300 plus muscle cars, street machines, and customs cruised Van Nuys Blvd in San Fernando Valley for the first time in decades, and we were there for all the action. What started as a grassroots movement to hold a “reunion” cruise night, turned into something far more bitchin’ than anyone expected. Van Nuys Blvd was well known in the ’70s as one of the most insane cruise scenes in the country, and further reinforced California’s San Fernando Valley as one of the horsepower hot spots of the times. The 2009 version didn’t disappoint, with Novas, Camaros, Mustangs, and Mopars a plenty. From Pro Street to Street Race, Road Race to Custom, and everything in between, it could all be found this week in the San Fernando Valley.
Although the festivities were scheduled to start at 8 pm, the lot at Rydell Chevrolet in Van Nuys was almost full by the time 8 rolled around. So was the Ralph’s parking lot down the street, along with all the gas stations within blocks. And this was no lawnchair crowd either, with cars cruising up and down Van Nuys Blvd for a couple miles. Scott Liggett (Rebeldryver) and Ryan Walker (Ryan Walker) from our forums were on hand for the festivities, and cruised the boulevard in Scott’s 383, 4 speed, ’65 Impala SS.
Police were on scene making sure nobody was stupid, but allowed everyone to have fun and did not cause any grief. Several cars were running slicks, open headers, and race gas which is what we all expect when talking about Van Nuys.
Word on the street is that this may happen again a couple more times this year, and we sure hope so. We’ll let you know when we hear something, and we’ll be there with video cameras in hand to bring you all the sites and sounds.
Special thanks to Scott Liggett for helping out with a few photos and captions from the show.
