Car culture, Sac style

If you hadn’t noticed, Sacramentans love their cars. This city has a pretty sweet drag strip (read: the Sacramento Raceway), and is home to an abundance of car clubs and auto shops. So it’s not surprising that Sacramento will host two unrelated car-themed events in the same weekend: Saturday’s California Automobile Museum Car Cruise and Sunday’s Sacramento Swap Meet. Read the following guide for the skinny on these two vastly different events.

California Automobile Museum Car Cruise

The Car Cruise begins on Saturday, August 4, at 4 p.m. on the corner of Fulton Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard. It travels north up Fulton and ends with a car show between El Camino and Marconi avenues. There, a celebration will highlight cars, trucks and motorcycles of all kinds—including lowriders and sports cars. Awards will be given to cars in 16 different categories, and attendees will hear live music by Todd Morgan and the Emblems. Admission to the show is free to spectators, but registration for cruise participants costs $49. Participants will meet at 1 p.m. in Sacramento State’s Lot 1, at 6000 J Street. For more information, visit http://calautomuseum.org/html/cruise.html.

Sacramento Swap Meet

Sunday’s swap meet at Power Balance Pavilion is for the hardcore vintage-car enthusiast and features booths full of pre-1970 car parts that you can buy and swap, as well as cars, trucks and motorcycles of all ages for sale. There will also be booths manned by commercial automotive vendors and people selling random swap-meet paraphernalia, such as sunglasses and art. Doors open at 6 a.m. and—as a call placed to the information line will inform you—most of the good stuff is completely gone soon after that, so get there early if you’re looking for a big score. Most of the vendors will be sold out by noon, but some commercial automotive vendors stick around until 4 or 5 p.m. Renting a vendor booth to sell or swap your goods costs $20-$60. Public entry is $8, and parking on this day is free at Power Balance Pavilion (1 Sports Parkway). For more information, visit www.sacramentoswapmeet.com.