Event Coverage Moving to DeKalb, IL. Any car related events I should watch for?

I am transferring to DeKalb, IL next month. First time I will have ever lived more than 100mi from my birthplace.

Life is currently crazy hectic trying to sell a house, find a house, finish up at my current location and trying to get up speed with my new location before arrival. But, once I have settled in, I will be interested in seeing what types of hot rod/bike events are going out there. Is there anything I should be sure to catch?

It looks like Hunnert Car Pileup changed to a drag racing event and moved to Byron a few years ago, is this still a worthwhile event. Last time I went was Joilet probably in 2010 or 2009.

Other suggestions? Have no contacts in the area so no good intel.

Thanks.

 

you can stop in at marty and sons body shop in sycamore, the site of the first 2 pile ups. andy can get you caught up on the going ons in that area.

 

Meltdown Drags, Byron, IL

Iron Invasion
McHenry County Fair Grounds
1st weekend in Oct.

 

http://www.volocars.com/

 

Sept 9/10 jalopy fest in morris

Jim

 

http://www.whiteknucklescramble.com/
White Knuckle Scramble Aug. 6 if you like vintage karts and mini bikes.
Meltdown Drags and Hunnert Heads Up drags at Byron

 

1st saturday in october is the iron invasion in woodstock.

sycamore has a pretty good cruise night once a year that from what i hear is pretty good

 

Thanks for all the replies. I will have to be sure to make it out to some of these. Once I get out there and get settled in, I'm going to have to start looking for a new ride/project. Had to sell mine off for the move.

 

If not already mentioned... both have car shows. Gary
http://www.cornfest.com/
http://www.turningbacktimecarshow.com/ (also known as the Fizz Ehrler Memorial car show, or Sycamore Cruise night)

PS Fizz had a radiator (hence Fizz)/ welding shop in Sycamore and worked on my old Fiats in college along with many other folks' cars and cycles.

 

All good suggestions but I would add the Vintage Torquefest to the list. It is a nice drive from DeKalb to Dubuque.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/2016-must-attend-events-the-list-of-shows-here.1003097/

 

last sunday in july sycamore huge car show

 

Byron is close to you so make sure the Meltdown Drags is on your list. Blue Moon bikes in Sycamore has a Schwinn Stingray museum and an event called "kratefest" in June as well.
Wisconsin Hotrod Radio has an extensive schedule of cruise nights and car shows in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.
https://wisconsinhotrodradio.com/
Keep in mind Summer goes by fast up here eh'

 

Welcome to DeKalb. I've lived here for about 30 years. Morris IL has a big cruise night as well as the others listed. PM me when you get moved in.

 

Kinda maybe starting to settle in. I've spent the last 4 weeks living in a hotel off Annie Glidden. Next week we will be moving to a dump over in Rochelle for a couple months while we continue our house search. The search has been depressing. The market over here is something "special". I'm not sure why citizens have not yet revolted over property taxes, and I'm not sure how the current market is even justified. It's depressing because it means I likely won't be able to afford the space needed to take on another project. Heck, I'm not even sure I can find enough room for my tools. A 3-car garage here is smaller than my 2.5 back home. And good luck finding anything between .3-1ac. Hen's teeth..... Anybody out there renting additional space? I haven't turned a wrench in over 2mo due to the move and it's starting to affect my brain a bit.........

 

You're in a college town , garunteed year-round employment , that's why the property cost is so high...go 30 - 40 miles south & you'll see a heck of a difference...
dave

 

Blue Moon Bike show/swapmeet is June 18th...fills up 4 parking lots downtown Sycamore.

 

well come to Illinoid , find a good realtor with a large chain ( remax , C21) , but prices are way different than Ohio . for what I paid for mine I can buy a decent size lot in Ohio . this s what happens when your the third largest city in the nation ( price wise it goes out 90-120 miles from Chicago ( yes they commute that far ) try some small towns and fore closures but stay away from the major highways .. as for space , some of us rent spots or a group of freinds rent a industrial building and split the costs and rent out the office to a company that doesn't need the garage space ..

 

A couple of things......Illinois has the highest property taxes in the country, and the closer to Chicago, the higher the reality prices, (and local taxes). There are many people who work in Chicago that move out in this area, (about 100 miles from Chicago) and commute to and from work. This is largely due to the cheaper reality prices.

As far as events.....Check out 3 D Sound's calendar.

http://www.3dsound.org/

They are one of the best in their business, and do the sound for many of the shows, and cruises in this area.

 

I know what you're talking about. I lived in IL northwest of Chicago and there were cities averaging $12k - 15k in property taxes 40 miles out of the city. I now live in WI just north of the border and pay $3400. I'd say look to the west, maybe the nothwest from where you are. There is more open land out there

Sent from my SM-G920V using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Some friends hosted a cruise and dinner event today. If I'd have known you were in town, I could have invited you. Anyway, yeah, Illinois property taxes are high. I blame that mostly on Springfield, with their penchant for low income taxes and unfunded mandates.

DeKalb is somewhat affected by proximity to Chicago, but it's much more affected by its proximity to Naperville. If you leave town, prices go down somewhat. Newer areas are higher priced than older sections of town. Older areas have no HOA or other crazy restrictions other than what Code will allow for, if you want to build an outbuilding. Rental shop,space n Courtland is available and might be another option for you.

 

I'm guessing the taxes are due to the fact that NIU takes up half the town and pays no taxes, so the rest of the full-time residents have to shoulder that. Just my guess. Don't get me started on Sycamore's "pay for the privilege to live here tax", or that other crazy tax in Cortland.

In any event, I settled on a rental in Rochelle for the next two months (till end of July) as a hold-over place. I made an offer that was accepted on a decent ranch in "The Knolls" neighborhood in DeKalb. Only major drawback is the two car garage. So, we are either going to need to park our dailies outside, or I will need to see if anybody wants to share rent on a shop. Or I will need to look into an addition to the garage. Still feeling the place out and working way too much. Need to get out of work mode. I've been encouraged by the number of cars and bikes I've seen around lately. Drove down to Hinckley and it seemed everybody had an old car or bike.

Sorry for not checking in here much, I hope to change that soon.

The Blue Moon show sounds interesting.

 

No, the Pileup and Heads Up existed concurrently as 2 separate events run by the same club, but the last Pileup was a few years ago and the Heads Up continued.

Sycamore has a really big all-are-welcome car show in, I think, August.

The Iron Invasion (Oct) is definitely worth going to. Some consider it the "replacement" for the Pileup. It's a great show. Likewise, Vintage Torque Fest (run by the same guy) is in May in Dubuque, so a nice cruise from where you are.

There's a big all-are-welcome show in June or July called Gears & Ears which is worth going to.

The Tin Butchers' Scrap Drive is a good hot rod show, too

The Blacktop Barons (Joliet) put on a "traditional" model car hot rod show in late Winter/early Spring which is fun.

 

The Knolls is nice. Rochelle is ok, but there's not much out there. Ok for temporary housing I guess. Outdoor parking is ok for now, but you'll probably want indoor for the winter, especially if you're not used to / don't like scraping your windows.

Sycamore has a good show in July (http://www.turningbacktimecarshow.com/). Morris (http://morriscruisenight.com/) is pretty big, too. Both are "anything on wheels" shows, but there's some HAMB friendly cars at both.

Iron Invasion and Torquefest are both great.

Cantigny (http://www.cantigny.org/calendar/signature-events/car-show) looks good, but I haven't been to it yet. If you like military history, or just like looking at tanks and similar stuff, Cantigny is a nice visit anyway.

You've also got Byron not too far away, and Meltdown (http://meltdowndrags.com/) is coming up. I'm thinking about going this year. Looks like fun.

Amboy (http://www.depotdays.com/) is also supposed to be big.

 

don't forget to change your location on your avatar .. not that you want to brag , its more of a pity thing .. LOL , and what kind of project ( how heavy ) you looking for ??

 

We got pretty used to scraping windshields in ohio. Luckily I have "remote-start" on my daily truck so it's not too bad. I will probably have to get another shed to hold some of my tools to maximize garage space.

Thanks for the tip on the avatar. Will do that when I'm done.

As for projects....I'm not sure yet. I am going to have to wait to see how the relocation pays out and what tax implications it will have. Luckily with my commutes back and forth several times to Ohio and other move related costs, I think I should be able to write off a good bit of stuff.

I've been eyeballing 1960s drop top cadillacs, but the garage issue would come back into play. Most likely I will look for another old truck of some sort.......

 

SCRAP DRIVE,...this SATURDAY!...BELVIDERE< ILLINOIS

 

Illinois state income tax is fairly low and there is no luxury tax, so the property tax is crazy. Realtor. com is your friend when house shopping. DeKalb has always been the land of small garages. Look to Ogle co. for better taxes and bigger out buildings due to somewhat friendlier property rights. South of I88 may also turn up some gems if being way away from anything remotely urban is your thing.
Should you move very far from work, think about 4wd as DeKalb co. isn't the fastest at snow removal when you leave the university area.

 

Haven't had a chance to get out much yet. Still unpacking. Seems like the whole summer has blown by me. Last night I think I started to feel fall in the air. It was almost cold outside. Had me a bit bummed.

Anyway, is there anything going on in the area this labor day weekend?

Also, I'm on the prowl for a new project or driver. Trying to stay in the $4-10k range. Need something shorter than 16ft long due to shallowness of the garage. If anybody has any leads, feel free to PM me. Thanks