Hot August Nights 2019
Reno NV, Sept 6-11, 2019
HOT AUGUST NIGHTS 2019 – WHAT A BLAST!
As usual, we spent the entire week in Reno NV for this year’s Hot August Nights, the week-long, city-wide celebration of American car culture. There’s not better way to put it. Every casino and major restaurant seems to have its own car show. There are cruises every night and most of the days. Burn-out contests, drag races, autocross, live entertainment, and cars, cars, cars. Top that off with the MAG classic car auction, and it’s a ton of fun. This year, I reunited with my friends from high school, 7 of us in all, and spent the week together looking at cars, eating, drinking, bowling and having a blast reminiscing about old times. And what a back drop for that. Check out just some of the fun.
Hot August Nights 2019 – The Car Shows
HOT AUGUST NIGHTS 2019 – PEPPERMILL SHOW
We always stay at the Peppermill ourselves, and they have a great little car show and cruise right outside our door. Great cars, nice people and a cool non-stop cruise. As usual, the collection is quite eclectic.
HOT AUGUST NIGHTS 2019 – THE GRAND SIERRA RESORT
The GSR is huge, and usually hosts the largest of the casino-car shows. They also host most of the big musical acts on their outdoor stage. Not much shade, but that’s why they call it Hot August Nights. The fun starts after the sun goes down.
HOT AUGUST NIGHTS 2019 – THE ATLANTIS
The Atlantis Hotel & Casino also has a fantastic car show and cruise, bigger than Peppermill’s, and almost rivaling GSR’s. Great cars.
Hot August Nights 2019 – the MAG Auction
HOT AUGUST NIGHTS 2019 – THE MAG AUCTION
MAG stands for Motorsports Auction Group, and they replaced Barrett-Jackson a few years back as THE classic car auction at Hot August Nights. It’s a great venue, at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, being able to see hundreds of gorgeous cars all indoors under lights. The auction itself is fairly low-key, and I sense that there aren’t a lot of big-money buyers in the crowd. If you’re hunting a killer deal, go on Thursday, the first day of the 3-day auction. You just might snipe something amazing.
ABOVE & BELOW: This 1970 Corvette sold for just $17,750! How is that possible! That’s what happens on the first day of many auctions, before he big money bidders show up. Someone scored a screaming deal on this very tidy Corvette.
Hot August Nights 2019 – Cruise Night
HOT AUGUST NIGHTS 2019 – CRUISE NIGHT
From Thursday through Saturday night every year during Hot August Nights, the city closes down its central “Downtown” district, and people line up for the ‘controlled cruise’, aka Cruise Night. It has to be a pre-1972 car, but that’s just about the only limitation. You can see just about anything on this cruise. And while you’ll hear some engines revving up, there are no burn-outs or heavy acceleration. The nights are warm in Reno in August, there is a live band playing outdoors at a nearby casino, and the people have a blast waving at the drivers and passengers cruising by.
CLOSING CEREMONIES AT HOT AUGUST NIGHTS 2019
After more than a week of fun (if you count the run-up the prior week at Virginia City, Hot August Nights ended on Sunday with yet another cruise downtown, this one in broad daylight. It was headed up by the Color Guard from the US Navy Cadet Academy, carrying Old Glory. When the national anthem played over the loudspeakers, everyone in the crowd stood proudly with hand over heart. America is alive and well at Hot August Nights.
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