Last weekend my family (minus my sister who sadly had to work) headed to London, Ontario to go to the Fleetwood Country Cruize-in. They were doing a drive-in screening of the 1973 cult classic American Graffiti on the Friday night and we couldn’t wait to catch it on the big screen.
And to make the weekend even better, we decided to take my dad’s prized 1967 Camaro. I love this car and its so rare that we get to take it on fun road trips so it was a real treat.
I think my dad was pretty happy to drive it too.
About ten years ago my dad drove this all the way home from Portland, Oregon. I remember the look on my mom’s face when she saw the car pull into the driveway. The body, hood and doors were all different colours and the interior was falling apart. But looking at it now after my dad has put so much work into it you’d never know what it was like before.
Maybe one day I’ll convince him to let me take it for a little road trip of my own.
My mom’s friend decided to bring her VW beetle along to the drive-in too.
The boys helped her get it all ready to hit the road.
Cruising through London on the way to the drive-in.
We made it to the drive in (otherwise known as a field), drove painfully slow down a mile long gravel road (seriously, who planned this?) only to discover that it was a swampy mess! The Camaro was stuck in 4 inches of mud before the movie even started.
All that we could do was stay put, pour some rum and cokes and watch the film. We thankfully made it out with some pushing and skillful driving (Thanks Dad!), but there were dozens of classic cars stuck. They were towing them out one by one until 3am.
Even some of the modern cars were stuck.
The boys got out of the car to help push everything out of the muck.
The Beetle didn’t seem to have any trouble zipping out of there. All that light German engineering.
My mom’s friend and her boys were sure proud of getting their Beetle out of the mud and back home.
The poor Camaro was covered in mud. We were hosing it off in the driveway until 1am. After spending the entire day detailing it inside and out, lets just say that Dad wasn’t a particularly happy camper.
My dad’s good friend Per was there to help push us out, as you can see by all the mud he is covered in. What a good sport.
Now this looks like the brother that I knew growing up. Covered in mud with a big grin on his face.
My brother, Dad and Per after the drive-in. Dad is trying to point out that he got a little bit of mud on his toe (he was in the car driving the whole time while the others pushed).
Despite lots of mud and mess it was a great night that I’m sure we’ll be laughing about for years to come.
