The Daytona Beach Turkey Run, now in its 44th year, is one of the largest combination car show and swap meets in the country. This four-day event, held over the Thanksgiving weekend, brought more than 6,000 vintage, classic, muscle cars, race cars and trucks, either for show or for sale, as well as more than 2,500 vendors to the Daytona Speedway. Another highlight of this year’s Turkey Run was a display of Rat Rods, which is always a fun and popular feature of any car show.

Although rain and overcast skies put a slight damper on the event at the opening, the Sunshine State certainly lived up to its name during the final two days of the show. Here are some of the sights and sounds of this year’s Turkey Run.

 

 

Cars on the Show Field

 

What better place to hold a car club cruise in than the annual Daytona Turkey Run? Judging from all the club banners we saw at the show, it’s obvious that many car groups take advantage of a weekend event like this to hold a get together. One of the best represented organizations at this year’s Turkey Run was the Ford Falcon Club. Bill Shira, president of the Sun Coast Chapter, took us on a tour of some of the Falcons that traveled to the show. See the below video.

 

 

Car Corral

 

We saw all types of classic automobiles in the Car Corral, everything from a Ferrari to a vintage Packard. However, there was one vehicle that caught our attention, as it did everyone else who walked by. The first thing we noticed was a wire mesh enclosure, which was shaped into what would normally be the front engine compartment. It was funny to find out there was no engine, just a revolving hamster cage with two rats. Curiosity got the better of us, so we asked about this strange vehicle. Turns out it had just been sold, and the new owner told us his plans had been to build a rat rod, but this one-of-kind creation was too good to pass up. No doubt, he’ll be shaking up his neighborhood when he takes this car back to his home in Naples, Florida. See our video below for a look at this unusual purchase.

 

Rat Rods

 

Any true gearhead takes a lot of pride in the ability to identify a classic car with only a glimpse at the vehicle. That may be one of the reasons Rat Rods are created, to be completely different from any production car and recognizable only by the builder. To showcase this unique art form, the Daytona Turkey Run had a Rat Rod Rally display, consisting of some rather bizarre vehicles. One of the rat rods didn’t even look like a car, but instead was modeled after a wingless P40 war bird made famous by the “Flying Tigers” during World War II. Check out the following video of this road-worthy P40, built by Jamie Trudeau of WarBird Enterprises.

 

Swap Meet

 

It was a little on the wet side the first day of the show, but this didn’t stop owners from taking their vehicles for a spin around the infield of the Speedway. These cruisers had no particular place to go, and all day to get there.