Dick and Dee Weeks with lady friend Sue Brooks (above) touring a car show...

MUSCLE CARS AND MAGNOLIAS--

There were about 40 of them sprinkled around the McKee Botanical Gardens that day; the kind of machines that make aging men salivate over a disappearing youth.

There were GTOs and Bonnevilles and 57 Chevys and a Shelby Cobra flanked by an artistic sculpture and adoring fan (right).

The gardens are 18 acres of lush, semi-tropical beauty in harmony, that day, showcasing blooms and Hemi engines with radiant fervor.

One fellow above paid close attention to a display sign while another male fan seemed, by his hand position, to be enjoying another distraction from his more youthful days.