This last weekend was an exercise in “How To Royally Eff Up Your Plans 101”. Even before the weekend began things weren’t going as planned. I originally was going to go to the NMRA World Finals at Beech Bend and shoot all sorts of Mustang-themed stuff…unfortunately, at the last minute Lohnes and I discovered that I hadn’t gotten all of the prior approvals needed, and when he tried to get them from the NMRA folks, something went haywire enough that we had to back out and try a different plan.

Ok, round two: Cars and Coffee in Franklin, Tennessee, then after a couple of errands, the rescheduled final Fontanel Cruise-In. That sounded like a sweet plan as well, one that would give me plenty of galleries for you guys to flip through this week and check out. Then I got a phone call, the kind that nobody wants to get, that meant that I’d have to cut my day short and head home fast. While in my heart I could drop work in half a second, I know that you guys like seeing new stuff and I hate the thought of leaving Brian and Chad holding the bag when I have to bolt, and since I was stuck going to Tennessee, might as well make the best of it.

The Cars and Coffee event was wild. My wife is in a boot again, so I parked fairly close to the show without actually parking in the show. Nothing against the Angry Grandpa Chrysler, but it looks just like the day I bought it…and it’s dirtier than the day I bought it right now. No bueno for a car show. We walked around a bit and were surprised on the variety of cars in the show and the rather amazing numbers of people who were visiting. Infiniti had some cars and a booth set up with Gran Turismo on a PS4, and were offering prizes for the fastest lap at Spa-Francorchamps in a 370Z. I was the second person up and the last time I checked the board, had mid-packed after screwing up one corner on an otherwise decent run. Oh well.

The crowds kept pouring in and the scene quickly became something we didn’t want to be at. And for bonus points, yours truly had forgotten to charge up the camera, bring the charger, or bring the spare battery. So now we were down to iPhones for camera duty. Slightly irritated, we walked back to our car and left. We drove over to Cool Springs Mall in order to set up for our errands and managed to find a car show we didn’t even know was happening. From there we hit the Fontanel show, hosted by Painless Wiring and where Stacey David was at, chilling at chatting with fans. Might not have been the best day, but it was still a damn good one. I’ll let the photos take it from here.

This particular Imperial was featured in Hemmings Motor News’ November 2007 issue. It’s freaking insane how clean it is. Seeing this one really points out how cooked Project Raven really is.

Nothing like some good old Thunderbolt greatness.

This Buick is quickly climbing my favorite cars list. I’m not in love with the color but it’s a Stage 1 455 and if you weren’t paying close enough attention you’d miss the drag radials.

On to the Fontanel show. How committed are they to a good car show? This is the promoter’s car.

Super-clean Cougar droptop. Not often you see them in the more typical colors like this Lime.

This Mark V was stunning, inside and out. It was even factory equipped with a CB radio.

Just a clean early Nova.

The Fontanel show was a reschedule of the 9/11 tribute show that got rained out. This day was cool without being cold and perfect.

A couple of lovely old Fords making an appearance.

This tri-powered coupe has been at a few of the Fontanel shows now. Sounds healthy.

Anything can roll onto the grounds and be shown. This clean four-eye Fox t-top looked right at home.