Tech. Sgt. Alan Kranz, 34, and his son, Justin, kneel alongside the trophy Kranz's 2007 red Ford Mustang received for winning the RAF Lakenheath car show last month. The duo were two of the dozens of auto enthusiasts who gathered at the RAF Mildenhall post office parking lot for the RAF Mildenhall car show last Saturday. (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
Tech. Sgt. Alan Kranz, 34, and his son, Justin, kneel alongside the trophy Kranz's 2007 red Ford Mustang received for winning the RAF Lakenheath car show last month. The duo were two of the dozens of auto enthusiasts who gathered at the RAF Mildenhall post office parking lot for the RAF Mildenhall car show last Saturday. (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
Briton Nick Wright polishes the exhaust on his silver 2006 Ford Mustang during the 2007 RAF Mildenhall car show. The show was presented by the 100th Services Squadron and the RAF Mildenhall auto hobby shop and drew vehicles from across England. (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
Don't call him Michael Knight, but Dean Kendall does cruise a black 1984 Trans Am complete with the front red flashing light. His wife, Vicky, calls the car KITT. The Bury St. Edmunds couple imported a replica of the sports car from the 1980s classic televison show last fall from Florida. Now all they need are some hapless crooks, 45 minutes to solve a mystery and a speedy exit into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
UK weekly edition, Wednesday, June 6, 2007
RAF MILDENHALL — There were classy coupes and classic convertibles, wannabe bandits and real bobbies and enough talk of torque, horsepower and customizing to keep any gearhead enthralled.
And the sunshine didn’t hurt either.
Scores of airmen and Britons converged on the Mildenhall post office parking lot Saturday for the base’s annual car show, where classic rides from the era of the Kennedy administration sat alongside Detroit’s latest and greatest.
The show was organized by the 100th Services Squadron and the RAF Mildenhall Auto Hobby Shop staff.
Tech. Sgt. Alan Kranz, 34, of Bisbee, Ariz., and his son, Justin, were on hand to show off the recent RAF Lakenheath car show winner, a red 2007 Ford Mustang, tricked out with a Steeda exhaust, tri-ax shifter and cosmetic interior upgrades.
“I love the Mustang,” Kranz said. “I still have my first one, a 1967, back at my uncle’s place in Arizona. And we used to have another one until my wife hit a patch of black ice last winter.”
A fresh-from-the-factory-floor Mustang may be fast, but it still doesn’t boast the coveted “turbo boost.” Many came to adore that feature on K.I.T.T., the artificial intelligence-endowed early 1980s black Pontiac Trans Am featured in the television show “Knight Rider.”
But neither does the 1984 Trans Am Dean and Vicky Kendall imported from Florida last year.
“Believe me, I tried it,” Dean Kendall said of the turbo boost addition. “I’d love to make it work. It would be very handy. But I think I can find a hairy chest wig.”
The car show was dominated by more than a dozen Chrysler PT Cruisers, which arrived as a club.
The sporty family sedan may be sedate set against the Corvettes and Mustangs on hand, but even a family truckster looks cool with a set of racing flames painted down the side. Or so some think.
Organizers hoped to name a best car, ugliest ride and worst paint job, but there were few, if any, entrants vying for the latter two titles. Saturday’s show, instead, focused on auto bling — and maybe just one more coat of wax.
“It’ll have to be the worst of the best,” said Mildenhall auto shop employee Crystal Arel.
The Air Force will host its final car show of the summer circuit on July 4 at the RAF Feltwell festival.
