The Florida and Southwest Florida Chapters of the Volvo Club of America and the Central Florida Chapter of Volvo Sports America were once again invited to participate in the 2018 Celebration of Cars event hosted by the Cape Canaveral Region of the Antique Automotive Club of America on March 3rd in Melbourne, Florida. This year Celebration of Cars was moved to a new location, the stunning facility that is the American Muscle Car Museum.
The museum resides on 42 acres and features a 123,000 square foot complex which includes a 90,000 square foot vehicle display area, an 18,000 square foot showroom and an adjacent 15,000 square foot maintenance and restoration facility. It is a green building which gathers electricity via a large field of solar panels. Since the museum, a 501(c)3 non-profit, is not open to the public and one can only visit as part of a non-profit fundraiser, car show or being a school-age child on an educational tour, we were fortunate just to be on the grounds and allowed in the showroom.
Someone wore the right shoes to go the distance.
The collection, owned by Mark Pieloch, features over 250 cars from the 1950’s to 1970’s muscle cars, Yenkos, Shelby’s, Indianapolis 500 pace cars and trucks and even modern muscle cars such as a 2017 Shelby GT350R. The collection doesn’t end with cars; it features a collection of vintage balloon tire bicycles, neon signs, antique gas pumps, pedal cars, vintage soda coolers, motorcycles, vintage outboard motors and more.
Due to the number of people in attendance at the show, the museum did not permit entrance to the display area where the main car collection is housed, only access to the showroom was allowed. That alone was quite a treat to see in itself; it was chock full of more Ford GT’s that I have seen gathered in once place at one time plus a trio of Shelby Mustangs, AC Cobras, and much more.
The car show itself had nearly 300 entrants (some really wild and crazy cars) of which 16 of them were Volvos. We spanned the generations of Volvo with Louis and Elaine Bouchelle’s 1965 1800S being the oldest and John and Debbie Martin’s 2017 V60 Polestar (one of two V60 Polestars at the event) the newest. We had a contingent of cult classic 240 wagons and sedans (one a V8 conversion), Michael Jingle’s highly modified electric blue 850 turbo wagon, two very nice 2012 S60T5 and XC70 models and a one 120 two door and 120 sedan (decked out in Volvo Club of America attire). Charlie Pardee surprised many of us by showing up in a 1970 1800E instead of his usual 544 (which he sold).
Some of the other car folks were confused about a few newer Volvos being mixed in with the round fender Volvos, and most people were quite surprised to learn that Volvo made models such as the 1800 and the 120; “We thought Volvo only made the boxes” as they pointed at the nearby 240s.
Folks got a kick to learn that some Volvos have turbos and how sporty the newer Polestars are. The awards were given to the top 25, Best in Show and to the 3 featured vehicles; sadly no one from the Volvo group won an award.
The weather was almost perfect with the sun shining on us which made up for being slightly chilly and little too windy. Since the Volvo contingent didn’t arrive all at the same time, we owe a big thank you to Barbara Falcone for making sure all the Volvos were parked together…she was very persistent. We also must thank our Webmaster, Clive Dowdell, who served as the point person in dealing with the AACA. It was delightful to see a full page write up about VCOA and VSA in the magazine the AACA had produced for the show. It even featured Chris Smith’s flyer that he produced for the chapters.
It was great connecting with old friends and meeting some new Volvo people. Plans are in the works to have an event in October, possibly in the Sunrise area. 2019 will mark the 25th Anniversary of Florida Chapter of VCOA, so we are trying to plan a special event in celebration of that milestone in 2019. Stay tuned to www.flvcoa.org for details.
Submitted by:
Tricia Rose. Event Coordinator, SW FL VCOA
Member, CFLVSA
