MCACN - A Chicago Car Show For Muscle Cars, Corvettes and Barn Finds

Ride along with Jason OldeCarrGuy Carr and John CustomCarNerd Meyer and find out the inside track about the upcoming MCACN car show. This is a must attend show with cars you won't see ANYWHERE else!

Speed over to our friends at @Racing_Junk
   
Visit the AMD Garage ~ Your one stop source for high quality body panels

For all things Get Out N Drive head on over to https://www.getoutndrive.com

Be sure to follow GOND on social media!
GOND Website
IG
Twitter
FB
YouTube



Recording Engineer, Paul Meyer

Subscribe to the Str8SixFan YouTube Channel


#mcacn #mcacn2024 #carshow #corvette #Corvetteshow #chicagocarshow #barnfindcars #podcast

#WhatDrivesYOUth
#GetOutNDriveFAST

Join our fb group to share pics of how you Get Out N Drive


Follow Jason on IG
IG @oldecarrguy
Follow Jason on fb
fb @oldecarrguy
Subscribe To the Olde Carr Guy YouTube Channel

Follow John on IG
IG @customcarnerd
Friend John on fb

Recording Engineer, Paul Meyer

Sign Up and Learn more about National Get Out N Drive Day.


Subscribe to the Str8SixFan YouTube Channel.

EVENT HOURS

Saturday November 23, 2024  9AM - 8PM
Sunday November 24, 2024: 9AM -5PM

Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
5555 N. River Rd, Rosemont, IL. 60018

Transcript

Transcript 

Announcer 

You're listening to the get out and drive podcast with John custom car Nerd Meyer and Jason old car guy car. We'll be bringing you gear, heads, everything you never wanted to know about cars and why they should be on the road and not in your garage. Are you ready to get out and drive? 

Jason 

Welcome back to the great episode of the Get Them Drive Podcast, and today we're talking a little bit of something different here. Now, even though we are into the late part of the year and car show season is kind of coming to an end, it doesn't mean that the end has come. We're pretty excited to have our special guest here. John, why don't you introduce him and we will get right into the interview. 

John 

Oh well, our great friend, Mr. Bob Ashton, he is the founder of Mccaskin. Muscle car and Corvette nationals. I don't know. Off hand, I don't have it memorized. That's why we've got you here, Bob. You can tell us how long this thing has been running and how everything unfolded to get you to today. 

Bob 

Absolutely. We're pretty excited about it. We're entering our 15th show, 16th year for obvious. But you know, this is the culmination of my lifelong dream. Basically, we I spent quite a few years as a shell manager for championship auto shows, which is a world of wheels and auto ram of people. And my heart, my passion is always been in. Factory muscle cars, American muscles, 60s and 70s. That's what I've always loved. I was a little bit too young to grow up as a driver in that era, but my older brother was involved with that. My father was a longtime Chrysler employee, so. That's where it all started with my love of American muscle. 

Jason 

Well, Chrysler didn't make very many muscle cars did. 

Bob 

They Bob. No, not too many. Of course. They were all just subtle green and brown cars too. As we all know. 

Jason 

Yeah. We look back today and we take advantage of the fact that cars back in the day were just cars. Some of them had big motors. Some of them had, you know, 4 speed, 5 speed transmissions and some of them when something small happened. We parked them. And part of what Mccaskin does is a little bit of barn finding. Or highlighting burn fines. Let's talk a little bit about that because. 

Bob 

We do. 

Jason 

People who don't know what a barn fight is. Explain what that is first, and then how it became part of Mccaughan. 

Bob 

Yeah, that's it's actually a pretty interesting story because our emphasis was always on super shiny and restored and all that type of thing. And of course, we had some very, very sought after high-end Concourse style awards and. With a real thorough judging program, but one of the guys who was the regular with us about our third or fourth year into the. Was a big Corvette guy. He had a wonderful collection C2 corvettes, and he called me one day and he said, hey Bob, I got this crazy car and hear me out that I have an idea and let me know what you think and well, OK. Well, he went on to tell me that he had just discovered a 1967 Goodwood Green Four 27435 Corvette in a garage. That was parked in 1972. And had a really great story. The guy had actually parked it there because it was a horrible car in the snow, even though it had snow tires on it. So literally the owner had parked the car in a regular subdivision and there it sat from 1972 until about 2012 and he said, don't you think it would be fun to bring this car out exactly as it is and you know, show somebody, show, show something that's been preserved and stashed away for a long time. And I said. Yeah, that that sounds pretty interesting and sent me some pictures and lo and behold, here, here was no tires at all. I said, do not touch that car. Don't clean it, don't wash it, bring it with the dirt on it. Bring it with the snow tires. And I got a great spot for it. And that's where it all started. 

John 

Wow, I'm I've. I've built and restored and I've done. Preservation on a lot of mid year corvettes I was involved a lot with the during the mid 90s, Bloomington gold cars, so I am I am well versed in. Preservation and reading. Reading the book, you know, I think it is cleaning not destruction or something like that. Is the book, you know non destructive cleaning. And we did a lot of that you know. And we also I've I'm also well versed in taking a lot of you know. You know disco, van paint and all that stuff on it and returning those back to Concord condition. I like seeing cars as found. I like seeing where they went, who they've been through. But go ahead. 

Bob 

Exactly. And that's, that's where that started and basically it was kind of a funny thing because as you guys know, I have several partners in the show that are all active hobbyists. They're, it's, it's really a neat program. There's eight of us total. And everyone kind of has a specialized area of interest. So that's one of the reasons I think we've been successful is that each one of my partners is specializing in something different. So it's opened a lot of doors for me, but getting back to the subject here, they thought I was crazy when I said, hey, this guy called me up with this. Corvette I want to put it in a show and several of them are die hard. Super, super shiny, restored guys. They're like why you want to put that ugly thing in here? And I said let's try it. Let's. See what happens. And it was a hit. It was the absolute most talked about vehicle in the whole show, but had a crowd around it all weekend. It's kind of like, you know, I think we're on to something. So from there, put the call out to all brands and said, hey, you know what's out there? What do you have? And that, as you know, now it is without a doubt one of our most popular sections of the show. And, you know, it's just fun. It's just great to hear the stories and the history. And why did this car. Parked. And what are the plans for the future? And I think one of the most rewarding things for me for our show overall is that I think we lit a fire with a lot of people where Carr may have sat for 1520 thirty years and then all of a sudden they're embraced and they find out, hey, that that car really is something I should really should bring it back to life. So we often have cars that start out. And barn fines. And then come back fully restored as one of our Premier Unveilings, which I've got three this year that are that are in. Doing. That. 

John 

I can't wait to see the mod top Daytona next year. 

Bob 

Yeah, that's really exciting. I've been working with Todd Savage on that car for. Oh, I don't know, four or five years now with the, you know, the eventual. It'll be there as an unveiling car, and we're super excited about that because again. A lot of people don't know. Anything like that exists? And as you know it does it's got a great story also and we'll have a lot of fun with. 

Speaker 

Yeah. 

Jason 

Well, it's funny that we, you know, we talk about, you know these burn fines and how they come to be. You know these classic restorable or preserved cars. There's so many people out there who don't get that sometimes preserving that burn find exactly how it was found. Either keeps it. More collectible because of its originality. But then again, there's you got to outweigh the hundreds of thousands of dollars of man hours that it takes to strip every nut and bolt down and bring that into concourse condition. How is it that somebody goes about becoming a part of one of your shows? Is it invite only or is this something that anybody can attend if they just register for the show? 

Speaker 

Well. 

Bob 

When we started out, it was quite a challenge because we are such a specialized type of show and I tell people like I'm from the Detroit area. So of course everybody knows Detroit autorama. Now we say well, imagine the Detroit Auto Ramble that flipped. Instead of having 90% St. rides or hot rods and 10% stock cars, we have 90% factory stock cars and 10% modified cars. So it was kind of a challenge in the beginning. But now, 15 years later, I'm actually finalizing our floor plan right now I've got. 82 cars on standby. You can imagine that and now when I say they're on standby, they're these are good cars that I would love to be able to have on the show. I mean, I've got a couple of copo barrels on standby. I've got 5 or 6 Hemi cars on standby. I mean, they're prime cars and we just have gotten to the point where the demand far outweighs the supply. Good problem to have, but it's frustrating for me being a car guy, of course, but it's. We keep the show fresh. By doing that, we're very picky. But to answer your question about 80% of the show is invited by me, I spend the whole year traveling all over the country and. And I spend a few weeks in Arizona and California. This. Year's kind. Of a neat thing, this is the first year we've had actual participants send cars from Hawaii. We have a gentleman with three more cars, two of them just hit the dock in California, so we shipped them from Hawaii up to California to be shipped in the big Orange truck. We have a gentleman joining us with a 67 Corvette. Triple Diamond certification from Germany, which is really neat. And 41 different states. So they're coming from all over the place. And it's really an honor to see people take the effort, spend the money for the transportation and take the time off of work to. To be a part of the show. 

John 

Yeah, I believe there's I was talking to some friends of mine at V8 VI. Believe they've got eight cars coming up to you. 

Bob 

They do. Kevin and the crew, you know, they're celebrating a huge anniversary. And another thing we've been actually anticipating for a couple of years. He was telling us the anniversary was coming up and it was kind of like we need to do something special. He's been a huge supporter of what we do is our official videographer since day one. 

Speaker 

Right. 

Bob 

And you know, Kevin and Kelly are just awesome people. They're enthusiasts. They're ********. They love what they do, just like I love what I do and. So that display is going to be spectacular. It's they've got some great cars coming in. 

John 

Yep, that they're going to be fantastic. And Kevin OT, he's a he's a great guy and. 

Bob 

He really is. And I, as I say, huge supporter. What we do is we got a hold of him right at the very beginning when we launched and I said, you know, I need help with video and. That and now he's one of our hosts for our unveilings. And you know again there we have a great time with them. They're fun to work with and his whole crew. So we're that's going to be a real fun display also. 

John 

Great. I know you said you are in the Chicago area, but talk to our listeners and tell them how to get in touch with you. If they were to want to get your car or get their car looked at for. Upcoming. 

Bob 

Sure. We actually have an online application. So what I tell people you can pre qualify so they can e-mail me my emails all over. But it's be Ashton 426 at Gmail. If you're thinking, hey, I'd like to. Do that. Not really sure. Instead of just signing up and then having us reject you if that was a possibility, you can pre qualify and. And our big thing is we want to keep the show well balanced brand wise. So although we do end up being heavier in a particular brand for the big three due to what's become known as the red carpet display up front, we intentionally rotate between the big three for that. So we're on GM this year with the big GTO display. But my goal is always to keep a diversified show so that the guy who might be in the Mustangs is going to come in and he's still going to see some mopars and Oldsmobiles and Chevy’s and Amc's and Studebakers that will catch his eye and it'll be happy to see. So that's always been our goal, is to keep it diversified group. And you can apply like as I say you can apply online and I try to match up our special theme displays which we always. Change up every year. And keep the show interesting and fresh. 

John 

What are general parameters of? I'm certain people don't want to bring you their 87 high rock. But what are parameters? I don't know that that may be something that. Interests you because. 

Bob 

See. 

John 

The where the stuff starting to go past the disco muscle cars. 

Bob 

Well, that's actually a good point. A couple of years ago, we started our Malaise Era Invitational display. And when I when I decided to do that, obviously one of the goals was to appeal to a younger audience. You know, we're getting older and I want to keep this happy going. And I'm fortunate to have. A son and grandkids that are into it, but a lot of people don't introduce the hobby to the younger generation, so I'm very big on that and I thought, well, if we have a smaller display devoted to what I call them, the laser cars, which are I, I consider that to be 74 to 87. So there's different people will say. Different years, but the low power, high impact cars you could say you know a lot of flares and stripes and graphics with not a lot of horsepower, but. 

John 

Equal horsepower. 

Bob 

Exactly. I'm an AMC Hornet owner, so you know I can. I can talk from experience, although mine's got a 390 in it with a. Few modifications, but you know that's the future of the of the hobby too. And we want to encourage people. So we again this year we have a laser display in one of those cars happens to be a 4000 mile 87 iroc. So best of the best you know we maintain our standards as far as having good quality. Cars. You won't see a driver quality 50,000 mile car with some bumps and bruises, but you'll see the best of. The. Best and that's always the goal. Now, with that being said, we have our barn fines as you mentioned, we have our vintage certification program which that. Is concentrating on preservation instead of restoration, so that is a little bit different angle also and you can learn a whole lot from those cars. And I know this year we have I think the cars range from 1963 on up to and we've got an. 87 Grand National in the mix also. So it's kind of a wide variety there, but they're unrestored cards, so excellent to use for reference. 

Jason 

So Bob, you mentioned that you've got children and grandchildren who are kind of interested in in kind of what it is that you do. One of the mantras we have over here at the Get Drive podcast is hashtag what drives youth, what is MCACN doing to help drive youth into what it is that you do or showing off, what it is that you guys do over? 

Bob 

Well, I have to say this is one of the things I'm most excited about for this year. Again, a few years ago, we introduced a program we called it future generation and I put the word out that we were looking for younger enthusiasts that were actively involved in a hobby, whether they're mechanically inclined or. Like to go to shows and whatnot and the response was pretty good. I got four or five cars. Some of them weren't so shiny. They weren't real pretty. There were several that were. I had my youngest ever TrueCar owner, who was 14 years old at the time, who brought in his 65 Barracuda. And again this year I have a 14 year old. His car is super special. It is one of the three original 1969 Hurst Olds convertibles. Who? Those who've been with us for a while, remember that a few years back we had a premiere unveiling with the from the Brothers Collection with one of those three cars. Now this young man is absolutely amazing. I mean, talking to him, the knowledge, the passion. And this kid will tell you the history of her. And, you know, he was out in the garage. With his dad. Dad's a car collector and, you know, realized that, hey, this kid's really into this. And lo and behold, Fast forward. They found this car and that will be one of the cars you'll see in our in our future generation group. Have 9 cars. As you're coming in, of those nine enthusiasts, they range in age from 14 to 21. I've got. Let's see, we've got some modified cars, two young ladies that are totally hands on fact. I met young lady by the name of Carly Kapler at the Carlisle Chrysler event. She had a bright American Motors Hornet caught my eye, and I looked at it and then I saw a little note on the dashboard. This car is owned by 20 year old Carly Kapler who built this car etcetera, etcetera and I. Thought. I got to meet this girl so came back a little later and met her and met her parents and dad pulled out the photo album showing when he taught her to Weld. When she was 15 years old. Just a great story, great family type thing. Now she is actually going to college to become a vocational instructor in the automotive field. So I think it's our job to encourage younger enthusiasts. You know, I always tell people when you see kids at A at a show. I'm a Mopar guy. OK? A lot of people know that you own A70 Kudo with A4 speed pistol grip and you see a kid peeking over into the dash. Put him in that chute that seat and put his hand on that pistol. Grip. I mean, you'll plant the seed early and I've been fortunate that my kids and grandkids have been surrounded by it. Several of them jumped right in. But it's our job to make sure we have a future and this by encouraging the younger enthusiasts. And as I say, for us, some of the cars that you'll see, I'm sure people are going to look at them and go. Wow. Why is that car in here? Well, there's a reason, and you'll see nine of them in a in a row, nose to tail and some of them are super shiny and pretty. And some of them aren't. But idea being these are real enthusiasts and we want to encourage them to be a part of the hobby. 

John 

Of all the different cars either barn find cars or 100 point correct restorations. What do you think is the most? Prominent or the most oddball or thing that catches your eye that you're never going to forget previously, what? What is that vehicle? 

Bob 

Well it. It changes every year, you know, I mean, last year we had a dual engine Oldsmobile tornado that was built in, you know, as an experimental car for Oldsmobile. So you know, things like that pop up that really blew me away. And this year's RAM Air 5 GTO that was has factory backing, the one that I'm super excited about, the 64 oil bobcat GTO that was the actual car that was on the cover of car and driver for the GTO versus GTO. Feature that they did back in 64. Now the neat twist to that is the gentleman who owns it is from California. He his first ride, and that car was with Jim Wangers in 1964 when he was four years old. And he vowed, he said, I'm going to own that car one day and now he. Does. And it is that car, not one like it's So what? A great story. What a great car. And that's our cover car for the magazine and centerfold car. We'll be handing out free posters with that. It's going to be on our T-shirts. So I'm really excited about that one. And the owner's just a super cool. To just the whole thing kind of epitomizes what our hobby is all about. 

Jason 

Well, Bob, we've talked about what the show is about, where it came from and some of the different options that people can expect to see at the show. Why don't you tell us? A little. Bit about the. Upcoming dates and when people can actually go and see what it is we're talking about here on the show. 

Bob 

Yeah, we're in Rosemont, Illinois, which is suburban Chicago area. So we're about 1/2 hour outside of Chicago. We are right next to literally the O'Hare airport. So that's one of the things that really works out nicely, because if you're from another state, you can fly into O'Hare. No need to rent a car. I have 8 official host hotels with rates starting at $129 a night. So I work really hard to get good rates. Or people for whether you're a spectator or a. Five of those hotels are right across the street, which is nice because you can hit the Rosemont community and there's all kinds of things to do there. So I tell people bring the whole family, bring your wife, bring your kids because they have the Rosemont entertainment district. So those who don't necessarily want to spend 8 or 10 hours at a car show. We could spend a few hours and then jump on the shuttle and go over to the 130 store outlet center. Or, you know, there's a move or Co movie theater. There's indoor skydiving. There's bowling. So every kind of entertainment. Option is there for the whole family and we try to make everything as easy as it can be and make it fun so that it's an annual event that everybody says. I have to be there every year, always the weekend before Thanksgiving, so that falls this year on November 23rd and 24th and we're open Saturday from 9:00 AM till 8:00 PM. Sunday from 9:00 AM till 5:00 PM and. We have. A lot of fun. There's just a lot of activities going on. It's not just a static car, so. So we strongly encourage the owners to interact with people. You know, we want you to sit by the car, we want to hear the stories. We want you to share those stories. We have seminars and talks, and I call them I don't necessarily use the term seminar too often because that sounds like work. We have round table discussions and. We've got some legendary drag racers joining us this year. We've got Butch, Leila, California flash, of course, Arnie Beswick, I mean, these guys are great storytellers and we put them up on the stage and do kind of a Q&A type thing. We have two. Live bands. So Saturday night we put some music out there, so we should get a little tired from walking out around all day. We've got a place to sit down and catch some live New Orleans style jazz this year, which is new from a band called Sugo, the Wisconsin area and our good friend. Ann Kraman from. Mecum auctions a lot of people don't know he's a guitar player. So he's in a band called Redline 7000, which is the 70s and 80s style rock'n'roll band. And you know, again just designed to be fun. And it's funny to see people that know John from TV and from the Mecum auctions and they look up there and say, isn't that that guy from me come up there playing guitar and singing? So we have fun with that too. Lots of fun. We try to emphasize there's a whole lot more than just pretty cars and shiny cars because some of them are pretty and shiny, but they all have a story. There's just so much out there and like, people say, what are you going to do when you run out of cars? And it's like here we are 15 years later and there's just more and more that comes out and I. For us, I think the it's very common for people to come in with a friend. There might be somebody who shows with us and you know they've heard the stories and they've heard that it's a great show. But of course everybody has a show says they have a great show, but they'll they might come along with a friend and then that person will say, wow, I should have. Been showing my car and. And that that's what's worked for us really well is the referrals we get from other car owners and collectors that bring their friends along. And then here we are now, let's say 1516 years later with just the ability to have a good balanced and diversified fresh show every year. 

John 

I've really been working on talking with Eddie Gatton. He was one of our guests quite a while ago, and as you're familiar with Eddie, he's the current caretaker of the Stormtrooper Vega, and we really, really, really want to get that out of the trailer. Get it to your show. 

Bob 

Yes. 

John 

And we said earlier, possibly this year, maybe I can work on him and maybe if he shows up, maybe we can work on him together this year, cause that car really needs to be up there. 

Bob 

That's. It does, and it was kind of funny when I first started talking to him, you know, he, he started explaining the car and I knew exactly what it was. And, you know, with my background working in the in the custom field with auto ran as in World Wheel shows, I knew exactly what it was. And so that kind of broke the ice. Eddie and me, when we started talking about it. And he's like, well, you know, it's not as pretty as it used to be. And I said you need to understand our show, that car will be welcomed. It'll be an absolute hit and. 

John 

Doesn't matter. 

Bob 

As you say. It needs to be seen again and the stories that will be told and you know that's we would be honored to have. That car at our show. 

John 

Yeah, 19791980 his. Dad closed the door. 

Bob 

Mm-hmm. 

John 

On the trailer, all of the display, the lights, the placards, everything is the summer of 90. 

Speaker 

380. 

Bob 

That's amazing. 

John 

And it's over with and he said there's pitted Chrome, there's tarnished copper, all sorts of things I said. Please do not touch it. 

Bob 

And that's the thing. I think it's hard for somebody to understand. It's a car like that exactly as it is would be such a huge hit. You know, we'd and I explain that to Eddie. I said you don't want to clean it up. You want to bring that out. That's a piece of that's historically significant and you can honor your father. For all of what she did. The car and people will embrace it. I mean it. It's that was quite a car in its day and it still is today and I'm sure, I'm sure it'd be a hit. 

John 

Yep, we'll go ahead and put that interview in our notes for this one. So our listeners can certainly get the history on that vehicle and I'll turn it over to Jason for closing. 

Jason 

Yeah. So remember guys. If you ever want to get that project car of yours to the level of quality that Bob is putting on with his show, you need to start with the basics and that's finding parts and we have a great partner here on the get Them Drive podcast and that's racingjunk.com. If you want to go over there, you can find a lot of parts that you may need to fix up that old car and get it to the showroom quality standards. And if you set yourself up an account, you can even sell your own junk over at racingjunk.com. The other alternative John, is that if you want to go shiny. And show quality. We've got other partners that help us out over here at the get out and Drive podcast. Maybe you can talk a little bit about them. 

John 

If you have a rusty vehicle and you need any sort of sheet metal parts for your muscle car, definitely head over to AMD. They have a wide variety of parts and pieces for your vehicle and the fit and finish and quality is better than Nos. I've installed their parts. Hundreds of times, myself and. Just to take a look at a vehicle that it was just almost Jack up the VIN tag and build an AMD sheet metal vehicle underneath it. They have the parts available to do it for a number of muscle cars. So for any of your sheet metal needs certainly head over to AMD. 

Jason 

So if you listen to this podcast for anytime at all, you know that racing junk has been a long time sponsor. AMD has recently jumped on board, so make sure you're checking those guys out for all your restoration needs one more time. Bob. Thanks again for being a part of. The show and getting this time to interview you, I wish that I could be there to meet you in person in in November when the show is taking place, but maybe next year we'll make it a priority for sure for me to come over and be there. John, Joanne and Paul, I think are. Going to make. A trip up there to have a visit. So I thank you for being taking your time and being a part of the get out and Drive podcast. 

Announcer 

Cruise on over to our website getoutanddrive.com for all the info you never wanted to know about our podcast. Hit us up on our listener hotline, be the first to know what's happening, get industry news and grab your get out and drive merch. Connect with us on social media. Find us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Follow us on Twitter at get out and drive pod. 

John 

What drives you?