Flemington NJ Cruise Night, June 17, 2023

June 18, 2023 RichardReina Cruise nights, Events Flemington NJ Cruise Night

June has been a busy month for car shows, with Greenwich, Quaker Bridge, and now Flemington in 3 consecutive weeks. I had intended to drive the Alfa to Flemington Saturday night, as it’s all of 10 minutes away, but a later-than-expected departure from a relative’s house during the afternoon left me little time, so I darted over in a modern car and managed to take in the show just as some cars were leaving.

The town of Flemington NJ has hosted a bi-weekly cruise night for several years. Held on alternating Saturdays, they announce “featured makes and models”, but from my observation, that doesn’t seem to have much influence on which vehicles arrive. Cars can park along Main St., but there also is a small parking lot which is where I tend to see the best cars. Not one but two live bands were cranking out the tunes, and show-goers were invited to vote for a “People’s Choice” best in show. Local restaurants stayed open, with a few of them offering outside seating. The weather, as it has been for much of the month, was near perfect.

Two nice FoMoCo products: 1st gen Mustang & Mercury Comet

The cruise-in started at 5 p.m. and I didn’t get there until a little after 7, so I don’t know what I missed. There were perhaps a few dozen vehicles scattered around, mostly domestic product. I photographed the cars which held the greatest interest for me, which meant ignoring the heavily modified stuff. I’m hoping to get back here at some point later in the season and put one of my own cars on display, and maybe invite a few of my local car club friends to join me.

One of the few pre-war cars in attendance

’64 T-Bird with ’68 Firebird across the street

(Above and below): This 1957 Cadillac was in the parking lot, hood up, windows down, with its owner nowhere to be seen. I lingered for a few minutes hoping he/she would show up, because I really wanted to speak with them. I go to a lot of car shows an see a lot of cars; this Caddy was truly a #1 condition car, and the truth is, there are very few #1 cars. It was so perfect that I found it hard to believe it was driven here. One question for the sharp-eyed and knowledgeable readers out there: look at the photo of the engine compartment. To the left of the brake master cylinder is a vertical cylinder with a removable cap. What is this??

Above: I managed to chat up the owner of this ’49 Ford just as he was leaving. He was an old codger, and told me that he’s owned the car for about 20 years. He thinks it’s the original flattie V8 under the hood. The car looked and sounded great as he started it up and drove away. It had that look of an honest, old, fun car to me.

Sunday Morning “Cars N’ Caffeine”, Quaker Bridge Mall, June 11, 2023

June 16, 2023 RichardReina Car shows, Events American Collector's Insurance, Cars & Caffeine, Quaker Bridge Mall

My good friend Mike introduced me to this event: American Collectors Insurance sponsors a series of Sunday morning cruise-ins in and around the Delaware Valley Region. The closest one for me is held at the Quaker Bridge Mall on Route 1 in Princeton NJ. There are two other locations, and the three are on a rotating monthly schedule. The June 11 cruise-in was the first one I was able to attend, and Mike and I were both there.

I showed up precisely at the announced start time of 8 a.m. to discover about a dozen cars already in place. The mall has a huge parking lot, and the designated spot for the show is in a corner at the rear. I staged my Alfa next to Mike’s beautiful ’66 Corvette roadster, and after exchanging pleasantries, I was on the hunt for caffeine, hoping there would also be something resembling breakfast food. A rep from the insurance company had complementary Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and donuts, so I made do with a cruller to accompany my brew. Next time, I’ll stop for a proper meal on the way down.

Within minutes, a fellow car owner named Harry ambled over and introduced himself. He drove a stunning Chevy Nova which had been born with a 6-cylinder and now sported a 396 big block. Both Mike and I spent a good deal of time chatting it up with Harry, who proved himself to be a real “car guy”: knowledgeable yet humble.

The vehicles on display ran the gamut of old and new, stock and modified, domestic and imported. The oldest vehicle was a ’38 Buick (but restomodded, with a modern drivetrain) and the newest was possibly the Mazda RX-8. As seems to often be the case, my Alfa Romeo was the only Italian car.

Although advertised to run from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, both Mike and I scooted a little after 10. First, I was famished; second, there were no bathroom facilities! (The mall would open at 11 a.m. for those willing to wait for food and restrooms.) This was an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday morning, and weather permitting, I’m going to try to make it to the next Quaker Bridge Mall event on Sunday July 9.

A Falcon and a Beetle (no, this is not the zoo)

One of the newer cars there, a Honda S2000

Another ’66 C2; owner claimed it was all-original

(Above): I don’t know when I last saw one of these; in fact, I had to look it up to write about it. The Chevy Monza was built from 1975-1980, on the Vega platform. Standard engine was the Vega 4-cylinder, but a V8 was optional. The fastback 2+2 is the one I remember, but this “Town Coupe” came later. I think this design has held up well.

E-body Barracuda; note the “billboard” quarter panel treatment

1940 Ford brought by “Carl” who remembered me from last year’s Glidden tour

The Back To The Future Car, aka DeLorean DMC-12

(Above) The most unusual car at this show, this 1956 Canadian-spec “Meteor Rideau” wore a grille treatment and side trim unlike any U.S. spec FoMoCo product. The owner told me that “Rideau” is a river in Canada.

(Above) I featured this same Pontiac when it was at the Neshanic Station Car Show in 2021.

The 2023 Greenwich Concours, Part 4: Domestic Cars, and Some Final Thoughts

June 11, 2023 RichardReina Car shows, Events Greenwich Concours

One of the nice things about Sunday’s show (and I presume Saturday’s as well although I wasn’t there) was the variety of cars. Perhaps it was too varied, but more words about that below. I have so far posted photos of Italian and British cars, as well as cars from classes not dependent on country of origin. To finish this off, here are photos of some of the American cars on display that day, primarily consisting of personal luxury cars and muscle cars.

AMERICAN MUSCLE

One class consisted of “American muscle cars in high-impact colors”, some of which you see here:

PERSONAL LUXURY 2-DOOR COUPES:

HAGERTY, THE SHOW OWNERS AND HOSTS

The Greenwich Concours d’Elegance began in 1996, when husband-and-wife team Bruce and Genia Wennerstrom decided to host a true Concours in the area. When Bruce and Genia passed away, their children continued the tradition. It was always a two-day event, with domestic cars on Saturday and import vehicles on Sunday. When it was a family affair, I showed cars there 6 times, an honor which I don’t take lightly. Attending the show was always an easygoing and relaxed day.

Hagerty bought the Greenwich Concours from the Wennerstroms a few years back. My 2023 participation was the first time under the Hagerty umbrella. Overall, Hagerty puts a tremendous amount of effort into organizing, arranging, and hosting an event like this. It’s still a two-day show, but now the classes are more varied. This year the Saturday show was billed as “Concours de Sport” and Sunday was the “Concours d’Elegance”. Sunday’s show consisted of a total of 19 different classes! From my observation, there was no overriding theme or sense of unity to the displays.

As a participant, I felt that Hagerty crossed the line from “organization” to “control”. Innumerable emails told me everything from what time I must load in on Sunday (“6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., and we reserve the right to turn away entrants who arrive later”), to how I should park (“place the left front tire of your vehicle on top of disc hammered into the ground at your parking spot”), to what time I could leave (“show gates will be locked until 4:30 p.m., and no one will be permitted to exit before then”). I was told that absolutely no signage of my own was permitted on, in, or around my car, which didn’t stop me from putting informational posters I had created on top of my dash and rear parcel shelf. We had passes for an included lunch, which was nice, but were sternly told that “you may only enter once; once you leave you cannot reenter the luncheon area”. It was difficult to converse with showgoers at times because the MC blared incessantly through the too-loud PA all day long.

What was a relaxed, low-key, fashionable, reasonably-sized and well laid-out classic car show set in a verdant water-lined park has been turned into a mega-event. The communal spirit which flowed through every aspect of what the Wennerstroms had created has been displaced by a big-business approach as would be taken by a major corporation. It’s still a great show; it’s just not as great as it once was.

The 2023 Greenwich Concours, Part 3: The People I Met! Plus, the European Cars

June 8, 2023 RichardReina Car shows, Events Greenwich Concours, Rich Taylor

The Greenwich Concours d’Elegance is more than just the cars; it’s the people, of course: fellow car owners, judges, spectators, and really anyone who wants to chat about interesting cars. Below are capsule summaries of a few of my encounters.

Ed Welburn

I had seen in the program that an honorary judge for the event was Ed Welburn, who recently retired as GM’s Vice President of Global Design (a position previously held by a couple of gents named Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell). As I strolled among the show cars, there was Ed, walking along by himself, so I stopped and asked “are you Ed Welburn?” When he replied in the affirmative, I shook his hand and told him it was an honor to meet him. You can read about his professional life here.

Fellow AROC members

It was nice to catch up with several AROC (Alfa Romeo Owners Club) members, especially those from the NJ Chapter whom I recently met on a Zoom call and had never met in person. Thanks for stopping by, Lambert and Vic!

Ian Kelleher from Broad Arrow Auctions

In 2013, when I finally decided to go with RM/Sotheby’s Auctions to sell my Isetta, I still had a bit of trepidation about the particular arrangements. My RM ‘rep’ was a fellow named Ian Kelleher, and I have not forgotten about his patience and graciousness as he walked me through the particulars. Ian now works for Broad Arrow Auctions (owned by Hagerty), and when I saw him on Sunday, I took advantage of the opportunity to again thank him for his help. BTW, Bonhams Auctions used to be the in-house auction company at Greenwich, but since Hagerty bought Greenwich, they won’t allow an ‘outside’ auction company to operate there. The same thing happened at Ameilia Island, as RM was told “you’re out” and Broad Arrow was told “you’re in”. So it goes….

Richard with the Riviera

I’ve seen this same green ’64 Buick Riviera so often that I’ve gotten to know the owner. Rich drives his car up and down the East Coast attending car shows. I featured him and his car in this blog post about the 2021 AACA Nationals in Saratoga Springs NY.

Erich from the Boca Raton Concours

The gentleman patiently stood there waiting while I finished up speaking to a spectator. He quickly introduced himself and handed me his business card. He said, “I see that this Alfa is all original. Because it has been so well kept, I want to formally invite you to enter your car in the Preservation Class at next year’s Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance, in February 2024. Besides, it’s a nice time of year to be in Florida!” I thanked him for the invite and told him I was honored that he would consider my car for it. Of course, getting the car there and back is on me, which makes it very unlikely, but it was still very nice to be recognized in this way.

Rich Taylor

On occasion, I will pull random copies of old Car & Driver magazines from my library and leaf through them. About two weeks ago, the July ’73 issue ended up in my hands, and lo and behold, the cover told me that there was a review of the “new” Alfa Romeo GTV. I sat down to read it, and as I turned the page to the full-page photo, I immediately said to myself, “that guy looks familiar”. I scanned the page, printed out an 8×10 glossy, put a Post-It note on the pic which said “guess who?” and at the show on Sunday, placed the photo on top of the Alfa’s dash.

When judging started, who came around to judge my car (actually, the entire class of Alfas) but Rich Taylor himself. After we exchanged pleasantries, I directed him to check out the photo. He grabbed it and said “let me pose like this again!”. I got into the shot holding up the glossy (which he signed for me). Anything for a chance to have a little fun with that “famous automotive journalist Rich Taylor”.

BRITISH & ITALIAN CARS

Below is a sampling of the European cars which I found to be photo-worthy.

Lambo 12-cylinder engine with 6 Weber carbs

The 2023 Greenwich Concours, Part 2: My Invitation, Plus Some Special Classes

June 6, 2023 RichardReina Car shows, Events Greenwich Concours, New England 1000, Rich Taylor

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this blog series, the Greenwich Concours is an invitation-only event, so it is an honor to show a car there. My Alfa was there in 2013 and again in 2017; however, the Wennerstrom family was still running the show in those years. Bruce Wennerstrom knew of me because I had shown the BMW Isetta at Greenwich 4 times (2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010), and he had always been gracious and welcoming to me and my little bubble car, surrounded as it was by machinery worth 5 or 10 times its value. Hagerty bought the Greenwich Concours a few years ago (and I will elaborate on my impressions of Hagerty in a later post). For 2023, Greenwich was not necessarily on my radar until an email arrived in March from Rich Taylor.

I know Rich from the New England 1000 rallies. He knows of my Alfa because I drove it in 4 of those rallies (2013, 2014, 2015, and 2018). He wrote to tell me that Alfa Romeo would be a featured marque at Greenwich this year, and he was “in charge” of assembling both pre-war and post-war classes. He continued “I would like to include your rare GT Junior”. Of course, I replied in the affirmative. (There’s lots more to the Rich Taylor story from Sunday. Stay tuned.)

A few weeks later, an email arrived from Hagerty confirming my acceptance at the show. That set off a slew of follow-up emails from the show sponsors about what was expected of me. My wife decided to accompany me, and although we had originally planned to depart very early Sunday morning (show cars were required to be on the field no later than 8 a.m., and it’s a one hour, forty-five minute drive from our house), we made a very late decision on Friday to head up during the day on Saturday. I’m glad we did because we got to the hotel early Saturday evening, had a relaxing dinner, and had a simple 3.5 mile drive on Sunday morning.

When I wasn’t busy hanging around my car to field questions (there is certainly something about the “Giulia coupe” which draws people; let’s acknowledge that it is a near-universally-loved design), I managed to walk the field several times to photograph the rest of the show. It was a wildly varied mix, with plenty of domestic and European brands (but no Asian brands), pre-war and post-war generations, and production and concept cars. For this post, I will feature 3 classes: The Ghia concept cars; the Woodies; and the “Class of 1963”.

THE GHIA CONCEPT CARS

I didn’t have time to read all the explanatory signs around these gorgeous concept cars which Ghia built for Chrysler in the early-to-mid ‘50s. One or two I’ve seen before, and others I’ve only seen in photographs. To see them in person was breathtaking.

THE WOODIES

Wood was originally used as a vehicle body material out of necessity. Station wagons up through the first half of the 20^th century used wood because there weren’t yet presses large enough to stamp the big sheets of steel needed for the wagon’s body panels. Once domestic station wagons switched to all-steel, which happened by the end of the 1940s, there was some nostalgia for woodies, so Detroit continued to trim their wagons with wood. Eventually, as a cost savings, vinyl sheets with woodgrain patterns were used. The 1961 Ford was the newest woody wagon on display. The Nash Rambler, with its minimal fake wood treatment, was a vehicle I can’t recall ever seeing before.

THE CLASS OF 1963

I’ve often fantasized what it must have been like to have been a young person of driving age in 1963, with money in one’s pocket to buy almost any new car available. It was a banner year for new vehicle introductions, which included the Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray in both split-window coupe and roadster forms; the Buick Riviera, GM’s first real competition against the Ford Thunderbird in the personal luxury coupe class; and the Studebaker Avanti, an all-fiberglass coupe which, in a last-ditch effort by Studebaker to stay alive, was radically designed by Raymond Loewy. Other choice offerings included the Chrysler 300J, the Lincoln Continental 4-door convertible, and the Pontiac Grand Prix. If you were willing to consider “foreign cars”, you could check out the Jaguar XKE, the Austin-Healey 3000, the Fiat 1200 Spider, the Iso Rivolta, the MGB, the Porsche 356, the Triumph TR4, and the Volvo P1800, among others.

I don’t know if Hagerty chose “The Class of 1963” because it was an iconic year or because it was 60 years ago. Either way, there was a delightful and eclectic variety of 1963 model year vehicles lined up, ranging from Volkswagen to Cadillac, and some interesting things in between. .

AN ALFA ADDENDUM

Thanks to my new buddy Lambert from the NJ Alfa Club who took this shot and gave me permission to use it, here is that class-winning 1900:

For Part 3 I will have plenty more photos plus more stories about some of the personalities I met.

The 2023 Greenwich Concours, Part 1: The Alfa Romeos

June 4, 2023 RichardReina Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Jr., Car shows, Events Alfa Romeo, Greenwich Concours

My wife and I just got back from a whirlwind 25-hour up-and-back trip to Greenwich CT for the 2023 Greenwich Concours. My Alfa was on the lawn again this year, and given that this is an invitation-only event, it was a high honor indeed. Alfa Romeo was a featured marque on Sunday, divided into pre-war and post-war classes. My ’67 was in the post-war class, of course, and although we didn’t win anything, it was an exciting and event-filled day. This first post about the show will focus only on the Alfa Romeos. There is much else to cover, and I will put up additional stories about the rest of the show during the week.

THE POST-WAR CLASS

There were 8 vehicles; in model year order, they were a ’56 1900, a ’59 Giulietta Spider, a ’63 Giulia Spider, a ’67 4R Zagato, my ’67 GT 1300 Jr., a ’71 Montreal, a ’78 Series 2 Spider, and a ’93 RZ Zagato. Right off the bat, note the strong representation from THREE iconic Italian design houses: Pininfarina, Bertone, and Zagato.

THE MONTREAL

This car is so-named because Alfa Romeo exhibited a concept car at the 1967 Montreal Expo. That design study went into production and was therefore named after the city where it was first displayed. It remains Alfa’s only road-going V8-powered automobile.

THE 4R ZAGATO

I’ve read about this car but never saw one in the metal before today. The woman representing the car (she’s wearing the scarf in the first photo) told me that only 92 were ever produced, only 3 are in the U.S., and the other two are on the west coast. That kinda explains why I haven’t seen one before this. The chassis and all mechanicals are 1967 Alfa. The factory commissioned Zagato to build a “pre-war style body” on top of the Guilia chassis. Viola!

RZ ZAGATO

Another Zagato oddball (is that redundant? 😉 ). I know very little about these except that the Italians nick-named it “The Monster”, which in Italian is “Il Mostro”. Ergo the license plate.

THE EARLY SPIDERS

I think that the ’63 Giulia is the blue car and the ’59 Giulietta is the red car, but I’m not certain. Someone will correct me if I got that backwards.

MY GT 1300 JUNIOR

Spending the week prior to the show detailing it did it wonders. We drove it 192 miles round-trip, mostly at 65-70 mph, and it performed flawlessly. Interestingly, it was the only Giulia coupe in the show.

’78 SERIES 2 SPIDER NIKI LAUDA EDITION

I have no recollection of being aware of this special model before. Phil, the owner of the car, parked next to me so we spent a bit of time chatting. He said that in 1978, when Lauda left Ferrari and joined the Alfa racing team, Alfa created this special model. Included were the headlight covers, body-painted rear spoiler, pin striping, and fender badges. Phil said that the Turbina wheels would be correct for this model, not the 5-star ones on it now. Here, Phil clowns with a leather racing helmet on his head.

MEA CULPA

Each car in our class was judged, and the winning car was the 1900. Unbelievably, of the 8 Alfa Romeos in the class, it is the one car I did not photograph. although you can get slight glimpses of it in the background of some of the photos above. My excuse is that as class winner, the car spent a good part of the day on display elsewhere on the show field. That’s the best I can do.

THE PRE-WAR CLASS

For whatever reason, the 3 Alfa Romeos in the pre-war class were arranged in a different area of the showfield, nowhere near us. I managed to get only one photo of the group of cars. When I went back to take additional photos, I couldn’t get near them as the area was roped off in preparation for the awards ceremony.

Future posts will cover many of the remaining show cars; there were about 140 vehicles on the showfield, and a nice variety it was. I also met some amazing people and I have stories to tell about those encounters.

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Month: June 2023