Ready, Set, Go! - Life at Cloverhill

Going to the Fleetwood Country Cruize-in in London, Ontario this weekend gave me a serious need for speed (and I’m not talking about the 1994 hit with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves).

We may have run into a bit of a mess on the Friday night at the drive-in, but by Saturday morning we were all geared up to head to the Plunkett Estate to see the car show. The entire grounds are absolutely gorgeous. This big house, it actually just the guest house. Seriously. Its insane.

Out on the front lawn they had a huge display to celebrate 100 years of Studebakers being in Canada. This 1951 Packard 300 instantly caught my eye. How gorgeous is that car?

I think this is where my obsession with hood ornaments started today. Be warned. There are a lot.

This is the guest house. Can you believe it?

The grounds were full of great little details like this raised water feature that pours into the large reflecting pool. There were also cute little garden sheds tucked in behind trees and then large horse paddocks that I can just imagine having wonderful buckskins and palominos trotting around in. But thankfully all the horses had been moved for the car show, so that they didn’t get spooked.

And what is this gigantic building with all the big doors around it? Its called the “Auto Salon”, which is basically a gigantic ridiculously luxe two storey garage.

I wasn’t kidding when I said it was two storeys. The entire building is full of classic Cadillacs dating back to the 1920s and 1930s.

But of course the first thing that caught my eye was this sweet little thing. This chihuahua pup was being carried around by a big rough looking guy and I couldn’t quite get why he was pulling a Paris Hilton. Turns out that the pup was bought from a breeder at 4 weeks old for $600 and when they took it into the vet she was horrified. The poor thing was so neglected that it was in a coma. She threatened to call the police if they didn’t let her keep it to care for it. So, when the little pup was a bit better she called this guy and his wife to see if they would take it. When it got to their house it was barely the size of a gerbil. Now its about 12 weeks old and it will most likely always be this size due to the malnourishment it had early on. Sad story, but at least this little guy has made it. And its name is Kiwi. Such a cute name for a little fuzzy ball of cuteness.

The cars in the “Auto Salon” were in amazing condition. I fell in love with this 1930 Cadillac 7 passenger sedan. Way cooler and more practical than a mini van if you ask me.

And a rockin’ hood ornament to boot.

But one of the most prized Cadillacs resides upstairs and isn’t even restored…

This 1925 Cadillac Coach is known as The Chicken Coupe Deville. Here is the story about this amazing car:
“This is the ultimate example of a barn fins. in 1941 it was parked in a chicken coupe, in the city of Orange California and remained until 2005 when the farmer went to a nursing home. Incredibly, this unrestored and totally complete car is in perfect working order with its original fitted trunk and dual exhaust. The cigarette butts in the ashtray were smoked prior to World War II. Some features include Bausch & Lomb optical light lenses, anti-theft gear shift, window blinds, underhood light and cigar lighter on retractable cables. The perfect wood floor has the fisher body stamp on the front right. It is equipped with a 314 CU IN V8 with 80 HP. At a cost of $3185.00. The car was shipped on Dec 5/24 to Don Lee Cadillac in Los Angeles which was the West Coast Distributor for all Cadillacs.”

Something about this reminded me of Mater from Cars

The Delorean DMC-12 from Back to the Future!

Oh how I have loved you from afar.

Makes me want to hop in and go back to 1955! They even have the addition of the Mr. Fusion from Back to the Future II!

Anyone recognize that floating skateboard? Its Marty’s from the second film.

This custom build was amazing!

(And you gotta dig the license plate – FOXY 59)

Notice anything odd? No door handles 🙂

If I could get a modern car this very instant, it would have to be the Challenger. One of the best revivals we’ve seen in a long time.

Inside another building on the estate full of Cadillacs, and amazing film and auto memorabilia. While my brother and dad were in car heaven, I floated around in film student heaven. I guess we’re all just pop culture junkies when you get down to the thick of it.

Hans Solo and a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible. Doesn’t it look like it could have been on Dallas?

A friend of mine pointed out that this looks similar to the ’32 deuce coupe that Tim Allen makes in Home Improvement. I used to love that show growing up. (and not just because of JTT)

This 1942 Cadillac has a unique history. It was purchased new by a widow of a WWI surgeon and sometime during early WWII she donated it to the US Armed Forces. The car served as part of General Eisenhower’s Motor Pool. It was painted typical army olive to camouflage and equipped with white tipped bumpers, headlight covers and blackout lights along with a siren and red warning lights.

One of my all-time favorites – a 1959 El Camino

My heart is a-fluttering.

I would have loved to have those cars as a kid! I actually did have an old metal car that you could pedal that my dad painted the same candy apple red as his old hot rod. It still sits under the pinball machine in our basement. It was the most intense leg workout to get those pedals moving. Now that I think about it, maybe I should dig it out, somehow squeeze all 5’8″ of me into it and pedal off those brownies I made 😉

A replica of an old Orange Crush cooler.

Rows and rows and rows of tin signs.

Cute sign…

…but mom liked this one better.

1973 VW Van. Want to go on a roadtrip?

Orange overload with the interior.

An animal group went around with these exotic and local birds to raise money for a wildlife reserve. I happened to catch them while they were chatting with some cute cops 😉