The early days of spring began at the Del Mar Fairgrounds with one of “America’s Favorite Car Shows,” as proclaimed by the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association. This, the 23rd Meguiar’s Del Mar Nationals, featured 2,500 rods, customs, classics, muscle cars, imports and trucks thru 1999. “AutoMatters & More” visited on Saturday, the second day of the three-day show. The weather was picture-perfect.
Show vehicles cruised slowly, back and forth along the palm tree-lined main boulevard, ing by the exhibit halls where many of the show vehicles were on display, and some of the many vendors were located.
The PPG Lowrider Palace ‘Special Indoor Exhibit’ was filled with spectacular, amazing lowriders. It was a car show within a car show, complete with a lowriders hopping exhibition just outside, on Saturday. At long last, this was finally my opportunity to see lowriders participating in extreme hopping, whereas in the past I’d only seen them engaging in little hops as they cruised down aisles at car shows and, occasionally, on city streets. Hopefully I will edit together a short video of the lowrider hopping action, and post a link to it with the expanded photo coverage at https://automatters.net.
In addition to the Lowriders Palace, other indoor halls contained numerous show vehicles and vendors’ displays.
Many more unique vehicles were outside. At the “Nitro Thunderfest Dragster Exhibition,” several very loud dragsters roared to life.
In front of the main grandstands of the Del Mar Fairgrounds was the Swap Meet & Cars 4 Sale Corral. I usually have difficulty resisting the temptation to buy some hidden treasure at swap meets, and this year was no exception. I could never have imagined that I would discover a historically significant, “Flower Show Special Award” trophy from the 1966 San Diego County Fair. It featured a gold-plated, metal likeness of Don Diego, his sombrero and guitar.
Don Diego served for many years as the San Diego County Fair’s ambassador, welcoming visitors to this annual event. Today he remains immortalized on the iconic Don Diego Clock Tower. Complete with its three mosaic s, this historic tower was saved from demolition and, instead, relocated in 2017 to the O’Brien Gate entrance to the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
This year’s San Diego County Fair will be held June 12 through July 7. Its theme will be “Let’s Go Retro!” For information, visit https://www.sdfair.com, and to see my coverage of past fairs visit: https://automatters.net.
I am a history buff and I truly enjoy covering the San Diego County Fair each year, so I bought the trophy, but first I had to promise its seller that it would be going to a good home, since he was inclined to keep it for himself. I took a photo of my trophy in front of the Don Diego Clock Tower.
As always, spectators filled the bleachers to watch the exciting Goodguys AutoCross, which culminated in the “Duel in Del Mar” Shootout.
There was much more to see and do, as well as food to eat, but unfortunately I ran out of time before I could enjoy any more: live music by Santana Soul; a Suede & Chrome special indoor exhibit in the Bing Crosby Hall (All New For 2024!); the “Kids Make and Take,” where kids could make and then take home a plastic scale car model; the “Kids Zone,” with Free Arts and crafts, games, prizes & more; the awards presentation and parade, culminating in the presentation of the 2024 Meguiar’s Street Rod D’ Elegance award; and “All American Sunday,” which welcomed American-made or American-powered vehicles of all years. I used to enter my 2011 Ford Mustang in the “All American Sunday” Goodguys AutoCross, back in the days when it was held on a different short, tight autocross course that occasionally tested its unforgiving concrete barriers (see automatters.net/goodguys-del-mar-nationals-part-one-the-autocross-slow-down-to-go-fastends-with-a-crash-captured-on-video).
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“AutoMatters & More” has provided coverage of this Southern California tradition for many years, with extensive photography to accompany the text, at https://automatters.net. Enter Goodguys in the search bar in the middle of the Home Page.
For more information about the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association and “America’s Favorite Car Shows,” visit: https://www.good-guys.com.
To explore a wide variety of content dating back to 2002, with the most photos and the latest text, visit “AutoMatters & More” at https://automatters.net. Search by title or topic in the Search Bar in the middle of the Home Page, or click on the blue ‘years’ boxes and browse.
Copyright © 2024 by Jan Wagner – AutoMatters & More #834r1
