Snatch and Doodle came from Texas to help celebrate my birthday. Saturday we took on the third-annual Chattanooga Motorcar Festival, which takes over downtown and fills the city with thousands of vehicles from car clubs to private collections. Throughout the day, Mecum Auctions rolled hundreds of muscle cars, exotics, hot rods, and rare vehicles across their auction floor.
Mecum Auctions supports neuroscience research. Car geeks and motorheads drooled over the wild variety of shiny rides available to take home from the Convention Center.
From V-8s to VWs, cars raced all weekend at Chattanooga’s Grand Prix track called “The Bend.” “Miss Hurst Golden Shifter” Linda Vaughn posed with us and her Classic Olds 442. Snatch told her, “I had your poster above my bed in the 70s.” At 80-years old, Linda is still rockin’ hot rodders!
We hung out in the pits with the drivers that race original 1920s cars. They weren’t the fastest cars on the track, but still a hoot to watch.
V-cars run on Volkswagen engines. The drivers build their own cars and are happy to answer question about the affordable and fun to drive racers.
Along the streets and in vacant lots, all over downtown, were incredible cars. This modernized, four-wheel-drive Model T truck was a standout.
This Ferrari was the sexiest ride I saw all day. The vintage collection at the Weston Hotel displayed Ferraris so rare, each was worth well over a million bucks.
The celebration continued on Sunday at Rock City’s Octoberfest on Lookout Mountain.
Karen and I have season passes to enjoy the many events at Rock City. It was Schnatch and Doodle’s first visit to the garden of wonderful rock formations.
The trees are just beginning to turn colors and the views are always fantastic at Rock City Gardens.
We danced to the “Musik Meisters” and enjoyed Octoberfest pints at the Rock City Beer Garden.
The birds of prey at the Rock City Raptor Show were magnificent creatures. The handlers flew them over the heads of the crowd close enough to feel their wing beats! Peregrine Falcons, like this one, are the fastest animals on the planet and have been recorded diving at 236 mph.
The Wings That Soar organization specializes in care for non-releasable birds of prey that could not survive in the wild on their own. I learned this barn owl’s eyes are stationary, which is why their heads swivel 270 degrees.
I always notice something new at Rock City, like this Atlas holding up the entrance to a tunnel with Karen’s help.
Before we left the top of Lookout Mountain, I took our guests to Point Park Battlefield. The view across the Tennessee River’s Moccasin Bend of Chattanooga is special and you can see our home on Chickamauga Lake in the far distance.
We wound up my 65th celebration at SideTrack restaurant. Schnatch sprang for dinner from their wood-burning oven and wood-fired grill that was excellent. We all shared the Graham Cracker, torched marshmallow, amaretto brownie for dessert. A perfect end to the meal and my birthday.