at the car show along with numerous other family members. But before I blow through this post let me post something in honor of John Wesley who just had a birthday. It's a goofy song. Our next post is rather old. You may have seen it before but in talking with others I know nobody seems to remember if they had. This one is dedicated to David. With that I bid you all adieu for the weekend. Stop by the Green Hornet if you are at the show. We're usually near the grandstand. But that changes depending on how early we get to the grounds. Car show coverage later next week.

Once again made an appearance at Back to the Fifties at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. This behemoth of a show just keeps going. Over 11,000 cars from '63 and before cram into the grounds. Many are hot rods but still more are classics such as the one my family owns, The Green Hornet, a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain. The Pontiacs are quite a rare breed at this show. Mercurys are too as are Rolls Royces. Chevys and Fords dominate. In particular the Chevy Bell Air. Its literally on every block. That should be my movie for next year. Do a sampling of a block of cars and determine what percentage are Chevy Bell Airs. It was a full weekend. On Sunday we finally got to Sonic in St. Paul. It wasn't quite what we expected in a drive in. I guess we were spoiled to have been in on the tail end of A&Ws twilight growing up. The menu seemed sparce. There were no tray holder things. But the food was good. No complaints here. A&W still exists but not in the Drive In fashion. No I take th...

I went to the TCs to take part in a huge car show at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds- Back to the 50s . My family brought their vintage car out to the show and did one of 2 things - sat around or walked around. The car in the picture is not the family car although you would think a Rolls Royce should be. Our classic car is a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain. Apparently Jack Benny owned one so I'm glad. However, I saw about a half dozen Rolls Royces at the show that featured about 11,000 pre-1965 cars and hot rods dispersed across the grounds. There was even 1 Rolls Royce that was manufactured for the English Royal Family. I think I only saw a dozen so Pontiacs. Half of those were Chieftains. Chevys and Fords were everywhere. Other cars I enjoyed looking for were the VW Type 1 (commonly called a beetle) and the Packard. The Back to the 50s event is pretty low key. No huge cash awards were offered to my knowledge just a lot of cars and people milling about enjoying looking at some fine cars. ...