Dateline: 11.26.11
When it comes to eclectic cars and machines, Piney people know how to have fun!
WE have a DOZEN slide shows at the bottom of this post!!!
If you are going to have an old cars and machines show, what could be a better place that an old junk yard for some Autumn car fun. Let’s face it, modern junk yards, er, ah, salvage yards, or worse yet, auto recycle centers, are BORING! I mean, who wants to wander up and down rows and columns, like walking a giant spreadsheet? Well, that a lot’a fun, like working in a Big Box store! But the really old junk yards are FUN. They wander and meander all around like a child’s board game. You never know what you’ll find around the bend and behind that pile of old gas pumps.
Fleming’s Auto Parts, in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey is such a junk yard. The first weekend of every November since 1996, Harry Fleming and his team have been having their Street Rod Show and Antique Engine & Tractor Show at the family owned junk yard. We first learned about the show from our friend John Loeper of Ocean City, New Jersey. John described the show as a “celebration of machines,” and he wasn’t kidding. Open to the Pumpkin Run show are: show cars and trucks, antiques, classic ‘50s cars, muscle cars, street rods, rat rods, motorcycles, military vehicles, antique race cars, steam tractors, and just about any kind of mechanical machine you can think of. They even have an air cannon that fires pumpkins at a junker minivan. The crowd really likes the cannon!
I don’t know why, but the weather pattern here in New Jersey is very consistent. Early November always delivers cool, crisp, autumn weather – PERFECT for an outside car show. But it’s not just the weather and the cars that create the ambiance of the Pumpkin Run, it’s the smells. There’s a wonderful blend of smells – the pine trees, the Jersey sand, the fallen maple leaves and pine needles, the closeness of the Atlantic ocean, the kettle corn, the burgers, the french fries, AND (I know this sounds really weird) engine exhaust. Ahhh… SMELLS GREAT! Continue reading “Annual Fleming’s Pumpkin Run Car Show in the Pines!”
I’ve been a “car guy” for the last 45 years. That means I’ve been to LOTS of car shows. The whole purpose of a “car show” is to show off your car. So, most car shows are usually held in a “nice” place, you know, civic centers, convention centers, car dealerships, parks, quaint downtown streets, race tracks, and boardwalks. Flemings Auto Parts in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey is what I call, an “old fashioned junk yard.” They probably prefer “salvage yard,” but unlike most of the salvage yards I’ve visited, with the junk cars all lined up in rows with letter-number designations for easy location, Flemings Auto Parts is a meandering, sprawling “yard” with ALL KINDS of old machines.