Hot Rods Vintage Torque Fest Dubuque Iowa May 3rd and 4th

For those of you in the Midwest that are not going to the Stray Kat 500 this next weekend, Vintage Torque Fest is Friday May 3rd and Saturday May 4th in Dubuque Iowa. Car show, vendors, live music, dirt oval track racing, demo derby, dirt drags, mini-bike races, back country car cruise, pin-up contest and a swap meet. And this year a couple are even getting married on the stage during the show. And scoop reminded me that I forgot to mention the charity art auction.

 

Looking forward to it.

 

And an art auction. This show is to benefit families with kids with heart defects.

 

I've been attending this event since it began. There is so much to see and do at Torque Fest. If you haven't attended and you're looking for a super fun weekend, then this is it. I call it an event because it's non-stop action between the car show, swap meet, pin-up contest, live bands all weekend, art auction, dirt track racing, mini bike racing, car cruise, flame throwing exhibition, and so much more.

Here are some of the photos I took last year.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-2023-vintage-torque-fest-adventure.1292031/

We'll be heading to Iowa Friday morning.

 

Cars invited o be displayed inside are starting to roll in.

 

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And a couple more rolled in View attachment 6048286 View attachment 6048286

 

nice cars, that 60 Bel Air is so kool...

 

I'm going. Might be alone, but I'm going.

 

I had a great day at the swap meet. Of course, any day at a swap meet is a great day. The weather was absolutely perfect.

One comment I heard throughout the day as well as observed was the quality of the cars in the show area, especially the paint, was significantly better than in years past.

Well done everyone.

 

2 "boards" I donated to the Art Auction...

 

Friday was outstanding!! Great swap meet and turnout of cars. I bumped into numerous HAMBers like Jeff @titus. It was great catching up with him. He was able to take a break from his swap spot, and we made a loop in the show car area. He was quick to show me an amazing rear mount Stewart Warner fuel gauge he found at the swap meet. What an amazing find on a rare gauge! By chance I parked my '63 wagon next to @scoop. It was great meeting him and his family. Of course Marcy with Hop Up was set up inside one of the buildings with the awesome Hop Up booth.

My son and I were having a blast. With such great weather we decided to stay into the evening and watch the vintage stock car racing on the dirt track. Afterwards, there was a demolition derby. My son has never seen one so we stayed to take that in, too. He loved it! Friday was awesome, now another full day.

We were having so much fun I only took a few photos....I'll share what I have..

Staging Lanes before the gates opened











Inside one of the numerous buildings










































This is only a small fraction of the many cars that are here this weekend. I did not do a good job of taking lots of photos. We are having so much fun and there's so much to see and do that photos are kinda taking a back seat this year.

The vintage stock car racing is super cool with a field of 19 cars

 

Any cool cars there for sale?

 

Heck of a showing it looks like!

 

Very Cool - Thanks

 

Made the 2-hour drive on Saturday, expecting to get rained out. Only had a brief shower. Saw some friends, watched/listened to Big Sandy & his Fly Right Boys, ate a burger. I scored a '50-'51 Merc dash & '53-'54 Ford headlight rings for my upcoming build. A friend took home the front half of a '26-'27 Ford touring to put on her Model A chassis to build a car for the Showdown at Sanford Field. Good day.

 

@Speed~On Thanks a bunch for posting. I wanna make it in person, maybe next year?
Yeah, I think I said that last year....

 

We blew into the Vintage Torquefest around 3:30 Friday afternoon in our blue 49 Dodge pickup, mainly for the vintage dirt track cars. We walked the car show, looked through the main building, and some of the other venders. We walked part of the swap meet, but without having anything to look for, it was a pretty fast walk through. Talked with a few guys, watched the vintage car races, and left.

Could have easily spent several more hours there, but it just wasn't in the cards for this year, and we couldn't do Sat at all.

Its been several years since I've been to the Vintage Torquefest. This year was a much better experience then that last time was. Maybe we will take it in a bit more seriously next year.

 

Bump for more pics.

 

Thanks to whoever bid on my art donations at the Art Auction, .. this goes for a good cause.

 

We were there as usual. Had a great time. Met some good people and didn't have time to sit in the chair. So much going on.
My favorite show every year.

 

@Bugguts, saw you driving through Marshalltown yesterday as my dad and I were bringing his coupe body home from the painter. Where do you live?

 

Another great show. The wagons I donated for the art auction got $900 apiece! The money went to the two heart families to help them. Weather was great on Fri., Rained a little on Sat. but cleared off around noon. I don't think I sat down for more than 10 minutes all day Sat. my back and feet were sore. Good meeting you Speed on.

 

For those of you who missed it and those who are looking forward to next year, the dates have been released.

Torque Fest 2025
May 2 and 3