Cobra Rican
Every year dedicated fun loving car aficionados from all parts converge on Parsippany, NJ for what is accurately referred to as the “World’s Biggest 50’s Party”. It’s a Labor Day must do, for us and every year it seems to get better and better, or it could due to the kind of folk that attend. If you are into old cars, rockabilly music, and having a good time, then this is the event for you.
We attended the event this year for our third year and had a blast, met some folks and even picked up the inspiration to do a little article on the event. The event in my opinion is a family affair, clean fun; a walk back in time, a time when muscle cars and good old American values ruled.
Here are some pictures we took while at the event:
I personally learned a very valuable lesson ….. that is when getting out of a Shelby Cobra…. Remember it has headers and go wide; cost of lesson = nasty burn on the right leg. However, did not feel a thing until the next day thanks to the Shmoo Crew. Actually if it weren’t for Tommy, Guy and Laurie, I would of never met the owner of the Shelby Cobra replica. Its easy to drift back in time as one strolls a parking lot or two full of nostalgia.
We were busy checking out cars and remembering which was owned by whom back in the day (while sipping on schmoo), as we ran across the Silver Cobra and started to chat with the owner. Well it turned out that we had several things in common, one we were both Boricuas and two, we both have relatives with the last name Cruz (my cuz, Angel Cruz just happened to be next to me) well we briefly chatted it was a kit car but more importantly it was his baby and the car was spectacular.
Before I get too ahead, let me define Shmoo; its an alcoholic beverage named after the character “Shmoo” what’s in it…well that is a secret mixed closely guarded by the Shmoo Crew.
So we went off, got Shmoo refills, listened to the razorbacks play some mean rockabilly and watched as the folks light up the dance floor. We picked up some Shmoo for our new found friend as he had heard about it and wanted ato try it. Upon our returned with the Schmoo, we settled to chat and as you know, one thing leads to another and before long we were meeting alot of the exhibitors some of which were also fellow Boricuas and that is the genesis of this article. Now as for LEAD EAST…. we’ll be back , visit old friends and make some new ones; that is what it’s all about. You know when an event is good, people are friendly and you have a great time; Lead East is a great place to see some vintage cars, make new friend and chat with old ones. We highly recommend it!
The 30th Annual LEAD EAST, New York/New Jersey Metro’s Biggest Old Car Event and it will be held on Wednesday August 29th
thru Sunday September 2nd 2012 at the Parsippany NJ Hilton Hotel.
Here is a link to a video of the 2010 event: Lead East 2010 Video
