Elizabethtown – Swope’s Cars of Yesteryear
Let’s talk about cars …
I’m just going to come out and say it: the Pontiac Trans Am was absolutely the coolest car of the 1980s, especially if you were a teenager. It was the “epitome of 80s cool.”
With pony car performance and a detailed Camaro F-body, the Trans Am was everything that heavy-metal loving teenagers wanted to be – muscular, menacing, and irresistible. You couldn’t look at a 1980s Trans Am with T-tops, hood bird, louvers, and a turbo engine and not feel “a need for speed,” to quote another 80s favorite.
It was a long time coming. Almost 70 years of evolution in auto engineering had to happen before the Trans Am wowed bell bottomed and big haired teens across America from the 60s through the 90s.
Mass production
The process started, more or less, with mass production of the first Oldsmobile (the “Curved Dash”) in 1901. By the time Ford Motor Company took the assembly line lead with its Model T in 1908, an American automobile was being assembled every 93 minutes.
Muscle cars arrived in the late 1940s with the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 and entered their golden age with the 1964 Pontiac GTO. The hot rod Chevy Camaro– a cousin of the Trans Am—would go on line in 1966, with production of the Trans Am a few years behind in 1969.
The end of an era
The end of production of the Trans Am in 2002 was a fate delivered to most cars built over the past 100-plus years. Car enthusiasts who crave a specific car can usually find it no matter how long it’s been out of production. There are plenty of historic cars for sale online — even the Model T.
But if having a stable of classic cars seems like a lot of extra work (and I expect it is) there are plenty of car shows and a few classic car museums out there to suit most interests. One of the best just happens to be here in Kentucky, off I-65 in Elizabethtown.
Swope’s Cars of Yesteryear Museum
I walked into Swope’s Cars of Yesteryear Museum in Elizabethtown expecting to find 10 or 15 vintage cars. What I found instead were 36 perfectly maintained specimens of some of the world’s most collectible automobiles dating from the early 1900s to the late 1960s.
Soon I had racked up face-to-face meetings with eight Packards, two or more Rolls Royces, a 1953 Jaguar K120, an exceedingly-lovely 1956 Ford Thunderbird coral two-seater sports car, a 1932 La Salle convertible, and three or four Model Ts – including a 1914 Ford Runabout that used matches and a tanked filled with carbide and water to power its headlights.
1914 Renault
The 1914 Renault taxi at the museum also commanded my respect, and not just for its imposing yellow and black hood and extended wooden cab. This specific taxi was one of the “Taxis de la Marne,” a force of 600 requisitioned Paris cabs used to carry French troops to the First Battle of the Marne against the Germans in WWI. Not too many automobiles today have that kind of provenance. C’est formidable for sure.
1969 Camaro 350 SS hardtop
Another attention-grabber is the museum’s 1969 Chevrolet Camaro that the founder of the museum and Swope’s Elizabethtown dealership, the late Bill Swope, described in the car’s caption as a “like-new” 350 SS two-door hardtop. “Like-new” was a reference to the fact that the car has been restored (like many cars at the museum) but is as close as possible to original condition.
And how could you not love this car? The Chevrolet Camaro is an iconic muscle car, the inspiration for the totally sweet 1980s Pontiac Trans Am, and the winner of two Trans-Am racing championships. Etcetera.
To quote Mr. Swope, the 1969 Camaro 350 SS was a “A High-Performance Mean Machine,” and still is.
Clyde Barrow and Ford
Toward the back of the museum is another exhibit that — although a photocopy of a letter and not a car — may just be the most infamous fan letter ever received by the Ford Motor Company.
The author was Clyde Barrow, half of the duo Bonnie and Clyde. He somehow found time between murderous escapades in 1934 to write Henry Ford and tell the head of Ford Motor Company how much he enjoyed driving Ford cars.
Not long after the letter was sent, Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed by gunfire in Louisiana. They were driving a stolen 1934 Ford Deluxe at the time of their deaths.
But don’t take my word for it. Go check it out for yourself. Swope’s Cars of Yesteryear Museum at 1080 North Dixie Avenue in Elizabethtown is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Admission is free.
Freeman Lake Park
If all that chrome has you craving a bit of nature, then you’re in luck. Not far from the museum across U.S. 31W (N. Dixie) on Blue Heron Way is Freeman Lake Park.
A 170-acre lake is the centerpiece for this beautifully-maintained park with boat rentals, fishing, tennis complex, playground, dog park, disc golf, paved walking trails, a nature park with a Veterans Tribute, and historical sites.
What’s next?
We’ll hang around E-town for another week to explore this area’s link to our 16th President and Freeman Lake Park. We’ll also take a trip into downtown Elizabethtown, where there’s something unusual lodged in a brick wall on the city square. If you want to find out what that is, un-Tucked style, be sure to keep reading!
And there’s more. WEKU-FM’s “Eastern Standard” (you can stream it online at weku.fm) will be airing an interview with me about un-Tucked on or about Sept. 10. I will be posting the date and time on our Facebook page in the next day or so.
Still curious? Contact the Elizabethtown Tourism & Convention Bureau for more information, or visit E-town’s visitor center in person at 1030 N. Mulberry Street in Elizabethtown.
