EYE ON SAN ANGELO
There was plenty to look at along Red Bluff Road Saturday morning.
San Angelo Cars and Coffee was hosted in the Packsaddle BBQ parking on Knickerbocker Road, as owners from all around town chatted about the different modifications they’ve made to their favorite rides.
Many of the cars had their original powerplants swapped for newer engines, but Roy Dean’s Ford F1 is equipped with an original flathead V8.
“I got this one in ’96 but it took me a while to get it up and running,” says Dean, “but she’s all original. I had the engine worked over by Engine Pro Machine downtown.”
The paint job on this automobile was immaculate, and every detail in the engine bay looked like it had just rolled off the line in Detroit back in 1950.
The same engine can be found in millions of vintage Ford’s around the country, as it was the first commercially viable V8 engine. Still runs like a top 75 years later.
This old Chevy is equipped with a 6 liter Vortec V8, very similar to the ones used in mid-2000’s Corvettes. Most of those don’t use an old Pearl brand beer can as a surge tank, though.
Wake the Desert’s 25th Year
Down at the other end of Red Bluff Road, we watched some of the 25th-annual Wake the Desert wakeboarding competition on Lake Nasworthy.
According to event history, the event was originally started by Ski Skeller Sports of Midland to promote wakeboarding, and San Angelo has benefitted every year since because we had the nearest lake.
It has since become the longest-running wakeboarding competition of its kind in the US, and the biggest annual event in Texas.
Wakeboarding grew out of trick water skiing and shares many maneuvers with snowboarding and surfing as each rider attempts stunts and tricks in several categories with divisions including novice, intermediate, masters, advanced, expert and outlaw.
