The first thing I saw when I walked up to the sea of parked awesomeness was this absolutely perfect 1980 Trans Am. The owner said that it was mostly original, and it was a WS6 model to boot. The kicker: I own a very similar 1979 Trans Am, which looks identical to this car, save for the fact that mine has a vinyl interior instead of the cloth on this car, and the fact that mine is in much worse shape! I took the opportunity to take some pics for future reference for my own car.

By 1980, the only available engines in the Trans Am were the naturally aspirated Pontiac 301, the turbocharged Pontiac 301, and I think some states (like California) were able to get a Chevy 305. This one sports the N/A 301 (hence the “T/A 4.9” decal on the shaker), but it was so clean that I could care less! Plus, a proper Pontiac V8 like a 400 or 455 just plops right in if you want more power.

Scott Huyghe is no stranger to Bangshift. We featured his 1969 AMX/2006 GTO hybrid back in February 2013, and it’s still as crazy now as it was then. Basically, he found a really ratty AMX roller and merged it with the remnants of a wrecked GTO, and the results are awesome. He has a couple of other projects in the pipeline that are just as crazy, so stay tuned!

This Chevy Monza drag car probably has no business driving on the street, but that’s ok with us! As you can tell, it was very yellow.

This 1963 Plymouth Fury was as clean as anything, and was sporting a nicely sorted 383. I love the front end on these cars. They look downright MEAN!!!

Ok, so I have a confession here. I took this pic of these two Turbo Buicks, and didn’t realize until later on what I was looking at. Front and center here is what might be an ultra rare GNX! I passed it off as a GNX clone when I was looking at it since it was not wearing the 16″ GTA-style GNX wheels, and never thought to investigate it further. Shame!

This super clean Mustang fastback had some nice custom touches that set it apart from some of the other 60’s Mustangs at the show, including its mesmerizing blue metal flake paint. It looked straight out of a 70’s car magazine!

Hey, look: more cool G-Bodies! This Hurst Olds looked showroom fresh inside and out. The Monte Carlo SS was similarly clean. These cars always bring me back to my high school days and raising hell in my friend’s 1986 Monte Carlo “Pseudosport”, so they will always get a thumbs up in my book.

This 1959 El Camino was strikingly beautiful. This King of Trars was wearing old-school American Racing Daisy 200’s and had the right stance for a proper street machine.

This Dodge Dart in race garb was so cool. It had the look of the lightweight 1960’s stuff but appeared to be a mid-70’s model, and it pulled it off nicely. We love stuff like this!

The cool thing about this show is that all sorts of different vehicles show up. From shiny new Corvettes to old Model A trucks and everything in between, there was truly something for everyone. If you are into old Jeeps, then this shot is for you. These three vintage Jeeps were all sorts of cool.

Speaking of vintage Jeeps… this late run J-Series was all of the awesome and I wanted it BAD. Up here in the Northeast, most of these trucks have long since returned to the earth, so seeing one in any condition is a rare treat. This one was super nice.

Even the inside of this J-Series was impossibly clean for a Northeast truck. Two things: One, I miss vent windows on trucks, and Two, if the new rumored 2017 Jeep truck is even half as good as this thing then they will have trouble keeping them on the lots!

There are a lot of 4×4 guys in the area, so it was only natural that they would have a presence at the show. And by showing, I mean that they parked on top of each other. I can’t think of a better way to park one of these myself.

WTF is that weird van thingy, you ask? It’s a late 1980’s Mitsubishi Delica Starwagon Turbo D 4×4! It’s roughly the same size as one of those more common (and stubby) 80’s Toyota Vans, but this one is WAY cooler. First off, it’s a turbodiesel, and it has real 4×4 capability. Also, it’s from Japan, the Land of Weirdness.

I was able to chat with Chris, the owner, and he imported this van from Japan through a broker in Canada. He flew up there with a buddy and drove the thing home without incident, and now he carts around his kids in the thing. It’s so weird, but so cool! That pod on the dash has an inclinometer and other 4×4-specific gauges. He likes to take it to a local beach where you can drive up onto the sand, and the 4×4 helps.

The front passenger seat flips up to reveal a 2.6L Mitsubishi “Cyclone” turbodiesel 4-cylinder. It’s not by any means fast, but it has enough torque to get this little van going just about anywhere you need it to go.

Did I mention that this thing was from Japan? I think these are instructions on how to fold down the middle seats, or how to transform it into a giant, laser-shooting mech to battle the Zentradi forces of evil before they reach Earth, but either way, I can’t read a word of it.

Even though they probably built a million of these early 80’s Ford F-150’s, they are a rare sight up here in New England. This chocolaty example was one of the cleanest I’ve seen since my dad took me with him to pick up his old 1983 F150 from the dealer when I was a toddler.

As I said before, this show had cars from all over the spectrum. This early Brass Era Model T wore a registration plate from 1915. This thing was at least 100 years old and still putting around! Think about that for a minute.

My dad used to tell me stories all the time about his first car, which was a 1960 Ford like this. While his was a late 60’s teenager’s car, replete with that little cat in the back window that had the light up eyes when you hit the brakes straight out of the JC Whitney catalog, this one had one of those 80’s accessory third brake lights, probably from that same catalog. Other than that, it was huge and perfect. It’s one of the last Fords with fins, and you don’t see them very much these days.

This 1964 GTO was just perfect. The body was straight as an arrow, the Tri-Power 389 looked amazing, and dig the steelies and caps. WANT!

No, you are not looking at a late 70’s GMC dealer brochure. What we have here is a GMC Cabalerro Diablo. Back in the late 70’s, Chevy and GMC offered trim and sticker packages to cash in on the popularity of cars like the Trans Am, and Chevy offered the Royal Knight on the El Camino while GMC offered this package for the Caballero. Even though it’s basically a sticker and stripe package, it’s still undeniably cool.

Just like the Trans Am’s hood bird, the Diablo got a giant hood decal with a devil’s head exuding flames everywhere. It was brown and tan with a brown interior, and I felt my mustache hairs going into overdrive when I got close to it.

I’ve noticed this absolutely bitchin’ 1965 Buick Grand Sport stalking the streets in my area for the past couple years, and it was just as nice idling around as it is blasting around town when I usually see it. I always feel that the 1964-65 Buick intermediates get lost in the shuffle with all the other GM A-Body cars, and they are arguably the prettiest of the bunch. I assume this one still has it’s 401 Nailhead V8, because it sounded amazing.

Oh hey, a Hellcat! Apparently the guy that owns this one is disabled, and he has a paint-matched Hoveround scooter that he cruises around on. He’s not letting anything slow him down… or outrun him for that matter!

As I was perusing the multitude of various vehicles, I passed buy this early 70’s Cadillac Eldorado a few times. Being a lover of 70’s land barges, I decided to take a closer look. It was really clean under the hood. I went to check out the interior and…

…WHAAAAAAT???? This thing had a grand total of 1000 cubic inches of big blocky Cadillac power! I’m not sure how airflow gets to the rear radiator, or how the driving dynamics of a 2+ ton twin engined behemoth are, but I don’t care. It’s like the Hurst Hairy Olds, Luxury Edition!

This Eldorado of Doom also had this sweet airbrushed mural of a lady licking blood off a sword on the still-functional trunk. Not sure what that’s all about but who cares! It has two giant V8’s!!!

McTaggart would have loved this super clean Dodge Mirada. These cars are few and far between up here in the Northeast, so it was nice to see one out and about. I’ve always liked the looks of these.

This is quite possibly the most perfect ’67 Camaro I have ever laid eyes upon. Everything about this car, from the stance to the smoked headlamps to the deep red paint was absolute perfection. Is that a Hooker Headers roll bar I spy in there?

Here we have a nice example of a “Day 2” Dodge Super Bee wearing some classic Cragar SS wheels. Again, another near perfect slice of awesomeness.

It’s nice to see Super Bee stripes on an actual, honest-to-goodness Super Bee for once!

It was nice to see that Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul showed up for the show. I haven’t seen a Fifth Ave in this kind of shape in years.

Toward the end of the show, a parade-like mass exodus of the Walmart parking lot where this event was held had people lined up to watch all of the rumbly awesomeness as people headed home for the night. It was nice to see a Third Gen Camaro in really nice shape as opposed to the rat traps that are usually belching around the streets here.

Anyone recognize this Corvette kit? All I know was it was LOUD with those uncorked side pipes!

Last shot of the night: When I parked my car in the regular non-show area, I saw this early 70’s Javelin, driven by an elderly lady. As I was leaving, it was still in the same spot. This should have been parked IN the show!