Classic car show and swap meet at a nudist colony

Well, today was a first for Linda, Duane and me in several ways.  We attended a classic car show -- which we really only went to because of the swap meet being held at the same place.  And, oh yes, they took place at a nudist colony/resort.   The resort is pretty well-known in this area.  It's not too far from where Linda lives so we decided to check out their swap meet and classic cars.  The cars weren't the only vintage sights we saw but it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it might be.  The swap meet was actually held along a street outside the entrance to the nudist colony.  I found a couple of cool items there -- a vintage ceramic picture frame and a DVD of a movie I hadn't seen.  Then we decided to venture into uncharted territory.

The man who flagged us in was very sweet.  He thought we were bringing my Mini Cooper, Mrs. Peel, to the car show.   I hadn't thought about that.  There were no Minis of any kind at the show.  We told him we were there as spectators -- hope that didn't sound weird -- and he smiled and waved us through.  One thing about a nudist camp is that when you first spot someone -- this resort is on a lake and in some very nice woods -- it almost looks like they're wearing longjohns.  Tan ones.  Very tan ones.  In fact, speaking of tan, the first thing I noticed was the absence of tan lines on the residents.  Some were walking around naked but others were wearing clothing.  Probably to make outsiders more comfortable.  You had to be 18 or over to attend and they asked that you be respectful, which we were.  We had a hard time understanding how it could be comfortable to ride a bike while naked, though.  A couple of men rode by on bikes.  Many people did wear hats and even more wore some kind of shoes.  Oh and we noticed that many people had towels with them to lay on chairs, etc., before sitting on them.  I had heard about that practice.

I don't know if it's because this is Florida or because they've all been exposed to the sun for so long but everyone looked over 50.  Probably a combination of both.  There seemed to be more men than women but that might have been because it was a car show which many people consider a 'guy' thing.
They had entertainment and food and you could also guess how many balloons were in the clown car (a Toyota Scion) for a chance to win a pie from Village Inn.  The three of us all made our guesses but I doubt we won.  The guy in charge of the clown car wasn't sure if you had to be present to win but we had other sales to go to and we weren't planning on staying all day.

I've never been so glad to be wearing sunglasses in my entire life.  This is definitely a place where you want to make eye contact.  Otherwise, it seems weird.  Not in a sexual way but in the context of being polite.  As we looked over the cars, there was one elderly man wearing just a baseball cap and sneakers who was kind of following us.  He never said anything.  I asked for permission to take photos of some of the cars and there was no problem with that.  I was careful not to get our elderly nudist in them. 

All three of us picked out a car that we'd like to have taken with us.  I took pics of those along with a couple of others that we liked.  There were some huge classic American made cars which aren't my thing -- Cadillacs with fins, etc., but they were in really beautiful condition. 

Adorable 'Love Bug' Beetle.

Beautiful classic 1951 MG.

And now for our favorites.  Duane loved this classic black bug because her first car was a bug.

Duane's choice.

Linda had a hard time deciding between the red MG, pictured above, and a baby blue convertible bug but she went with the bug.

Linda's pick.

And my choice was an easy one.  As soon as I laid eyes on it I knew that this 1974 Triumph was for me.

Mine, mine, mine!

And, in case you're wondering, no I did not photograph any of the nudists.  I thought about it -- Linda figured the old guy following us would have posed -- but decided that it would be invading their privacy, even with their heads completely blurred.  When I was still wondering, Linda commented that we could never have posed ourselves because the three of us are so pale that we would have probably blinded people from the glare of the sun hitting us.  Heh, heh.

After the car show/nudist colony, which was pretty hard to top, we did visit a couple of estate sales.  One was being given by a talented artist.  We loved her work and got her card since she participates in a show once a month held on one of the tiny islands on the other side of town.  Linda found a Paul Newman cookbook, I bought a mother of pearl pot with vines painted on it and Duane purchased a lovely piece of Delftware and a brand new (with tags) cotton Burberry sweater.  Then we went to Starbucks for a snack and to relax.

Our purchases.

Oh, here's another shot of my favorite car from the show -- the '74 Triumph.