Feb 5, 20233 min read

The 2023 Edison Ford Winter Estates Car Show

(All photos courtesy of Chet Wallace)

This past Saturday I spent most of the day working the annual car show that the Edison Ford Winter Estates puts on every February. Last February of 2022 I came to the show as a guest, even though I was working as a historian at the estate. During that show I saw a car I had always wanted to see, an Edsel. There was only one there at the time. I remember asking the owner how much an Edsel would go for if it was in excellent condition, mechanically and physically. The answer was about $500,000. Wow! I wouldn’t be getting one anytime soon!

That show in 2022 had well over one hundred cars. This year the show dropped off to only a little over 75. Probably had to do with several reasons including Hurricane Ian and the fact that other car shows were going on nearby in Southwest Florida. It still was a fascinating look at different cars from different eras.

This Saturday’s show was all Ford’s….T-Birds, Mustangs, Model T’s, Model A’s, hot rods and various other Fords. Several members of the curation team were on hand to direct traffic, including myself, when the cars arrived in the morning and when they left around 2pm once the show was over. Our automotive curator Jim Moss directed the antique cars onto the Ford property from the street and I helped to direct them to where they should park. Several food trucks were there so I got me some lunch and then hung out with Jim at the gate. Toward the end of the show we started directing them to leave and it was a custom for the cars, as they were leaving, to honk their horns as they left.

Raffle tickets were given out throughout the show and the winners were announced at the end. Also, people could vote for their favorite car in three separate categories, early cars from about 1910 to 1940, 1940 to 1960, and 1960 to 1980. Staff could vote as well so I voted for a Model T that was painted like a firetruck and was dedicated to 911. This car had the names of all of the firefighters that lost their lives in 911 on the hood. The owner told me that a lady at a previous car show noticed the name of one firefighter on the hood and broke down crying. The name had been her father. For the 1940 to 60 category I voted for a beautiful red 1957 Ford Fairlane and for the later category I voted for a Shelby Mustang. The only one that I voted for that won was the firefighter Model T. Below I have included photos that I took at the event, including some of the individual cars.