There’s always an abundance...
There’s always an abundance of variety at the Silver Springs Roundup. From concours to modified, from street driven to trailered drag racer, and from classic to the latest model, you’ll see it here. One style that we always see at least one of is an Eleanor (or a version of said car), and in this instance it was Steve Richmond’s ’67 fastback take on the popular theme.
One of the most anticipated arrivals of each New Year has been the annual Ford & Mustang Roundup in Silver Springs, Florida. The show, historically placed in the first few weeks of January of each year, is home to nearly 1,000 show cars of all years and models. Many show goers look to the Silver Springs show, held at the famous Silver Springs park, as the launch party for the annual car show season. It certainly doesn’t hurt the fact that National Parts Depot has generously stepped in for over a decade now to cover the cost of the first 1,000 car entries, which includes two tickets for the park and all of its attractions as well. The annual show draws attendees from throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as international visitors every year. Included in the weekend event is a Friday car cruise that begins at NPD’s Ocala, Florida, location (this year 134 cars participated), a midway with key suppliers to NPD’s catalogs, product demonstrations, awards, and more.
You’ll find Mustangs of all...
You’ll find Mustangs of all sizes at the Silver Springs show. Every year we spot something different. From radio controlled Mustangs made up to match their owner’s fullsize cars to Mustang go-carts. This year we spotted this slick-looking Texaco gas station display replete with classic Mustangs, service parts, and a wall full of license plates!
The one downside of having a car show event so early in the year, even here in Florida, is that you can sometimes get saddled with some not-so-car-show-friendly weather, including low temperatures, high winds, and rain. This certainly has been the case the last several years for the Silver Springs Ford & Mustang show, even to the point that there was a discussion amongst organizers about moving the show into February after last year’s show saw 20-degree weather and light snow! The January time slot ended up being the only workable solution for the event, as Silver Springs plays host to numerous music concerts throughout the year.
No matter if the car came...
No matter if the car came from the next town over or from the next state over, every once in a while we spot some car trouble on the show grounds. We've seen NPD come to the rescue with emergency parts, too, in the past (NPD doesn't sell parts at the show, but its showroom is only 20 minutes away). This year, we spotted a few overheating cars, but this poor fellow had to pick up a carburetor rebuild kit to fix his leaking accelerator pump.
So once again the Ford & Mustang Roundup was held in January. Matter of fact, the event was moved up to the first weekend in January this time. But Mother Nature gave us all a break and this year’s event opened on a perfect weekend with sunny weather, no rain, and hundreds of Fords and Mustangs to drool over. Once again we were proud to be a part of the event, not just by covering the show with the photos you see here, but by sponsoring awards and bringing project cars out for show goers to see in person what they see on these very pages. So check out the event coverage that follows, and be sure to mark your calendar for January 7-8, 2012, when NPD will once again host the Silver Springs Ford & Mustang Roundup. We’ll be there, and we hope you will too, no matter what Mother Nature has in store for us.