The start of a new month means another Cruise-In at The Varsity in Athens, Georgia. The Street Masters Car Club of Athens hosts a monthly Cruise-In at The Varsity during the show season. Since the XJS was relatively clean, Danita and I decided to check out September's edition of the show. As an added bonus, this is also the first set of car show pics taken with the new Canon SL3 camera.

I say the XJS was "relatively clean" only because that's what I thought the car was. Then I took a closer look and started wiping it down. Turns out parking in line at a car show is the easiest way to find out how "not-clean" the car actually is. But after some effort, I had the car looking pretty nice.

I also remembered to bring chairs with me this time ! I often I find myself looking for a place to sit down periodically while wandering through a show and wonder why I didn't bring a folding chair with me despite the fact that I have two of them in the garage. Today I finally remembered to put them in the trunk !

I also replaced the missing "Jaguar" emblem on the trunk. I discovered it missing while cleaning the car at the Crystal Hills show over Memorial Day. OEM emblems are obsolete, and those you find are pricey. I was able to locate a set of reproduction emblems on Ebay at a reasonable price.

Time to get some exercise checking out the great machinery. The 1946-48 Mercury in the photo above wasn't actually in the show, but parked in the parking lot. Regardless, it looked pretty nice.

1955 Buick Roadmaster.

I've always been a fan of the giant 1950s-era Buicks. This one looks like someone's work in progress. I'm not sure why the front license plate is attached upside down.

The Series 70 Roadmaster was the top-of-the-line offering from Buick in 1955, (ahead of the Series 40 Special, Series 50 Super, and Series 60 Century).

1963 Pontiac Catalina.

If I had to guess, I'd say that this is the 370 hp version of Pontiac's 421 CID "Tri-Power" V8.

Drag Racing legend Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick is synonymous with Pontiac. Initially behind the wheel of Dodges and Oldsmobiles, Beswick's affiliation with Pontiac began in 1958 with a new Chieftain. As he won races, he worked his way into a series of 421 Super Duty Catalinas and Tempests before moving into the new GTO in 1964. His "Tameless Tiger" cars frequently won races all across the country.

A fire at his shop in 1972 curtailed his racing adventures for a while. But after taking a 15-year break, Beswick returned in 1987 to compete in the fledgling Nostalgia class with other legends of the sport such as "Dyno" Don Nicholson, Dick Brannan, and Ronnie Sox. Beswick was inducted into the Pontiac Preservation Association Hall of Fame in 2018.

The Arnie Besiwck autograph is a recent addition. It wasn't there when I saw this car at the Crystal Hills Memorial Day car show earlier this year.

The 421 Tri-Power is mated to the always preferred 4-speed manual transmission.

1978 Chevrolet Corvette.

A pair of new Dodge Challengers.

The white car had an oscillating light, aka Night Rider, mounted in the lower grill.

A third new Challenger soon arrived.

A pair of first generation Chevrolet Camaros: 1968 SS 396 (L) and 1969 Z28 tribute (R).

1960 Chevrolet Impala.

This car is ideally equipped: A 348 car with a bench seat and 4-speed manual transmission.

1965 Chevrolet Corvette

This car has the first of five available engine options. The RPO L75 327 CID V8 makes 300 hp.

1967 Mercury Comet Caliente convertible.

According to the display sign, this car originally came from Virginia.

This is a rare car being 1 of 1,539 Caliente convertibles produced in 1965.

1970 AMC Gremlin.

I have fond Gremlin memories from my teenage years, (my introduction to a manual transmission was in a friend's Gremlin in the mid-1980s in Pennsylvania). It's been a while since I've seen one, not just at a car show, but anywhere. The car owner just purchased this car earlier this year and did so because it had been extremely well preserved.

1969 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon.

The full-size station wagon was a staple of my youth ! My mom had the Mercury version of the Country Squire which was known as the Colony Park.

L - R: 1969 Ford Torino Cobra Jet, 1968 Plymouth Road Runner, 1967 Plymouth Belvedere, new Shelby GT350-R.

The 1967 Plymouth Belvedere is somewhat confusing. The Belvedere was available in four different trim levels: Belvedere, Belvedere I, Belvedere II, and GTX. The entry-level Belvedere was available only as a wagon. The Belvedere I was available as a sedan or wagon. This car is a hardtop coupe which was only available in Belvedere II and GTX trim. However, the emblem on a Belvedere II would read "Belvedere II," which this car does not have. A GTX has two fender emblems: "Belvedere" on top and "GTX" underneath. So I'm wondering if this is a GTX that has had the "GTX" emblem replaced with a "440 Magnum" emblem, (which happens to be the standard engine in the GTX). I don't know for sure.

The 1968 Plymouth Road Runner in the center of the photo above represents the introductory year for the model. The car's combination of low price and high performance made it a huge success with almost 45,000 sold that year. This car's hinged rear side windows, (that vent outward instead of rolling down), identify it as a 2-door coupe, (as opposed to a 2-door hardtop), and one of 29,240 produced that year.

1969 Ford Torino Cobra Jet.

Just as the name implies, Ford's mighty 428 CID "Cobra Jet" V8 sits under the hood. This car has the non-ram air version that is laughably underrated at 335 hp, (actual output is closer to 400 hp).

This is a rare car - one of 14,885 Torino Cobras produced that year.

Ford and Mercury did the "fastback" styling better than anyone in the 1960s. Ford called its version of the fastback roofline a "Sportsroof." Of the 14,885 Torino Cobras produced in 1969, 11,099 were Sportsroofs.

1956 Buick Century.

This car appears to have been given the Restomod treatment, at least on the interior.

1957 Chevrolet 150 2-door sedan.

1954 Ford Mainline 2-door sedan.

1965 Pontiac GTO.

Whoever originally ordered this car did so with one goal in mind - going fast ! The combination of the Tri-Power engine, 4-speed manual transmission, limited-slip differential, and radio/heater delete is usually an indicator a car being ordered for drag racing.

Power comes from Pontiac's 389 CID "Tri-Power" V8 that makes 360 hp. The block-off plate for the heater delete option can be seen on the left side of the firewall in the photo above.

1966 Dodge Charger.

1964 Ford Galaxie 500.

This car features Ford's 390 CID V8 that was available with either 300 or 330 hp, (I'm guessing 300 hp with a 2-bbl carburetor and 330 hp with a 4-bbl carburetor, but I'm not sure).

This 2-door hardtop coupe was the most popular Galaxie 500 body style in 1964 with almost 207,000 produced that year.

1963 Chevrolet Nova SS.

I've photographed this stunning 59k original mile car previously.

1963 Volkswagen Beetle 1600.

1934 Ford extended cab truck street rod.

This is the same truck that won one of the Best of Show awards at the Crystal Hills Memorial Day show.