Where’s Norm?  Back to Little Rock for the Big Cruise Fest in the Rock.  October 24-25, 2008.  

This year Norm returned to Little Rock for the, “Big Cruise Fest in the Rock”.  Norm brought the ’37 Puke Truck to this year’s event.  The caliber of vehicles continues to increase at this event every year (Norm even put a fresh coat of WD-40 on the truck for the show).  How many “show vehicles” can be street driven all year and then prepped for a show in five minutes?   Hey, who is that lovely lady?

Norm had a special passenger this year.  Some of classic photos of Norm driving Kookie in the ‘50s include a very attractive young lady named Lydia.  She and Norm went steady back when the Kookie car was a regular on the streets of SO CAL.  Norm and Lydia had been out of touch since then.  Earlier this year Lydia decided to see what her old boyfriend was doing.  It must have sounded good because here she is in Arkansas.  She’s a Car Gal too.  Back in California you’ll find her behind the wheel of her custom ’57 Thunderbird.   

Lydia had a choice between traveling in the Puke Truck or an HHR.  Picking the Puke truck for the trip down was pretty cool.  The real proof of her automotive enthusiasm was the fact that she elected to make the three-hour trip back to Lead Hill in the Puke Truck even knowing what a plush ride it provides.   

Once settled in Norm greeted many friends and fans.  Little Rock offers the opportunity to stay in touch long time car buddies as well as make new ones.   

Norm had his latest Shifter Skull with.  It got handled a bit before ever making it into a hot rod.  

It does not look like John Dolan wants to let go of this skull.  

It’s easy to find a mid year Corvette in show condition.  It is not easy to find a show quality mid year Corvette with flared wheel wells.  In addition to now accepting decent tire and wheel sizes, it looks pretty darn good too.   

The fastback Vette was a great shade of blue but the color on this Factory Five Racing roadster was incredible, a candy/pearl combination that looked like it was powered by 40 thousand volts.  Norm is an expert when it comes to hues of blue.  He picked this as one of the best shades he’s found in a long time.  Beyond a great color, Rich’s car was finished to a high degree.  It sounded pretty healthy too.  

Norm may be the expert with respect to three-dimensional skulls but Hipp Racing has quite a hold on two-dimensional skulls.  What would the judges at Bloomington say about this Vette?  If the engine was running it wouldn’t matter what the judges said.  Nobody could hear them.  

This Superbird probably did not look this good back in 1970.  A Pistol Grip shifter.  Almost as cool as a Norm Skull.  

There are a few nice ’49 Cadillac in the hot rod world but the finish on this one was truly slick.  

Not all flames are subdued.  

Not content to make trophies and traditional rods, Reed’s also customizes late model vehicles.  This HHR has many subtle but very effective touches.  Maybe if they came from the factory this way, only two of the Big Three would be looking for a hand out… opps “bail out”.  

Enough “As” to make any report card look good and great example of variations on a theme.  

This ’68 Charger exemplifies the fine muscle cars on hand at Little Rock shows.  

Not another ’47 Studebaker!  

Although she’s in college now, Linda Steves built this car a few years back when she was 13.   

Barris is back.  George has been a regular at Little Rock and it was good to see him again this year.  He brought a new custom Challenger but the crowds never cleared sufficiently for a picture.  

  Pontiacs are big in this town.  

We all know what a “Manly Man” Norm is.  He must be very secure in that manliness to share a Cosmo with Lydia.  

Not wise to drink on an empty stomach so…  

A keen eye will spot the fact hat there was no Cheeto’s Cheetah on this Camaro’s spoiler when it arrived at the show.  On site striping and artwork was available during the weekend.  

Believe it or not this Viper’s owner acquired it in a raffle.  

  Classic black with red worked “in the day” and still works today.  

This restaurant must have been expecting Norm.  It had a large skull on display.  It needed aluminum fangs though.  

  This Camaro’s stripes were so easy to miss but once you found them they were impossible to overlook.  

A ’68 Chevelle’s engine bay has no trouble swallowing a well detailed big block.  

Arkansas’ servicemen and women who gave all, were remembered.  We enjoy the freedom that they and others paid for.  

That’s Norm with event coordinated Carol Dolan.  Carol out does herself every year with the event she puts on.  This year was the best yet.  She has raised the bar but there’s no doubt that she will have some new surprises for us next year.    It come as no surprise that Carol’s is a car family.  Thanks for the hard work by you and your team.  

The guys at Reed’s Early Iron once again provided an array of hand made awards for the event.  Looking at all their handiwork it is hard to believe they also have time to produce the cool cars that come from their shop.  

Looks like once again it’s the end.  See you somewhere where the cool cars are.