Car show rolls in Woodstock Saturday

Submitted by Iron Invasion

A different kind of car show rolls into Woodstock Saturday, Oct. 6.

Why is this show different? It is not a just a show — this is a festival. Artists, live bands, swap meet, vintage apparel and furniture dealers, classic pin up girl contest, vintage motorcycles, hot rods, and custom cars will all join in one group at the McHenry County Fairgrounds Saturday, Oct. 6.

The event is open to the public at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, and 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 6. All details at www.ironinvasion.com.

Cars and motorcycles are already registered from Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana and, of course, many from Wisconsin and Illinois. The car count is expected to be around 600 classic hot rods. There will be a friends parking area for the cars that don’t meet the entry guidelines. This show strives to bring back a specific time in history. A period before muscle cars, and before old cars were brought up to date with digital technology. With the inclusion of the friends parking area, an area designated for cars that were made after 1964, there could be 800 cars rolling into the McHenry County Fairgrounds.

International and national magazine coverage — Ol Skool Rodz, Car Kulture Deluxe, Hot Rod Deluxe, Traditional Rod & Kulture, Cycle Source, and Street Chopper will be on site to cover the event. Vintage Torque will be filming the event for a future DVD release as well.

Vintage Motorcycle Display — Pre-1975 customs, choppers and bobbers welcome. There will be custom motorcycle builders that have been on magazine covers worldwide as well. King Kustoms and Jr’s Cycle Parts will both have booths at the show and will be showing some of their past builds, as well as some new rides in their stables.

Live music from internationally known music acts will be playing at the Iron Invasion. The emphasis is on rockabilly and honky tonk country at this event. Pearls Mahone and the One Eyed Jacks, Adam Lee & The Dead Horse Sound Company, LÃ�ssassins, Hot Rod Hucksters, Wayne “The Train” Hancock, and The Afterdarks will all be playing sets either on Friday or Saturday. See the website for the schedule.

A classic style pin up contest will take place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. This is another period time piece that sees the girls dressing up in vintage attire and sporting the classy, not trashy, look. Winners of the pin up contest will take home over $1,000 in prize money and gifts from sponsors. The details for this contest are on the Iron Invasion Facebook site. There also will be a children’s fashion parade before the pinup contest for kids that have dressed up for the weekend. Iron Invasion is a family-friendly event and welcomes any kids that are dressed up to parade onstage. There is no charge for this photo opportunity.

Feature cars will be inside all five of the buildings. This includes the Anderson ’36, The Mystery Mercury, the 1940 Ford featured in the James Dean classic Rebel Without A Cause, and The Chrisman Brothers Coupe. This coupe is one of the most iconic hot rods of all time. This is a very special car from the Dana and Patti Mecum collection. Many other period correct race cars, show cars from the 1960s, and magazine cars will be on display.

Vendors and artists from around the country will be in the buildings at the Iron Invasion. Max Grundym internationally known artist from Los Angeles will be heading to Woodstock as well as Trophy Queen, who specialize in handbags made from vintage car interiors. They also are from LA. More than 60 vendors will be on site. In addition, there will be a swap meet for vintage car parts. This is not a flea market, it is strictly enforced and if you are selling items other than car parts you will be asked to leave from this part of the show. This is all done in an attempt to keep this event period correct and maintain the integrity of the show.

The Tin Butchers Car Club are in charge of the swap meet. The Tin Militia are in charge of the volunteers and Half Fast Chicago are helping out with the vintage motorcycle section of the show. The reliance on the regional car clubs cannot be understated. This is another aspect of the show that makes it unique. There will be a special building dedicated to just the car clubs and each car club is able to present its club pick and present to a lucky car owner that is at the show. These car club pick trophies are usually hand made and are pieces of art — not just some hunk of plastic purchased at the trophy store. The Iron Invasion show does not give out trophies. Only the car clubs give out their picks. As a result, one car could go home with 20 trophies and not another car could get a pick. This is just another way for Iron Invasion to differentiate itself from just any other car show out there.

The pre party starts on Friday night and is open to the public as well.

The cost is $10 to come into the show for the weekend pass. This rate will apply to everyone, spectator and car owner alike. There is no extra fee to show your car and no extra fee for parking. All proceeds from the gate go to www.helpinghannahsheart.org. This is a 501(c)3 designed to help families with children born with congenital heart defects.