Text and photos by Vern Hance

The NCKCC (Northern California Kit Car Club) annual show had a new venue this year at the Oakland Aviation Museum. Located in Oakland, California, this setting made for a a great mix of kit projects, handcrafted vintage cars and a variety of aircraft. The latter consisted of the flying boat from Raiders of the Lost Ark, many military fighter Jets, and even a number of kit airplanes. So we were in good company.

The wide variety of cars on display included Gary O’Connor’s Corvair-powered Woodster, which has a body of California redwood. A long-haul veteran, the Woodster has crossed the U.S. in both directions at least once. Four very sharp Cobras were the most plentiful in our show population. In between we had some really nice handcrafted Detroit iron from a ’42 Plymouth coupe to a beautiful ’56 Chevy Nomad, and even an electrified Honda Civic, powered by a 4001 Prestolite electric motor and a backseat full of lithium-ion cells. It’s a daily driver, and way less expensive than a Tesla!

As an added feature of the event, this was an “Open Cockpit” Day, allowing spectators to climb into the pilot’s seat and let their imagination go wild. Or they could walk through the China Clipper flying boat man the controls like Indiana Jones. We had to do a little defensive exhibiting since some of the youngest spectators thought ‘open cockpit’ included the cars.

In addition to the kit cars, the museum had several kit planes that are part of their regular display. A favorite was the Glasair RG, a sleek pre-molded composite kit airplane first introduced in 1979 and still produced as the Glasair (Super 2) model.

After finishing the tally of spectator ballots we awarded a trophy to the six cars with the most votes. Winners were: Jim Smith’s Cobra, Mike and Melinda Koken’s Ferrari 250 GTO (who drove 700+ miles from Lancaster, CA), Bob and Linda Kluber’s Austin Healey 3000 replica, Vern and Carol Hance’s Mercedes 500K, Gary O’Connor’s Woodster, and Domingo and Betty Cambra’s ’56 Chevy Nomad.

From observations and talking to people was clear that everyone was pleased with this venue, mixing cars and planes by parking under the wings.