The Desert Classic Car Association held its annual Famous Planes, Cars and Chili Cook-off on October 28, 2023 at the Palm Springs Air Museum. This is a charity show for the benefit of the Palm Springs Air Museum.
The show was held in and around the hangers of the Museum and the entry fee to the event included admission to the Museum. To make things even more fun a P51 Mustang and a T-6 Texan were in the air and providing rides for those who wished to book a flight.
P51
T-6
Although the C47 Skytrain was sitting on the tarmac, it was having some mechanical problems and was grounded.
C47
There were a lot of outstanding cars on display including this 1940 Ford pick-up shown below.
This is one nice Oldsmobile 442.
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And, of course, every car show must have a fire truck.
This is a panorama showing some of the cars at the show.
There were some unique specialty cars like this Vanderhall Speedster on display.
This Pulse Autocycle was another unique vehicle. This vehicle designed by Jim Bede is number 288 of 360 such vehicles made between 1985-1990. It is powered by a Honda Goldwing 1100 motorcycle engine. The Pulse originally lacked a tail structure and this vehicle has been customized to include a tail.
Mr. M&M arrived in style in an outstanding 1957 Chevrolet and brought Halloween treats with him.
One noteworthy airplane on display is a reproduction of the Boeing-built B-17 Flying Fortress known as the Memphis Belle. While the original plane is in the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the B-17 in the Palm Springs Air Museum was created for the 1990 movie “The Memphis Belle”. After successfully completing 25 missions during World War II, the plane and its crew returned to the U.S. and were used to promote the sale of war bonds, The reproduction sports the nose art of the original Memphis Belle which was so-named to honor the fiance’ of Captain Bob Morgan. Also depicted on the fuselage are 25 bombs representing the 25 missions flown by the Memphis Belle. The yellow stars above the bombs represent the missions on which the Memphis Belle was the lead plane of the bombing wing. The eight swastikas painted below the bombs represent the Nazi planes the Memphis Belle shot down.
Throughout the day attendees were allowed to visit all of the museum’s planes including it’s new addition – an F-117 stealth fighter. Although the Air Force retired the F-117, part of the fleet is currently maintained in airworthy condition. Not all of the planes were housed inside the hangers, there were a number of planes outside.
At 11:00 am the chili cook-off started. There were six stations offering samples of chili. Each station had chili from a different recipe. Tickets for the cook-off were $1 each or 6 for $5. With one ticket you could get a taste of one type of chili or a soft drink. Hard to pick a winner of the cook-off since all of the stations were offering very tasty chili.
Just prior to the award ceremony, the colors were presented and the national anthem was sung.
This overview photo was taken by the Riverside County Sheriff’s office personnel which were on-hand to showcase some of the equipment used by the deputies in their high-tech mobile command center.
Spending the day at the Palm Springs Air Museum looking at some fine cars and planes was the perfect way to spend a perfect day in the desert. This was great event and we plan to be back again next year.
