Cruise meets in the London, St. Thomas area

[Giggy]

Hey Blacamaro, nice to see there is another member with a black 5gen in my neck of the woods. I sometimes attend the cruise at the A&W here in Tillsonburg. The cruise you go to beside the Wendy's is on the same night as the A&W. Last year, I was asking around and had the feeling that the Wendy's cruise was geared for the classic cars. I guess i was wrong. You must of seen guys coming and going during the night. They try and attend both in the same night. I'm on shift work, so I will keep an eye open and maybe we can hook up at one of the meets.

[Blacamaro]

Originally Posted by Risquee

What time is the one at CT on Sunday? I have a grandson's bday party to go to, but it's early afternoon.

We were there early because I wanted to eat at the A&W before things got going. Almost as soon as we got there it started filling up. I'd say you want to be there by 6 or so. I'll go early again in order to get the spot I want. Even if you show up at 7pm you'll be OK but you may have to park on the side lot.

[Blacamaro]

Originally Posted by Giggy

Hey Blacamaro, nice to see there is another member with a black 5gen in my neck of the woods. I sometimes attend the cruise at the A&W here in Tillsonburg. The cruise you go to beside the Wendy's is on the same night as the A&W. Last year, I was asking around and had the feeling that the Wendy's cruise was geared for the classic cars. I guess i was wrong. You must of seen guys coming and going during the night. They try and attend both in the same night. I'm on shift work, so I will keep an eye open and maybe we can hook up at one of the meets.

I saw a black Camaro heading east of of St. Thomas towards Aylmer about 3 weeks ago with a girl driving. Was that you?

That cruise is open to anyone. I think you'll find most cruises are dominated by classics and antiques. These are the same guys at all the cruises and shows. Typicaly around 60, most have their wives involved and they go to cruises every night. A lot of the same guys you'll see one night with a classic, you'll see with a new Shelby at the next cruise.

It takes a different kind of person to go into that cruise lifestyle. Lots of people will buy a new muscle car but they're not interested in spending two hours detailing it four times a week to go to crusies. So there aren't many newer cars at cruises..

Last week I hand washed and hand dried and cleaned inside the doors jams, the trunk lid, gas cap, hood, cleaned the rims all the way to the inside edge, rinsed the rotors so they won't drip black crap on my rims as soon as I drive it, and I even scrubbed the inside of the fenders. I did this every day. Some of the days it rained and the car went in the garage, but I still did the whole thing over the next day for that day's cruise, because I'd drive the car during the day enough to get it dusty.

My point is I have the time and patience to do this. My wife loves it too. Most people don't. These classic car cruise fanatics that fill the cruises, they live for this sort of thing. It's the biggest part of their social life also.

So people that choose to dive into the car cruise/rally/show lifestyle find the car they want that'll work for them and be a hit at the cruises. And they usually pick cars from their youth.

I'm somewhat different. I love driving muscle cars. I usually have one or more that are cruise worthy. I don't need to find an old classic for cruises because my summer car is a cruise meet head turner.

Unlike most new muscle car owners I also have the time to prep the car and go to cruises, know lots of people there and enjoy myself.

Anyways I'm just trying to explain how it seems most cruises are dominated by 55 to 65 year olds with classics, why new Muscle cars are just as welcome even though you don't see as many, and how I'm a cruise lover and fit in just as well as I would with a 68 Camaro.

One more thing. That Wendy's cruise in Tillsonburg is our favorite. I mentioned earlier about the layout on the grass field and all. The other reason is the amount of praise my car drew. Here we are with the only new car at classic car cruise and people are going nuts over my Camaro. Wanting to see the sticker, asking about which options to buy, everything. It was actually embarrassing at times.

Especially when you got thirty something couples coming over and telling us we got the coolest car there. We also had this old guy, must have been 80, wanting to know everything about my Camaro and telling me about the Camaros he bought new, "back in the day".

[Risquee]

Some good info! So do you bring all your car info to the meets?... you mentioned the sticker is why I ask.
I have never really detailed cars till I got this Camaro. I had a small arsenal of car care products, but since I bought this car I have probably spent close to $300.00 between Meguiar's products, cloths, mitts, and a DA polisher. The finish looked like hell when I got it from the dealer. I have clayed it once and tried to take some of the swirl marks out, but that was before I bought the polisher. I will have to redo the whole process again one day soon as it's still not right. It's a learning process. But my truck looks great now too!
My work schedule is a little messed up for a couple of weeks, but hopefully after that I can get out to a few of the other cruises through the week.

[Blacamaro]

Originally Posted by Risquee

Some good info! So do you bring all your car info to the meets?... you mentioned the sticker is why I ask.
I have never really detailed cars till I got this Camaro. I had a small arsenal of car care products, but since I bought this car I have probably spent close to $300.00 between Meguiar's products, cloths, mitts, and a DA polisher. The finish looked like hell when I got it from the dealer. I have clayed it once and tried to take some of the swirl marks out, but that was before I bought the polisher. I will have to redo the whole process again one day soon as it's still not right. It's a learning process. But my truck looks great now too!
My work schedule is a little messed up for a couple of weeks, but hopefully after that I can get out to a few of the other cruises through the week.

I get people asking about pricing and options so I show them the sticker which I keep in the glove box.

I haven't clayed it yet. I don't think it needs it yet. I think I bought it within a week or two of when it was made. The finish showed no signs of weather or contamination that you usually get on a black car sitting at the dealer.

I've been using Gold Class on it up until now, two coats so far in one month. I'm going to try and get a coat of that Next Gen polymer stuff on it soon, like maybe today. I think that stuff lasts longer although I don't think it'll be quite as deep as the Gold Class. That's fine because you can get your depth by using the Ultimate Quick Wax every chance you get applied on top of the polymer stuff.

I've got some swirls of course but they're mostly masked by the wax. I don't like to do any kind of buffing or polishing until a car dam well needs it. In other words wait until swirls are a real issue. Also my operation of daily washing and waxing as often as possible tends to buff out some swirls while creating new ones. A buff job will only last until first time I wet wipe it down to get the road dust of it at a cruise.

For cruise meets the car doesn't need to be perfect. Only clean and over all well detailed. So things like cleaning the inside of my rims and the door jams, making sure the interior is dust free, the tires are clean, and the thing is recently waxed and is deep black and glossy are much more important than things like lack of swirls that are important at a real car show.

[Blacamaro]

Tonight is the St. Thomas A&W cruise if anyone can make it. Starts around 5:30pm. You get a book of A&W coupons so you can eat there when you arrive. There's no Lions Club cruise tonight to split the crowd, should be good if the weather holds up.

[Blacamaro]

I'm taking a break between washing and waxing so I though I'd make a quick post.

We made it to Steve Plunkett's Country Cruising on Thursday. It was awesome. Cruising around here is another world from what it was when I first got heavy into it back in the late 80s.

Another all grass parkland cruise location. We even got a spot backed against the forest with shade. Huge turnout. Lot of space, it's on about a 5 acre golf course rolling hills setting with a pond up the middle of it.

We're hoping to check out Strathroy on Wednesday. Then we'll have the area pretty much covered as far as the larger cruises go. There's a cruise in Woodstock and several smaller ones in London we may get around to although they all conflict with our current favorites.

Anyways, off to try a coat of that Next Gen Tech wax/polymer in time for the St. Thomas A&W cruise.

The weather is fine, definitely cleared up. Hopefully it never rained in London scaring off those guys.

[Risquee]

Going to try to get to tonight's cruise. Just gave the car a quick wash, started to spit a little rain before I even got finished! Oh well..

[Blacamaro]

Originally Posted by Risquee

Going to try to get to tonight's cruise. Just gave the car a quick wash, started to spit a little rain before I even got finished! Oh well..

Hey, thanks for showing up. If possible we should park together when ever we are at the same cruise.

Obviously the St. Thomas A&W Cruise was a big success today. Well worth going to and lots of cars, especially for an informal small town thing.

If you like that sort of cruise meet atmosphere then you got to get to some of the big ones. At the bigger cruises we get non stop praise and interest in the car. Also after a while you get to know a lot of the people. These cruises can be a real social thing. That sort of round table of lawn chairs group in the center of the parking lot didn't go home until after ten pm tonight. Those people just live for the cruises in the summer. They'll be at Canadian Tire tomorrow and Plunkett's on Thursday in the same group.

See you again!

I'll make a post later about my on going cruise repertoire in case anyone is interested.

[Risquee]

It was a lot of fun! There is nothing better then having folks admire your car. It was good to have some newer cars in the mix as well. Not a great pic but at least I got us showing both our 5th gens in the mix. I work rotating shifts so I will miss a lot of the shows, but I'll get out as much as I can.

[Blacamaro]

The Sunday Canadian Tire cruise in London yesterday was a big success.

Lots of cars and lots of people. That guy, "Hollywood" was there with his giant pickup truck (a 4x4 transport truck with a pickup box on it).

I had the only 5th gen Camaro. There were lots of Mustangs and Challengers there. And the usual dominance of Classics and Antiques.

Most of the Cruise night die hards were there and I met a few new people.

[Blacamaro]

I'm happy to report that the Tillsonburg Wendy's cruise was a success tonight, regardless of the rain that was forecast.

We met "Giggy" with his black SS. We compared notes on our cars and discussed mods and dress up items and such.

Tomorrow, Wednesday the forecast doesn't look good. I wanted to check out Strathroy which is on Wednesday. We'll see, but at this point it doesn't look good. Strathroy is a pretty good drive from here and it's to the north and in a different weather zone. Meaning I can not judge the risk like I did tonight with Tillsonburg. The weather could be stormy in Strathroy and clear here. From here I can see the sky as far as Tillsonburg or London and know I'm not driving into a storm.

There is also Aylmer tomorrow. A small informal thing and only ten minutes from here. I could even eat supper here and head over to Aylmer for an hour instead of this two hour ritual of getting the car ready and racing to the big cruise without supper and eating fast food at the cruise in order to get there early and leave late and not miss anything.

After that is Plunkett's Country Cruising on Thursday which I definitely want to make it to. Somebody said that including the spectator lot there were 500 cars there last week. Gotta be the ultimate cruise venue. Although I still love the Tillsonburg Wendy's cruise.

The forecast says 60 percent chance of rain on Thursday. Hopefully that'll change to rain in the morning and clear in the afternoon. The turnout at Plunkett's is huge. Even if it rains during the day there will be lots of people there if it is clear at 5pm.

[Risquee]

Yeah the grandson's birthday took over my evening. :(