Over the past weekend, I had the opportunity to take in a couple of events on Saturday morning. I could’ve gone to a Cars and Coffee event in the Nashville area, but I didn’t. I could’ve driven to a Cars and Coffee event in Knoxville and watched as some genius lost control of his Dodge Viper, but I didn’t. No, instead I chose to make the trek down to Coker Tire’s HQ to check out the Chattanooga Cruise-In, and I’m much happier for that in the end. Even though it’s a once-a-year deal, it’s like a Cars and Coffee: if it is worthy of being shown, it’s let in the door and parked…which meant that the Angry Grandpa 300C was hustled swiftly and rather forcefully into the “Spectator Only” parking lot. The mix of cars is surprisingly good for what most would consider a hot-rod show: A real-deal Skyline and some Ferraris certainly don’t hurt to have around, and neither do customized VW Beetles.

The only downside to the show is that it’s difficult to find the owners of the cars to talk with them. I did meet the gentleman who owns the clean second-gen Camaro in the lead photo. His wife bought it brand-new as a kind of wedding gift to themselves, but after several family members owned it over the years, the poor Type LT was looking pretty rough, so they sent away to have it restored. I doubt they looked that good new, and they certainly didn’t have the horsepower the car does now (it’s sporting a warmed-up 350 that might be getting new mufflers soon!)

Click on a photo to check out more from the Chattanooga Cruise-In!