2014 MSRA Back to the Fifties Weekend in St. Paul

The MSRA Back to the Fifties weekend took place in St. Paul, Minnesota. This 3-day car show attracted nearly 12,000 cars and thousands of people to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for a weekend of classic cars, oldies and good times.



California Car Cover has been exhibiting at the Back to the 50's weekend for many years. It is a long haul for the CCC Crew, but the staff at the MSRA does an amazing job of making sure all car owners, attendees and exhibitors have a great time in St. Paul.

The California Car Cover Crew and I arrived at the fairgrounds at 7am and were greeted by thousands of classic cars already parked and on display. The Minnesota State Fairgrounds is one of the nicest venues we visit for car shows and every open parking space was occupied by a classic car it seemed. Street after street was filled with classics. 

1960's Chevy convertibles.

Ford Galaxie

Cruising down Underwood St.

No matter what type of classic American car you prefer, it was on display at Back to the 50's. From early 60's muscle cars and 50's sedans, to early hot rods and traditional rods it was either parked or cruising around the fairgrounds.

Here are a few photos from the Sky Ride. This gives you a great idea of how large the show is and just what 12,000 cars looks like.

Custom Fire Engine

The roads were filled with people and cars all weekend.

 Back to the 50's is a great car show to see finely restored classic cars and custom cars like these.

Our good friend Jerry Dixey and the Street Rodder Road Tour group was on hand. This year's car that Jerry is driving all over the country is a 1959 Chevy Impala built by Hot Rods by Dean.

There were a number of great looking Cadillacs at the car show all weekend.

Not all of the cars at the show were restored.

Saturday afternoon, the place was packed. Every road was filled with cars and 1,000's of people which made cruising pretty tough. Even though it was crowded, every was in good spirits and was having a great time. Then again, how can you be upset with beautiful cars, great weather and all of the fair food you can stand?

Mercury parking only.

Custom bus

Cadillac tails.

Flamed '55 Chevy cruising by the booth

Sunday is never quite as busy as Friday or Saturday, but there were still plenty of people at the show in the morning. The main attraction on Sunday morning is the swap meet. The swap meet is on Sunday only, so people really look forward to finding some unique antiques or car parts out there. My colleague, Steve, and I were able to sneak away from the booth and find some cool relics for our garages. Here is a sample of the great things you can find at the swap meet at Back to the Fifties.

A sea of Schwinn bikes

You can always find a number of great signs for sale

The old ball and chain

Even though there was some rain on Sunday, plenty of classics still came out to cruise the fairgrounds.

A couple of Gassers parked on Underwood

Rain couldn't keep a few thousand hot rodders away from Back to the Fifties.

Thank you to everyone at the MSRA and the awesome Back to the Fifties volunteers who put on another great car show. California Car Cover looks forward to being back in St. Paul in 2015.