Every Car Has A Story at Kenosha Homecoming

The next Kenosha Homecoming Car Show will be held in July 2028!

The Kenosha Homecoming Car Show is a much-anticipated experience for AMC and other made-in-Kenosha car collectors. The Kenosha History Center produces the Kenosha Homecoming Car Show. Typically held every three years, the show will be held July 22-27, 2025. A series of events will take place at various locations. The big car show/swap meet is Saturday, July 26 at Kennedy Park.

There is no larger AMC show in the world.

There were close to 800 cars on display and over 250 swap meet vendors in 2022, when the show was last held. There’s a story behind each and every car. This year, a particular 1981 AMC Eagle SX/4 will tell a story of friendship and adventure.

Nick Zetes lives in Madison. He is known for going on adventures the past few years – with various friends from college, high school, middle school, and even kindergarten. “My wife Erin is convinced that everything I do has to be a “schtick”. She’s absolutely right (and the most patient and understanding person I’ve ever met!),” shares Nick.

In June of 2021, Nick’s group set out to conquer the Wisconsin River in an old Grumman Sport Boat that had been modified with foldable wheels and a reliable outboard motor. “The trip would take us over 400 miles from the headwaters to the Mississippi, portaging around 26 dams, over logs, under low bridges, and mistakenly over some big rapids that left a sizable dent in the boat and tossed me overboard.”

In July of 2023, the adventure was to cross Wisconsin with an ebike trip. “We wondered if we could make it from La Crosse (where most of us went to high school together) to Sheboygan in 18 hours and 48 minutes to celebrate Wisconsin’s founding in 1848.  We purchased kits to convert bikes and set out at sunrise.” They made it in almost exactly that time frame.

To one-up the last adventure, their next adventure will bring them to the Kenosha Homecoming Car Show. “The mission was to find a Wisconsin-born vehicle and road trip it around the border of the state – staying as close to the edge as possible without crossing over.  We came across a 1981 AMC Eagle SX/4 in Cheney, WA on Craigslist and had it shipped back to Wisconsin in February 2024.”

Joining Nick on this adventure are Chris Byrnes, Dave Cade, Ben Justen, John McBride, and Derrick Woodward. They’ve been working on getting the car ready for the road, learning a lot about old AMC’s and their own mechanical abilities. The plan is to start the trip on Wednesday, July 23. They want to leave at sunrise from the site of the old AMC plant where the Eagle was born. “We’ll drive about 500 miles a day for 3 days and end up back in Kenosha by Saturday morning, ideally in time for the car show. Hopefully the Eagle makes it all the way around under its own power and we can show how reliable these old cars can be. If it doesn’t, we will have a great time trying to figure it out, giving each other a hard time, and probably blowing up the transmission on my old SUV with 250,000 miles attempting to tow it the rest of the way!”

“The Eagle is starting to look like the star of a quirky rally adventure and it makes me smile every time I look at it. I hope it does to others too. The thought of driving it around the state makes my smile grow even bigger. The idea of doing it with my best friends who are all like my brothers makes me smile the most. We’ve been there for each other for decades - celebrating the happiest times and getting through some of the darkest. To be able to share these adventures together further cements our friendships and has meant the world to me. I can’t wait to see what this trip brings and to make more memories together…and maybe even cook up the next schtick…”

Go to VisitKenosha.com/AMC for more details on the Kenosha Homecoming Car Show.