It’s time again for a trip back in time, one that can be done only by heading out to one of the biggest car & truck shows in the country.

It’s also one where only certain Corvettes are welcome.

“Back To The ‘50s” is the annual extravaganza produced by the members of the Minnesota Street Rod Association (MSRA) that’s held annually on the 25th weekend of the year. It’s open to just about everything…as long as it was built before the 1965 model year. That means that any-year C1, and the earliest (’63-’64) midyears, are eligible to enter, then cruise the Minnesota State Fairgrounds just north of St. Paul.

It’s a show that started with a movie: American Graffiti. When it was in its initial big-screen run in 1973, one of the cinemas it was playing in was on University Avenue in St. Paul’s Midway district (midway between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul), which was one of the prime cruising areas in and around the Twin Cities. On a Saturday night in June, a bunch of MSRA members decided to have a little fun with the movie-goers as they came out of the 9:30 p.m. show. They called their fellow club members and friends, who called other club members and friends…and all of them showed up with their 1962-earlier cars and trucks, which they cruised and/or parked along University Avenue near the cinema. So, when the show let out, it was like walking out of the cinema INTO the movie they’d just seen!

The idea was planted then—Why not have a show on this same weekend next year? There was a huge Montgomery Ward’s parking lot nearby—and the following year, MSRA’s first “Back To The ‘50s” show was held there.

In time, the show grew, and outgrew the Ward’s parking lot. Fortunately, the Minnesota State Fairgrounds were nearby, and the show moved there—eventually growing so big that it fills the entire 300-acre fairground from fence to fence, with as many as 11,000 or more participating cars and trucks cruising through during the weekend. Good thing they aren’t all there at once!

There are plenty of Corvettes at Back To The ‘50s, with many of them that I’ve seen either well-preserved originals, restored-to-#2 driver condition, or Vette-Rodded. They all have one more thing in common: Owners who bring plenty of cleaning supplies with them, especially bug and tar remover. After all, this is summer in the ‘Cities, where the bugs are out, as are city street crews with seal-coating tar and gravel. (And trees with running sap.)

I’ll be at the show for two days- Friday and Saturday, June 20-21. Saturday, I’ll make my “base of operations” at the MSRA’s Legislative booth, where members of the club’s Legislative Committee (which I used to be a member of when I lived in Minnesota) keep show-goers posted on what matters at the State Capitol and in Congress they should keep an eye or three on. There’ll also be someone from the state’s Department of Public Safety on hand, to answer questions folks may have regarding registration and titling of cars. That kind of info is well worth the trip for many folks, who get their questions answered about--for example--that ’56 Vette they found in a relative’s garage that doesn’t have a title or registration papers dated later than 1960. Best to find out how to get a new title for it now, rather than when it’s finished but not legally drivable.

If you’re headed to “Back To The ‘50s,” the MSRA website (www.msra.com) has a page dedicated to the show, with links to maps, local information, and more.