The 2013 Pacific Coast Dream Machines show was spectacular to say the least. There were so many cool cars, trucks, planes, motorcycles, tanks, dragsters, and so much more! Despite the cool weather on Saturday, the show was still great, and the beautiful weather on Sunday made it an unforgettable experience. A great part of the show is that all profits benefit the Coastside Adult Day Health Center, so you can go there, look at tons of cool vehicles, have some great food, and feel good about it at the end of the day!
As my dad and I were driving down the highway towards the show, we could already see the awe-inspiring DC-4 brought down to the show from the retired Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, CA, and is owned by Florida Air Transport. After we parked, a huge display of warbirds and airplanes of every time presented itself, and there were tons of people looking at these fantastic portals into our nation’s past. Among the planes were Eddie Andreini’s new P-51 Mustang “Primo Branco”, Kent Carlomagno’s YAK-11 “Blyak”, Ed Andreini Jr.’s YAK-9, Dan Martin in the P-51 “Red Dog”, Sherman Smoot in his T-28 Trojan, and Terry Tarditi in his Mustang “Comfortably Numb”. Steve Coutches and his son Nicholas brought up their P-51D and their so rare P-51H model, which I think is one of only two flying P-51H’s. There were also some really cool seaplanes, including my friend Eric Preston with his unique Piper Clipper. The fun was about to begin too, because around 1:00, the pilots were starting to get restless…
After lots of planning and deliberation, a photo flight was planned with Eddie in his P-51, Kent in his Yak-11, and my dad taking pictures from the back of Sherm’s T-28. It was also decided that I could go along for the ride in the back of Eddie’s Mustang! After takeoff, we circled around the coastline and did a couple flybys over the airport. Kent unfortunately had to leave early and go back to Petaluma, but it was still a great flight. This was my second ride in a Mustang, and my first time in Eddie’s Mustang, and I have to say, it was definitely the highlight of my weekend! To tell the truth, Mustangs are surprisingly smooth airplanes and you can't tell you're going as fast as you are. It was a thrilling ride as the combination of the perfect weather, the beautiful coastline, amazing planes, and great friends made it simply awesome!
Usually, my dad and I spend all our time up in the airplane section of the show, but this year, we had a little time to head down to the car and other vehicle section and check it out. There were so many different kinds of vehicles; not just cars and motorcycles. There were drag racers, military vehicles with re-enactors, vintage steamrollers and chainsaws, and so much more. We got there a little too late to see everything, but it was still great!
As usual, the 2013 Pacific Coast Dream Machines show was a total blast. Seeing lots of cool planes, flying with my friends, looking at all the vehicles in the south end, and generally just enjoying the show made this year’s Dream Machines one of the best ones yet, and I’m sure they’re only going to get better! Hope to see you all at next year’s Pacific Coast Dream Machines!
Special thanks to my dad because he took most of these photos