I love springtime in Arizona before the big desert heat really hits to enjoy as many festivals offered in the state as possible. My previous post was about the 2026 Melrose Street Fair, and this one features the annual Tempe event held on Mill Avenue. As with Melrose, I was primarily interested in the vintage autos on display in Tempe.
Although there were not as many vehicles displayed at this event like at Melrose, what I saw did not disappoint! The vintage car I liked best in Tempe was the 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible and is shown below:
This 1954 Chevy is a sleek vision with its black & chrome color color scheme, whitewall tires 🛞, and “spinner” hubcaps. It looks like it might have been converted to a low-rider and has lots of fun, cruising miles!
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Here’s another close-up of the same Chevy with a statuette of Betty Boop in the back seat 💺:
Betty Boop has been a perennially popular cartoon character and jazz age icon known for (at the time) risqué sexuality, first debuting in 1930. Apparently, the owner of this 1950s Chevy is a big fan of her today!
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There were several other cars from the 1930s that I was really excited to see “in the flesh” for the first time – not just in books or online. They also remind me of the gangster era of movies from the 1930s starring James Cagney or Bonnie & Clyde with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway which featured many vintage rides. Pictured below is a circa 1935 Buick:
The soft shade of Seafoam Green with white wall and yellow wheels 🛞 with the tan ragtop compliment each other perfectly. The Art Deco style hood ornament adds a touch of dazzle!
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I also added a pic of the rear of this Buick to show the massive trunk with the folded luggage 🧳 rack not seen on cars anymore.
It’s too bad there wasn’t more info ℹ️ about this Buick model on the display card, but some further research informed me that General Motors made several two-door coupe models like this one. The Buicks of the 1930s period featured Art Deco styling influences which were featured in such items like a clock built into the glove 🧤 box door! I thought this was a really cool 😎 feature, but unfortunately could not get a shot of it as the crowd was getting thick!
The next model featured below is still a guessing game as to what it is (astoundingly!) there was no information card to enlighten me. I have no clue who the owner is or where he/she may have been this day. Then again, guessing and surmising about the vehicles can be part of the fun 🤩 at events like this.
This model appears to be a late ⏰ 1940s Oldsmobile (maybe 1949) but it’s hard to tell exactly. In any case that rare sun ☀️ visor and the blue & whitewall tires 🛞 are great features on this one. It appears to have some kind of animal pelt attached to the drivers side mirror 🪞. Hmmm…🤔 not sure what that’s about!
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Finally, aside from the memorable vintage cars, there was a sculpture I found especially fabulous shown below to close out this post. 😃
This cactus 🌵 sculpture is pretty wild, incorporating a creative mix of stone, tile and glass for a unique sculpture that likely required a lot of vision, time and effort to realize.
