The featured vehicle this year was the VW bus, in its various generations. It looked like there were perhaps fifteen buses on display, making for a colorful lineup. Of course, other Volkswagens were there as well, but I noted a surprising lack of water-cooled VWs, at least compared to what I’ve seen at New Hope previously. Porsches dominated the show field, although Alfa Romeo wasn’t far behind in the count. British cars, mostly MGs and Triumphs, also made a strong showing.
In general, New Hope limits show entries to vehicles twenty-five years old and older, in original and “show-ready” condition. A small number of exceptions are made, primarily for low-volume vehicles which continued to be sold in this market beyond the year 2000. Judging is taken very seriously, and focuses on originality and condition.
The school parking lot limits the show size in a good way. It’s easy to park, wander in, and stroll around the lot, taking in all the show vehicles in just a few hours. The New Hope Auto Show, which began in 1957, shows no sign of slowing down.
Although the New Jersey and Delaware Valley (PA) AROC Chapters are geographically adjacent, it’s rare that cars and owners from both chapters converge at the same event. One recent exception has been the New Hope Auto Show, an eastern Pennsylvania mainstay for collector car buffs since 1957. It is a two-day show, with American brands displayed on Saturday, and imports on Sunday. This year, the Sunday show fell on August 10, and among the BMWs, Benzes, Morgans, MGs, VWs, and Volvos were seventeen Alfa Romeos, one of the largest classes that day. New Hope, with few exceptions, strictly limits show cars to those twenty-five years and older, but Alfa is one of the exceptions. We requested, and were granted, allowance to include cars up to model year 2025. As a result, there were two 4Cs, a Stelvio, and a Tonale scattered among the classic Alfa coupes, Spiders, and Berlinas.
A team of four judges, led by NJ Chapter president Enrico Ciabattoni and including Mike Gomolinski, Paul Mitchell, and Richard Reina, took on the unenviable task of deciding which six cars (three in the Closed Class and three in the Open Class) were worthy of ribbons. After spending three hours in the blazing summer sun inspecting paint, upholstery, glass, wheels, and all the greasy bits, the team made its decisions:
Open Class:
1st Place: Greg Shpungin, 2016 4C Spider
2nd Place: Steve Buchanan, 1985 Spider
3rd Place: Tim O’Riordan, 1967 Duetto
Closed Class:
1st Place: Maurice Arcangeli, 1989 Milano
2nd Place: Bill Conway, 1982 GTV-6
3rd Place: John Coyle, 1974 GTV
Somewhat new this year was the drive-by conducted for all 1st place winners. Greg in his yellow 4C and Maurice in his black Milano made for a most attractive combination as they motored up to receive their ribbons.
Winning an award at the New Hope Auto Show is considered a great honor. All judging is held to a very high standard, and the show’s reputation is highly regarded among those in the hobby. Congratulations to the winners!
Special thanks to fellow NJ-AROC club member Bob Cooley for his kind permission to use many of his photos from the New Hope Car Show.
The New Hope (PA) Auto Show, now in its 67th year, was held during the weekend of August 10 & 11, 2024. After a stormy week concluding with a tornado watch (!) on Friday for most of the eastern PA/central NJ area, the weekend weather was some of the best of the summer: sunny, low humidity, and not too hot! The New Hope show organizers did their usual thing, with American cars on Saturday and “foreign cars” (I thought the hobby dropped that phrase in favor of “import cars”) on Sunday. I was there yet again with my Alfa, as the NJ and Delaware Valley Chapters of the AROC (Alfa Romeo Owners Club) turn out in reasonably big numbers for the show. This year, 13 Alfas were in attendance, and for the first time, thanks to the lobbying efforts of our NJ President Enrico, ALL Alfas were parked and judged together, including modern models such as the Giulia and 4C.
While not as populated as it’s been in prior years, I was informed that over 200 cars had registered for Sunday, and it appeared as though that many cars were indeed on the ground. Vehicles are organized by marque and/or country of origin, making it easy to scout for your faves. The show continues to attract some of the highest quality cars in the area, with the only downside coming from some jerks in the “modern exotics” (I’m looking at you, Lamborghini owner) who think it’s entertaining to rev their open-exhaust engines at 6,000 rpm.
When it was time to begin judging the Alfas, I was volunteered by Enrico, as his call for volunteer judges during the weeks leading up to the day resulted in zero response. Paul, another NJ Chapter member, also joined us, so our team of 3 set out to judge the row of 13. Traditionally, the Alfa group is simply divided into ‘open cars’ and ‘closed cars’. But with one modern Giulia and two 4C’s in the mix, Enrico came up with “pre-1980” and “1980 and newer” as the sub-classes, and that worked out beautifully. It was an almost even split of 6 and 7, and so we proceeded. In the Pre-1980 class, a stunning plum-colored GTV Coupe won 1st place; in the Post-1980 class, the red 4C took home top honors.
New Hope rings the bell for me for many reasons, including the short (under 30 minutes) and easy (no interstates) drive. But this is it for big shows this year. In 2024, I’ve had the Alfa to East Hanover NJ, Saratoga Springs NY, Fort Lee NJ, and Macungie PA, all highway drives, and all during less-than-ideal weather. Nevertheless, I will continue to drive the car, which was my intention when purchasing it 11 years ago. I’ve now put over 14,000 almost trouble-free miles on it, and I look forward to keeping it on the road.
GERMAN
ITALIAN (OTHER THAN ALFA ROMEO)
BRITISH
Bristols are very rare in the U.S.; I cannot recall the last time I saw one.
This Alvis was a “Senior” car (previous 1st place winner), and it was impeccable.
VOLVO
ALFA ROMEO
It was nice to be in this trio of Bertone coupes. Note that my car is a ‘step-nose’ while the other two have the ‘smooth nose’.
ADDENDA
Someday I’m going to devote an entire blog post to “My Aunt Rita’s Cars”. She had exquisite taste in automobiles and treated herself to some fine machinery. As a preview, here is a photo which I had presumed “lost”: it’s a film photo which was greatly underexposed. But with some modern technology, I was able to bring it back enough to identify it as her 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass, her third new Cutlass in a row. The shot was taken in her driveway on Staten Island, probably in the late 1970’s.
The New Hope (PA) Auto Show has been a mainstay of eastern Pennsylvania for over 60 years. (I was somewhat shocked a while back, when perusing some old copies of Car & Driver magazine in my library, to stumble across a story about the show they published in the mid-1960s.) It is ironic to me that despite my decades-long attendance at other relatively nearby shows in Macungie, Carlisle, and Hershey, I had not ever heard of the New Hope show until I joined the Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC). It was then that I learned that AROC members tended to turn out in support of it, and by 2015, I was invited to join the fray. The Alfa was there that year, and came back for more in 2021. My 2023 appearance makes it a triple play for my Milanese macchina.
According to our AROC NJ Chapter president, who also served as Chief Judge for our marque, there were 14 Alfa Romeos, which he felt was down in count compared to recent years. It was no surprise that Spiders comprised the most popular bodystyle there, which is almost always the case, given the model’s long production run. (Alfa made this final version of the US Spider from 1966 to 1994.) I counted eight Spiders, two Giulia coupes, one Milano sedan, two 164 sedans, a 4C, and a RHD British-spec Spider from the 1990s, a bodystyle never sold in the states. So my count is 15; it’s possible that the 4C was part of the “exotic car” class and was not counted among the Alfas.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the two-day New Hope show is two car shows in one, with domestic vehicles on Saturday and imports on Sunday. (This is how the Greenwich Concours used to be organized, which I preferred over what I experienced there this past June.) Alfa Romeos were far from the only brand on display, as my photos will attest. There was a wonderful assortment of British, Japanese, German, Swedish, and other Italian cars, liberally spread out in the paved parking lot and on the lawn of the school on Bridge St. which hosts the event.
For me, the best part of the show, any show really, is the willingness of spectators and other show car owners to engage me in conversation. I no longer try to count the number of people who point to my car and exclaim “I used to have one like it!”. Such comments are frequently laced with twinges of regret over having let go of their prized vehicle. I’m also asked for advice about parts, service, and vendors for the brand, which I’m always happy to discuss. But the most popular topic is the originality of my ’67 GT 1300 Junior, likely because it is so unusual to find a 56-year-old Italian car with 67,000 miles on it which has never rusted and has never been disassembled for restoration. The honor for this achievement goes to owner #2, my friend Pete, who was the car’s steward for 45 years. My 10 years of ownership have mainly focused on keeping the status quo.
The day was very warm but with low humidity and a surprising breeze. Still, sitting and standing in the sun non-stop from 8 a.m. was taking its toll. The Alfa judging team emerged around 2 p.m. to award ribbons. Unlike previous years when “closed cars” and “open cars” comprised separate classes, for 2023 all Alfas in attendance were judged as one class. First place went to a gorgeous violet 1971 GTV, 2nd place went to a red 1991 Spider, and 3rd place was given to my ’67, for which I was flattered and honored.
Once that part of the day was over, it was time to hit the road. New Hope is an easy 25-minute drive each way, and after baking in the sun all day, it was time to put both the car and me back into the shade for the remainder of the afternoon. I’ll make every effort to show the car at New Hope again next year.
SWEDISH
1967 Volvo 1800S
Saab Sonnett
ITALIAN (NON-ALFA)
1961 Ferrari 250 GTE
Lancia Scorpion
Fiat (Pininfarina) Spider
Modern Fiat 124 Spider (Fiata)
Lamborghini Huracan
GERMAN
Mercedes-Benz 280 SL
Porsche 928Pascha! Pascha!
Mercedes-Benz 190 SL
BMW 2002
BMW 2002 with rare soft rear window
1956 VW Beetle, unrestored of course
A newer Beetle in better condition
VW Corrado
Porsche 914s clinging together
Porsche 911 longhood
BRITISH
MG-TC entering the show grounds
Jaguar XK-140
A row of Jaguar E-Types
Series II E-Type roadster
Series I E-Type coupe
1953 Sunbeam Alpine
This 1935 MG P-Type was one of my favorite cars at the show. From my observation, pre-war MGs are rarely seen in the U.S.
JAPANESE
Mazda RX-7 3rd gen
1995 Mazda Miata M-Edition
Datsun 510
Nissan 300ZX
ALFA ROMEOS
Spiders
Giulia coupes
164 sedans
Milano sedan
4C coupe
A British-spec RHD Spider from the 1990s, never imported here:
The 2021 New Hope (PA) Auto Show was held during the weekend of August 14-15. This is one of the longest-running car shows in the Northeast, and this year’s arrangement split participants into two groups: the domestic cars on Saturday, and the import vehicles on Sunday. My Alfa was registered for the Sunday event, and, expecting a significant turnout of Alfas buoyed by support from both the NJ and Delaware Valley Club Chapters, I was not disappointed.
The weather cooperated; Sunday was one of the nicer days we’ve had during what’s been a hot and humid season. Registrants were asked to arrive by 8am; I was five minutes early and gained a coveted shady spot at the start of the row dedicated to Alfa Romeos. Within a few minutes, another dozen or so Alfas arrived; I later counted over 20 of the cars from Milano.
Of course, other marques were also amply represented: Porsches and BMWs from Germany; Jaguars and MGs from the UK; other Italian cars including Fiat, Lancia, and Ferrari; and Asian brands including Honda, Mazda, and Datsun/Nissan. It is worth mentioning that the Rolls Royce/Bentley Club had what was likely the largest turnout of vehicles of any particular make.
One change for 2021 was the lack of formal judging; the stated reason was that Covid concerns prevented the show organizers from gathering judges to perform their needed tasks. Instead, spectators were encouraged to vote for their favorites, and ribbons were presented around 2pm, after which the show cars were released from their spots.
This was the first time my Alfa had ventured out-of-state since I drove it to a NY diner during a Sunday breakfast run in April of 2019. While New Hope is barely 30 minutes from me, it still was a great feeling to venture that far from home in confidence after the significant brake and carburetor overhauls.
The storied Italian car maker Alfa Romeo was heavily featured at this year’s New Hope Auto Show, held on the grounds of this Pennsylvania town’s high school. The Alfas, assigned their own class, were all parked next to each other, although there was no particular order to their arrangement. The casual observer would be forgiven if s/he thought that Alfa only made convertibles. Of the 15 cars present, 10 were soft tops (“spiders” in Alfa-speak). Of those 10, 9 were of the same basic body style, a design which debuted as the Duetto in 1966 and concluded its run as the Spider Veloce in 1994. That is a very long time in car-years.
Alfas in a row The only Giulia coupe at this year’s show, and a step-nose to boot
Your author’s car, a 1967 GT 1300 Junior, was proudly on display, and was one of the few tin-tops in attendance. The field was rounded out with an early ‘60s 2000 Spider (the so-called Large Alfa), an Alfetta GT, a GTV-6, and a 164 sedan (the only front-wheel-drive Alfa present among all the rear-wheel-drive vehicles).
A 1979 Alfetta GT
An early ’60s 2000 Spider
A 1985 GTV-6 Callaway Twin-Turbo
It was a rare treat for me to see so many Alfa Romeos in one place at the same time. But the real treat was provided by the gang which brought in these beautiful cars. Alfa owners are a passionate lot; they like to drive their cars; they like to show off and talk about their cars; and they like to meet and chat with fellow Alfa owners and wanna-be owners. Most of the day was consumed by conversation about our Milanese machines.
Front end of the Duetto
The Duetto’s “round tail”
The first couple I met had arrived in their 1979 Alfetta GT 2-door coupe. “Quinn” and I happily traded stories about each other’s cars. One story I shared occurred last week. While driving to work, I spotted a car just like theirs on the road with me. It had been ages since I had seen an Alfetta moving under its own power. This particular one was mostly in grey primer, with its passenger door still red (and still wearing a large “ALFA ROMEO” decal). It was bumperless, and obviously a work-in-progress. But by the sounds it was making, I knew the driver was having a blast.
An Alfetta GT reflected in the mirror of a Bentley Continental GT
What made our roadway rendezvous rather unique that morning is that I was piloting my boss’ 2012 Bentley Continental GT Coupe, all W-12 twin-turbo 500+ horsepower of it. I’m always a bit self-conscious driving that car, and tend to stay to the right, moving at the speed limit, in order to avoid undue attention. As the Alfetta drew closer, I wanted to drop my window and give the driver a big thumbs-up. Dismissing any concern about what he might think of me, I did just that. His ear-to-ear grin told me all I needed to know.
1989 Alfa Spider
The Spider hardtop
The owner of the ’79 Alfetta GT told me that he has owned his car in excess of 20 years, and although he has done scores of maintenance and repair work on it, he considers it a mostly original car. Looking the car over, I agreed with him, as much of the black lacquer as well as the beige cloth upholstery remained as it was in 1979. These early Alfettas had a controversial dash design: the tachometer was centered in front of the driver, with all the other gauges in the center. I’ve driven these cars, and it takes some time to get used to the arrangement.
Not all Alfas are red; just most of them
Immediately to one side of me was a Spider owner who is also a very active member of his Alfa Romeo Owners Club local chapter. He, among many other owners, encouraged me to join the club in order to become more involved in their driving events. “Bill” is a marque expert who delighted in telling me about the nuances among the display cars, including which cars were factory-correct and which were not. The truth is that he was a tremendous knowledge source about all things Alfa.
1982 Alfa Spider
On the other side of me was another spider. “Jim” had bought this car just a few months ago (sight unseen off eBay!). It was a Texas car, in very nice shape. This was his 4th Alfa, and he told me that the drive to the show that morning was the longest he had driven the car since obtaining it earlier this year.
1976 Alfa Spider
An hour or so after arriving, the couple with the ’79 Alfetta returned to my car to make an announcement: they had shared my story about “The Alfetta and the Bentley” with the folks in the car next to theirs, and he was the driver of that primered Alfa! “Tom” and I met and screamed over and over at each other “I can’t believe it!” After I told him that I had arrived at work and shared my photo with several fellow enthusiasts, he told me that he got to work and called his wife to tell her “hey honey, some guy in a BENTLEY gave me a thumbs-up”. (His wife chimed in that he never called her from work, and she had at first assumed that something was wrong). Of course, I clarified for him that my daily-driver Jetta was home while I put some miles on the boss’ car. He told me that I had made his day, which made me feel wonderful about the entire encounter.
The number of spiders at the show gave me the chance to document something which I knew about, but for which I was lacking empirical data: the evolutionary design changes of the spider’s back end through 4 generations, known among the faithful as S1, S2, S3, and S4. (The front end also evolved, but to a lesser degree.) Photographing each version and displaying them side-to-side clarifies the differences. It also makes it plain to this set of eyes which of these wins the beauty contest. Your opinion may vary.
S1 (Duetto)
S2 Kamm-back (chrome)
S2 Kamm-back (black)
S3 (Duck tail)
S4 (aero tail)
L to R: S4, S1, S3
Kudos to the organizers of the New Hope show. With close to 250 cars on display, the difficult logistics of successfully running such an event become clear once you spend most of the day observing it. As the cars paraded off the field, my Alfa eventually became the sole representative of the marque. Lovely cars were seen, photographed, dissected, and discussed. Most importantly, new friendships were begun, with the promise of future automotive adventures to come.
Entrance queue at the start of Sunday’s New Hope Auto Show
The New Hope (PA) Automobile Show was held on the grounds of the New Hope-Solebury High School on Saturday August 8 and Sunday August 9, 2015. This event, which held its first show in 1957, celebrated its 58th anniversary this year. Vehicles are displayed according to predetermined classes, which are different on each day. In general, domestic vehicles are shown on Saturday, while European imports are featured on Sunday. These divisions are not completely strict, as we shall see. Your faithful scribe registered and showed his 1967 Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior on Sunday, so this report will focus only on that day’s cars.
Arriving at 8:15 a.m. and assigned to park with several Alfas already in attendance, I was pleasantly surprised to see our row quickly fill up. In all, 15 Alfas eventually arrived and parked together. While spiders (convertibles in Alfa-speak) were the dominant body style, there was enough variety to keep the Alfisti happy. And Alfas were far from the only well-represented marque. Car classes included Austin-Healey, BMW, Jaguar, Lotus, Mercedes-Benz, MG, Porsche, Rolls-Royce/Bentley, and Triumph. Some of these classes had total entries in the dozens. All the usual suspects were present, yet the Sunday show distinguished itself by drawing out some truly unusual and rarely-seen exotics.
The Alfa segment of our program will be covered in a separate blog entry. For now, let’s take a tour of some of the other beautiful, sporty, exotic, and downright eye-opening cars on the field. (Photos can be enlarged for viewing by simply clicking on them.)
BRITISH
The MG menagerie
Any classic car show which bills itself as featuring “MGs and Triumphs” will cause you to expect to find MGBs and TR6s. We had MGBs and TR6s in New Hope. We also had Triumph Italias. The Italia had Triumph TR3 mechanicals under a Michelotti-designed body, built by Vignale in Italy. According to Wikipedia, only 329 were made. To say that they are rare is an understatement. To see one at a car show is completely unexpected. There were two on display today (the earlier use of the plural “Italias” was not a typo).
The red Triumph Italia
The silver Triumph Italia
Not as rare as an Italia, but still infrequently spotted, were several MGCs. To those unaware of its existence, the “C” externally appears no different than an MGB. Careful scrutiny will reveal a hood bulge, necessary to accommodate the inline-six cylinder engine shoe-horned into the front. While contemporaneous road tests derided the extra weight over the front wheels and the accompanying poor handling, a kinder and gentler revisiting of the model has critics responding favorably to the extra oomph brought on by two extra cylinders.
This MGC roadster was pristine in British Racing Green
Its inline 6 was chromed out
This yellow MGC was parked next to an even rarer Messerschmitt and DeLorean
The Jaguar E-Type (more commonly known as the XKE on this side of the pond) is arguably one of the most beautiful cars ever designed, and among the Series I, II, and III cars, the Series I is considered the purest version of the form. It was our luck to have four Series I E-Types at the show. With three of them parked adjacent to each other, the photo ops were aplenty.
Jaguar E-Types bow their hoods in unison
Series I OTS (open two seaters) have gorgeous behinds
1st place awarded for widest whitewalls
The Rolls-Royce and Bentley contingent was huge, no doubt sparked into action through the nudging of the local RR-Bentley club to get its members out and onto the field. We know from past experience that said owners are not afraid to drive these British beauties, so seeing 25-30 of them was not a surprise. The distinctive front-end styling is a photographer’s delight.
1962 Bentley Continental
1936 Rolls Royce
The Bentley “B” is displayed twice
The Spirit of Ecstacy
Rounding out our review of British iron were these more commonly seen models, still enjoyable to admire.
An Austin-Healey Bug-Eye Sprite’s front end opens wide for easy access
TR-9
This 1957 A-H 100/6 was in the car corral; ask was $44,500 OBO
Next to the Healey was this ’62 TR-3, for sale at $21,500 OBO
PORSCHE
What’s a car show without Porsches? In this case, it would be a car show with many fewer vehicles on the show field. While no count was taken, it’s safe to presume that Porsche was the single best-represented marque at the event. Whether this was due to club participation or a wide and adoring audience for these sports cars, it was fun to see the variety extending from the 356, through the air-cooled 911s, to the water-cooled 924/944/928 series. If you were so inclined, new Panameras and Cayennes were also on display courtesy of a local Porsche dealer.
Throughout the generations, a Porsche front end is instantly recognizable
This 911 Targa stood out as much for its Safety Yellow color as it did for its condition
914s, long considered uninteresting to collectors, are gaining momentum
928s are a personal favorite. This is an early car with the original front end treatment
A “2nd gen” 928 has a reshaped nose (and a hideous rear spoiler)
The rarest Porsche spotted today was this 959. According to my sources, a total of 200 were made. Originally not legal for sale in the U.S., these cars from the late 1980s are now old enough that they can legally be imported and driven. At the time of its release, it was considered the most far-flung supercar of its day. Its specifications may seem the stuff of normalcy now, however, it did lay the foundation for what would be expected among the world’s highest-performing machines.
A Porsche 959
DOMESITC
The New Hope Auto Show’s website states that Sunday’s car show includes classes for production GM, FoMoCo, and Chrysler Corp cars through 1990. The American cars on site were not a large group, but several MoPar models were standouts, and are worth highlighting for their styling and engineering features.
The sign on this ’65 Plymouth Belvedere claimed it was an all-original 65,000 mile car
The once-ubiquitous Slant-6 engine in the Plymouth is still known for its durability
More than other Detroit cars, Chrysler went out of its way with unique styling cues, like these free-standing head lamps
So-called “gun sight” taillamps on this Imperial
This ’56 Imperial is long. Really, really, long
When I was 7 years old, I wanted nothing more than an in-car record player (this is in the Imperial)
ITALIAN
Two different model Fiats were in attendance, sharing a unique attribute: neither car was badged “Fiat”.
After Fiat left the U.S. market in 1982, production of two of its popular sports cars, the X1/9 and the Spider 2000, was continued by Bertone and Pininfarina respectively, and these firms imported and sold the cars in the States under their own brands. (Malcolm Bricklin was somehow involved, but that’s too dark a story to include here.)
This 1987 Bertone X1/9 was an all-original car in pristine condition. Its current owner stated to me that he has owned the car for over 20 years, and drives it year-round (making sure that his winter driving is on dry roads).
1987 Bertone X1/9. Note the ‘b’ badge on nose. Umbrella was dealer-supplied accessory
1987 Fiat X1/9. Rear spoiler aids aerodynamics at speeds above 130mph
This 1985 Pininfarina Spider looked brand new. While the owner was not available to answer questions, the condition of the car (flawless) spoke for him.
1985 Pininfarina Spider 2000.
Batista Farina’s nickname was Pinin. He legally changed his company’s name to “Pininfarina” (one word), but the ‘f’ for Farina is still the logo
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