Along the way, we found a cherry ’60 Buick with fins bigger than ours. It’s a good thing size doesn’t matter.

Gary liked the lines. I liked the fact they were going faster than us, since we didn’t want any tickets in Illinois. More about that later.

Located in a quaint town in Southern Indiana, Air Ride is truly a family operation. All the employees offered to come in on their day off and fixed food for us hungry Tourers, and politely laughed at our jokes. As my friends know, that not an easy feat considering my jokes.

Jim had that “deer in the headlights look” after I caught him going for his third helping of food.

As smart employers know, the future of a company belongs to its younger employees. In many firms, it’s not uncommon for offspring to fill the shoes of their parents.

Here, from the right are Samantha, Lauren, Jennifer and Andy. It looks like the future of Air Ride is secure.

Andy seems to taking a different tact than his father, though. While Brett tries to go low with Air Ride products, Andy likes to catch serious air with the front end.

Maybe his future is outlaw street.

A nice benefit of Touring is the help that appears when you need it. Here, rod builder par excellence Posie helps adjust the front carburetor on a 409 dual-quad Chevy. I’m not even sure the kids today know what carburetors are.

With our stomachs full, and an eye on the clock, we fired-up our Air Ride equipped ’59 Sedan Delivery and headed for Louisville. If you’re looking to bag your car or truck, the folks at Air Ride are the ones to see.

An hour and twenty minutes later, we arrived at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds. Right across from our display, which Gary had set up with care while we were “Air Riding” it, was a choice ’71 Hemi ’Cuda convertible.

Back in the ’70s if you chose to pull up next to a Hemi, you deserved what you got.

Nobody said muscle cars were subtle, did they? This was a clone, but the quality of the work was better than OE.

Ken finally arrived at our trailer, warm glowing personality and helpful attitude in tow. The first thing he did was find some cars that I missed. Stuff like this Texas cruiser.

Ken’s always had a desire to own an Amphicar, but it lacks the room he needs for his two children. Maybe he can strike a deal for this aquatic wonder. And yes, those are solar cells on the top. They run the lights on the rear.

More my speed — since I’ve been developing a Mopar desire — is this choice ’64 ’Cuda.

Anyone remember the old “Hemi Under Glass” wheelstanders? It’s that same bodystyle.

Bumming-around the grass, Ken even spotted a V8-powered Suzuki Samurai.

Looks like some improvement over the 1.3 liter four cylinder that was stock originally.

The Kentucky State Fairgrounds are a great place to be, but unfortunately it resides right in the approach pattern for Louisville’s airport. If you ever thought a bunch of cars were loud,

add a 737 to the mix.

Just before my trip onto the stage to award the day’s “Bucket O’ Wax,” Ken gave me the 3 Stooges version of “break a leg.” It’s called “poke an eye.”

I’m sure it helped with my on-stage jokes.

A very nice Italian boy from Staten Island, Joe, won today’s “Bucket O’ Wax.”

Doc Riley, the emcee, was kind enough to offer to go to Joe’s hotel at 5:00 AM tomorrow and detail Joe’s car.

At first, it was just a dollar or two,

but then the big money started flowing.

Finally, the really serious coin was flying.

The top dog was the kind, affluent-looking gentleman in the Viper.