COCSD Main Street America Car Show
Now celebrating its 26th year, the Corvette Owners Club of San Diego’s Main Street America People’s Choice Charity Car Show — sanctioned by the San Diego Association of Car Clubs — is a San Diego tradition.
Once again it was held from 10am to 3pm on the grass in beautiful Embarcadero Marina Park North, overlooking San Diego Bay, Coronado and Navy ships.
Unfortunately, the Port of San Diego is not giving dates for this park next year, because they are in the process of redeveloping the waterfront. Groundbreaking will likely be taking place in January 2024. Tentative plans are being made to hold next year’s car show in the waterfront park at the County of San Diego Administration Building.
The car show and its large, popular raffle were a fundraiser to benefit the San Diego Center for the Blind.
Lunch was served and music filled the air.
The organizers were hoping to match or exceed last year’s fundraising total of $25,000.
This car show is very well supported by San Diego County car clubs. There were classes for: Pre-War Classics (completely stock cars from model years 1900-1942)…
…1946-1960 Domestics (essentially stock U.S. cars except for Corvettes and T-Birds. Significantly modified cars were to be classified as Customs)…
…1961-1966 Domestics (essentially stock U.S. cars, except for Corvettes, Pony Cars and T-birds — again with significantly modified cars being classified as Customs)…
…1967-1989 Domestics (essentially stock U.S. cars, except Corvettes, Pony Cars and T-Birds, with significantly modified cars being classified as Customs)…
…1946-1989 Foreign (essentially stock non-U.S. cars, with significantly modified cars being classified as Customs)…
…1990-2023 Foreign (stock and modified non-U.S. cars, except Mazda Miatas, EVs and hybrids)…
…1964-1989 Pony Cars (essentially stock AMXs, Barracudas, Camaros, Challengers, Capris, Challengers, Cobras, Cougars, Firebirds, Javelins and Mustangs — with significantly modified cars being classified as Customs)…
…1990-2023 Pony, Sports and Muscle Cars (stock and modified U.S. cars — except Corvettes, T-Birds and EVs)…
…1953-1967 Corvettes (stock first and second generation Corvettes, except those with modifications, which will be classified as Customs)…
…1968-1996 Corvettes (stock and modified third and fourth generation Corvettes)…
1997-2013 Corvettes (stock and modified fifth and sixth generation Corvettes)…
…2014-2019 Corvettes (stock and modified seventh generation Corvettes)…
…2020-2023 Corvettes (stock and modified eighth generation Corvettes)…
…1990-2005 Miatas (stock and modified), 2006-2023 Miatas (stock and modified), Thunderbirds (stock and modified, all model years)…
… Trucks and Sport Utility Vehicles (stock and modified, any make and model)…
…Low Riders [sic] — 1954 and older (any make and model, customized with under-sized tires)…
…Low Riders [sic] — 1955-1989 (any make and model, customized with under-sized tires)…
…All-Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (any make, model and year with electric motor propulsion)…
…1900-1942 Street Rods (custom cars based on pre-war vehicles)…
…1946-1960 Customs (cars other than T-Birds, with significant modifications)…
…1961-1989 Customs (cars other than T-Birds, and 1968-1989 Corvettes with significant modifications)…
…and the GOLD CLASS (last year’s class-winning vehicles, competing for Best of Show — for which the winner receives a “very cool trophy” and an embroidered jacket).
I parked my 2019 Mazda MX-5 on what was appropriately nicknamed Mount Miata — a gentle hill overlooking the rest of the car show. There were many Miatas there besides mine…
… but, if you were there, you probably would have noticed one Miata in particular. This one was wrapped to look like Lightning McQueen from “Cars.” There were even the large “Cars” eyes on the windshield.
Craig Moya, the Main Street America Planning Committee Chairperson, introduced the awards presentation. Here are excerpts from what he said:
“This car show is my child. It just means the world to me. I thank you all! We sold out earlier than we ever have (17 days before the car show). We pretty much always sell this show out. We actually ended up with 367 plus I don’t know how many Day of Show, so probably roughly 380 registrations altogether — an all-time record. Thank you so much.”
After all of his hard work, it seemed fitting that Craig’s raffle ticket was picked out of the large drum full of tickets for the Grand Prize: shown on the raffle tickets prize list as a Ceramic Pro Package from SD Auto Salon ($1,500 value).
To explore a wide variety of content dating back to 2002, with the most photos and the latest text, visit “AutoMatters & More” at https://automatters.net. Search by title or topic in the Search Bar in the middle of the Home Page, or click on the blue ‘years’ boxes and browse.
Copyright © 2023 by Jan Wagner – AutoMatters & More #802r1
Nice Ferrari picture. Great read.
Thank you Mr. Nobody. It is always a pleasure speaking with you!
Jan
Jan,
I’ve enjoyed your photo-journalistic efforts for some time, without realizing your body of work includes a whopping 803 columns. That number simply reinforces the adage that “practice makes perfect.”
You used and/or captured a number of superlatives in this piece but somehow stopped short of helping us enjoy the seductive smells of the hundreds of bratwursts and hot dogs being grilled, or the moist morning air wafting off the nearly-touchable bay. The fuel-rich exhausts we smelled were a not-so-subtle reminder of just how good the electronically-controlled, fuel-injected, emissions-controlled modern vehicles really are.
Thanks for focusing on some of the interesting vehicles presented and for chronicling the efforts of Craig Moya, his COCSD cohorts, and the additional volunteers required to deliver this show for 26 years.
I was particularly appreciative of my photo being included among those of vehicles that were much more valuable, more meticulously restored, detailed, and historic.
Thank you,
“Lightning McQueen”
Jan,
I’ve enjoyed your photo-journalistic efforts for some time, without realizing your body of work includes a whopping 803 columns. That number simply reinforces the adage that “practice makes perfect.”
You used and/or captured a number of superlatives in this piece but somehow stopped short of helping us enjoy the seductive smells of the hundreds of bratwursts and hot dogs being grilled, or the moist morning air wafting off the nearly-touchable bay. The fuel-rich exhausts we smelled were a not-so-subtle reminder of just how good the electronically-controlled, fuel-injected, emissions-controlled modern vehicles really are.
Thanks for focusing on some of the interesting vehicles presented and for chronicling the efforts of Craig Moya, his COCSD cohorts, and the additional volunteers required to deliver this show for 26 years.
I was particularly appreciative of my photo being included among those of vehicles that were much more valuable, more meticulously restored, detailed, and historic.
Thank you,
“Lightning McQueen”
Hi Gene,
I’m glad to see that you persevered and that your comment made it through the gauntlet of WordPress filters. No Captchas would be necessary if bad actors did not try to ruin the great and useful experiences made possible by the Internet.
Yes, sometimes I do try to include food (although no smell-a-vision yet. I included a few food photos in my coverage of this years San Diego County Fair. I have not finished editing my photos of that yet, which features the annual “Firefighter Demolition Derby.” I am going to try to edit photos today for at least one more column that was written several weeks ago. The work never ends, and I never get caught up. Tomorrow another column is due. at the Armed Forces Dispatch newspaper. At least that deadline keeps me generating new work every week, but I sure wish that someone would promote my columns on social media. That way I might earn enough revenue to justify hiring someone to help me.
In case you’re curious, my photo editing was really put to the test in that photo showing the SDMC members sitting in a row at the awards presentation. The people on the hill beside them were in the shadow of a large tree, so there faces were obscured by darkness. I went in and carefully selected each face, etc., and then increase the exposure of them. That photo took me at least half an hour to edit.
Likewise, in the photo of the group of volunteers, most were wearing hats. That caused dark shadows over their faces, which I individually lightened.
Jan
Jan, I always enjoy your automotive photos, but you’ve really broken the mold with these excellent shots! Sorry I missed the event in person, but your photos have more than filled-in the blanks for me. Thanks for all you do.
You are very welcome, Tom.
This is supposedly going to be the last Main Street America car show at this location, so I especially wanted to document it. I ran out of time before I shot as many vehicles as I would have liked to shoot, but at least I shot a representative sampling.
Jan
Jan,
I’m already a fan of your automotive journalistic efforts, but this Main Street America edition is my favorite to date. Even the car show-jaded among us can appreciate the charity context and fabulous scenery you included in your most recent effort.
What’s more, I’m impressed with the volume of your photo-journalistic efforts (803!) over the years and the attention to detail in each. Wonderful job! I hope that event organizer Craig Moya and his COCSD cohorts (and other sundry volunteers) appreciates this particular effort as much as I do.
“Lightning McQueen”
Hi again, Gene.
I’m sorry that my WordPress website did not give you better feedback as to the automatic approval process of comments, to avoid ‘SPAM BOTS.” However, at least you did not lose your comments.
Jan
Jan, what an incredible car show. It covers every conceivable type of vehicle with trophies for each class. The only ones missing are those British and European antique types.
I recognize the metallic grey woodie station wagon from last year, and my favorite is the first generation blue with white trim Corvette.
Great photos. Bright orange is the best possible choice for your Mazda!! David.
Thank you David,
Car shows are one of my favorite events to cover, but they take a long time for me to post on my website because there are so many photos to edit. I cannot just pick a representative few to include.
I still have a large backlog of columns to post, but are awaiting more photo editing.
Jan
You did a great job overall, but I really really liked the way you captured the atmosphere with the cars and water shots.
Wally
Thank you very much Wally, and welcome to my website! I first posted this column with the “atmosphere” shots mostly grouped right at the beginning, but when I opened it on a couple of my devices to make sure that it loaded correctly, I thought it would be better to spread the “atmosphere” throughout the column, so I went back and re-edited it to move a bunch of those photos between lines of text for classes that I did not have specific car photos for. I’m glad to hear that you like what I did with that.
By the way, try entering keywords like “San Diego Miata Club,” SDMC and Miata (or any subject that interests you) in the Search bar in the middle of my AutoMatters.net Home Page. Doing so should provide you with links to other of my “AutoMatters & More” columns that you might enjoy, too. Over 400 of my columns are already uploaded there, and my goal is to eventually find the time to finish editing photos for all of them and then upload all of my columns (803 to date) to my website.
I sure wish that I had someone to promote my 20+ years of work on social media. That would hopefully lead to income that could let me justify paying people to help out. From the beginning I’ve been doing everything myself, but it is too much work for this one 69-year-old person to do do everything.
Jan