Nate's Garage

This past weekend I passed a tradition on to my kids. I took them to the NSRA Street Rod Nationals East in York, Pa. I remember going with my dad when I was little. Being taught which cars were Fords, which were Chevy’s, and how to tell them apart. Being amazed at all the pretty colors of paint. Falling in love with all the smooth lines and sexxy curves. Not a whole lot has changed in my 20-25 years of going to this car show. The cars are still amazing. The craftsmanship of the restorations is still outstanding. Rat rods have made a much larger presence (not that I mind!!) And the NSRA is still drawing huge crowds, hundreds of beautiful cars, and incredibly nice people to the show.

The past two or three years, I’ve taken several of my kids (I have 5 kids) down to York from Hershey, Pa to see the cars cruise on rt. 30. What is great about this show is the many impromptu mini car shows that pop up along rt. 30 in the evenings of the NSRA show. About 5PM Friday night, and Saturday night most of the street rods file out of the expo center to go cruise the streets of York city, and rt. 30. You can barely find a place to park in the shopping centers along rt. 30 due to all of the spectators! People are tailgating, hanging out sitting in lawn chairs, or walking around looking at all the rods and classic cars that quickly form into mini car shows in the parking lots. From motorcycles, classic cars, muscle cars, hot rods, lowered trucks and cars, imports, lifted trucks and jeeps, everything that runs on gas and has tires is out driving around. Of course the cops are present, but they honestly don’t seem to bother people unless they are being stupid.

Several years ago, I was sitting in the bed of a truck with some friends, when we heard something incredibly loud coming toward us. We kept watching, but never saw more than a streak go flying past. A few minutes later we heard the same loud engine coming back toward us from the other direction, but this time it was quieter, and followed by cops! We proceeded to watch a full drag ready truck, tubbed and all, pull into a rent-a-center on the other side of the highway. The cops were not far behind. After five minutes of watching this, there were probably 10 cops all walking around this truck, just admiring it!! The guy had probably just been going close to 90 m.p.h. down the highway (speed limit is 35 or 40 m.p.h. at that section), but the cops were more interested in checking out the truck!!

All-in-all, the NSRA Street Rod Nationals East has just about everything for the street rod/classic car enthusiast. Awesome cars, good food, cars for sale, tons of great vendors, great conversations, parts for sale in the paddock area. I’ve always loved this show. Everyone that comes to it tends to be a genuinely nice person. I’d like to thank the lady who gave my two boys her copy of the yearbook from the show. They love it. She was working at a vendor booth and stopped me, asked if we were in for the day, then offered the yearbook to my 7 yr old son. He quickly answered that he would like it, thanked her, and off we went. I’d also like to thank the several car owners who were nice enough to notice how well behaved my two boys were. I’ve tried to teach them the value of other peoples property, especially antiques. My 7 yr old is trained to look, not touch. He even puts his hands behind his back, to keep ill thoughts out of car owners minds as to him possibly touching anything.
Many people took notice, thank you for acknowledging him, and mentioning it to him. He was quite proud of himself.

I live 5 minutes from Hershey, Pa. I live 40 minutes from Carlisle, Pa. I’ve been to hundreds of car shows in my nearly 31 years of existance. The NSRA show is by far the best. This was the first year I took any of my kids into the show. I fealt my 7 yr old was old enough to appreciate the cars more. I think it will be a yearly occurrence from now on! Its just too much fun to miss.