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SARATOGA SPRINGS – The Saratoga Automobile Museum’s (SAM) 12th Annual Spring Auto Show will have a motorized lineup that provides a worthy kickoff to the spring regional car show season. The action begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, where the lawn surrounding the reflecting pool adjacent to SAM on the grounds of Spa State Park will be packed with hundreds of dream cars. It’s always an eye-popping spectacle.

If you wish to participate and show off your pride and joy, there is still time. Pre-registration is $15; day of show is $20 and museum admission is included with registration. Visit saratogaautomuseum.org to register. All types of vehicles are welcome to participate, but this year the museum is featuring British marques (auto insider lingo for brands; in this case examples are Jaguar, MG and Rolls Royce), as well as racecars (two noteworthy clubs in attendance will be the Atlantic Coast Old Timers and the Sports Car Club of America’s Mohawk-Hudson region), pre-WWII vehicles of all types and motorcycles. Or, you can just go and appreciate.

There will be about a dozen trophy classifications at stake, and yet the atmosphere is usually more congenial than competitive, as vintage car owners tend to be as admiring of the work done on their neighbor’s prized possession as their own. Adding to that ambiance is the fact that SAM has gone to great lengths to make this anything but an insider’s event; it’s a family fun day with contests, games and activities in which everyone can participate. Kids even have their own judging category! There will be a Stewart’s ice cream dipping station and the museum will trot out its vintage popcorn machine for all to enjoy. 

Of particular note that should have general appeal is a program that Donnie Gould, an automotive appraisal expert will present called “What’s Your Car Worth?” based on the Discovery Network TV show. You can learn the considerations that go into a pricing evaluation, whether it will pay to go through the cost of restoring your vintage vehicle, what you might expect to receive at an auction and other related topics.   

And, of course, there is the museum itself. Worth a visit on it’s own, there will be plenty on display to round out your afternoon. In addition to their ongoing exhibits such as “Luxury Automobiles: Through the Ages,” which showcases extravagant vehicles from a 1903 Hansom Cab to a 2014 Ferrari; “East of Detroit,” spotlighting the New York State auto manufacturing industry, SAM has launched a major educational initiative with the installation of four simulators so that everyone in the family, whether they are old enough to drive or not, can learn about the dangers of distracted driving (see Saratoga TODAY Newspaper’s May 8 issue for more details about this initiative). 

So the former bottling plant for mineral spring waters, which was repurposed and opened to the public in June of 2002, should be at its showroom shiniest on Saturday. A perfect time to visit (or re-visit) and get revved up! 

For more information, visit saratogaautomuseum.org