Every Thursday night there’s a Classic Car Cruise Night at Sylvan Beach, on Oneida Lake.  If you remember from my Fort Stanwix post, after crossing land at the Oneida Carrying Place, boats were put back on the water at Woods Creek, which runs into Oneida Lake.  From there the water route to the Great Lakes follows the Oneida and Oswego Rivers.

I reconnected with my friend Linda while I was here, and since she was going to the cruise, I tagged along.  It was a beautiful night, with the sun setting over the lake, and a storm passing far out on the water.  We saw mostly American makes, although I understand that all makes are welcome.  The Nationals are this coming weekend in Syracuse too, so many of these cars were on their way there, and were polished up nicely.  It was a small town cruise, with probably about 50 cars there, and the following is a collection of some of my favorites.

This Chevy Nova was the first car I saw.  The engine had been replaced and it was turbo-ed up, so not original, but pretty impressive!

Linda spent some time talking to the lady owner of this 1955 Ford Victoria, in it’s original colors.  She had gone to town on this and even had pink distributor cables, although I can’t imagine where she got them!

I got excited and started flapping my hands as soon as I saw this though, a 1961 Studebaker Lark in great condition!  I’ll take one please!

This 1952 Chevy pickup was well done.

And the 1965 Oldsmobile Delta 88 was, well, not a thing of beauty, but a brilliantly kept example.

I’m not quite sure of the year on this Pontiac LeMans.

There were a few newer cars as well, like this 2011 Dodge Challenger, although it’s styling and colors made it fit right in.

If you’re into huge touring cars, how about this 1971 Pontiac Grand Ville?

The 1970 Buick gleamed in the sun with its unusual pearl yellow paint.

This 1966 Chevy Corsa was just perfect for a lake cruise, with a gorgeous interior.

Then this caught my eye!  A 1971 AMC Gremlin!  It looked like it was all original, and was really cool because you just don’t see these any more!

This 1957 Dodge Coranet was well done, if you like the style.

But I prefer this 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner.

I’m not a huge Corvette fan, but this 1963 was very well maintained and presented, repainted in the factory tan color.  The lady owner panicked at the first drop of rain, however, and this was the first car to leave.  Maybe she was going to Nationals tomorrow and didn’t want to repolish?

This 1966 Ford Galaxie seemed about three blocks long, and had a seven litre engine!  Do they make garages long enough to fit this any more?

A 1969 Chevelle joined the list of Chevy’s there.

This 1955 Ford Fairlane and its companion were slammed though, and I wasn’t so fond of the result.

At first glance I didn’t really like the look of this 1953 Ford Customline, but the closer I looked, the more it grew on me, especially the propeller grill!  It was obviously some lady’s pet, as it was custom painted with yellow roses over that horrible sludge brown factory paint.

The next one confused me a bit, because the grill made me think it was a Dodge or Plymouth from a distance.  But nope, it turned out to be a 1963 Chevy Nova, all original!  And what beautiful eyes!

There were plenty of motorcycles and dogs around too, and this guy with both stopped for a chat with us.  That’s an… interesting… helmet!

After a very nice dinner and a couple of carnival rides we were heading back to the FJ when we came across this one year old English Mastiff.  He was a huge adorable puppy, and his little Blue Healer companion was very patient, so meeting them was a great end to a great evening!