Greenfield Village Old Car Festival.(Escape Roads)(Brief Article)

Byline: BILL McGUIRE

We're not complaining, exactly, but when you attend as many car shows and cruise-ins as we do, by this time of season the old car scene gets a little... well, old. Sometimes we think maybe we don't need to see another '57 Bel Air or one more Poppy Red Mustang Convertible. And we like Bel Airs and Mustangs.

So when the Old Car Festival at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, rolls around each September, it arrives in time to recharge the enthusiast's batteries. Now in its 52nd year, the Old Car Festival is billed as the longest-running antique car show in the country, and as such, has been in existence longer than most of the vehicles we now call ``old cars.''

Maintaining its traditional yet unique flavor, the festival remains open only to vehicles built before 1932, and continues to specialize in the rare, the unusual and the oldest. (Another annual Greenfield Village show, the Motor Muster, invites cars made after 1932.)

``What always excites me about this show is the sheer variety of cars that are drawn here,'' says Bob Casey, transportation curator of the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village. ``This is a very fair representation of the automotive landscape from the very start until 1932.''

About 500 cars came to the festival this year, according to Casey. Among them were gasoline, steam and electric-powered autos, plus trucks and motorcycles, too. Cars came here that are unlikely to appear at most other shows, including a 1905 Northern, a 1902 Toledo, Stanley steamers, air-cooled Franklins, a Sunset, a Falcon-Knight and a 1916 ...