Motor House hosted our very first car show!

I have attended hundreds of cars shows and meets through the course of my life. Somewhere along the line, the urge has grown to create events that stand out like the GNRS, Detroit Autorama, the Rod & Journal Revival, TROG, Luftgekuhlt, etc.

Where the quality of cars is high and the event leaves you wanting to come back again.

The Coatesville Vintage Invitational Grand Prix reached out to me to see if I had interest in partaking in a charity car show that ran in conjunction with the Grand Prix. Ive shot the GP, which runs thru the city streets of downtown Coatesville Pa, many times and love the event.

I thought this would be a perfect fit and I jumped at the opportunity to have Motor House be the host of the car show.

My goal was to feature a few high caliber vintage race cars that would set the tone of the show. Cars that you would not see everyday.

Plus have various genres of vintage cars and bikes within the show. Vehicles that aren’t normally in the same show together. Hoping to bring the people of those genres together so that they might appreciate each others rides and tastes.

Check out our video with the highlights of the show. But please continue to read onward here too to get all the details.

Im a huge Porsche fan, especially Porsche race cars.  So my hunt was on to find one to be a featured car. Luckily thru friends, I was able to connect with Bob Russo, who beautifully restored a race winning 962 Porsche that ran in the IMSA series in 1987. Bob was kind enough to bring and start the 962 for the show goers, which you can see in the video.

Click on the arrow to see more of the 962.

Alphas, Porsches, Ferraris, to every version of muscle cars were welcomed. Including a 1964 Dodge Polara 500 426 Max Wedge Factory Drag Race Car and 1957 Chevy Bel Air survivor which raced in NJ thru the 60’s and 70’s.

Motorcycle aficionado John Lawless brought a 1952 BSA Golden Flash drag bike. It was once the fastest bike in the Philly drag racing scene. A crowd and apparently child favorite.

John Bonic injured his hand during the build of his 1948 Royal Enfield RE 125 “Flying Flea”. But was able to finish it days before the show and was awarded Best Bike of the show by Brian Hoskins Ford.

I wanted to draw people that were in the city to the show. What better way to do that then to have a vintage Funny Car echoing off the buildings thru the city streets of Coatesville!

Bruce Amspacher brought his original Budweiser “BudMan” funny car and did a “Cackle” or start up of the alcohol burning supercharged engine several times to the delight of the crowd. You can see the full cackle in the video. It was a crowd favorite, especially with the kids.

Good friend Mike Tucker brought his 1932 Ford 5 window hotrod that was recently featured in Hot Rod magazine. Mike and his brother Sean,  great grandsons of Preston Tucker, recently restored and enhanced the beauty.

We had a 1967 Lotus Type 51 Formula Ford along with a Devin Sports Car. I parked the Lotus next to the 962 Porsche to show how 20 years or so of technology has changed in racing.

Ed Sweeney from Proper Noise and his 1958 MG ZB Magnette

Brian Hoskins Ford chose a few stand outs for awards. John Bailey and his 1965 Iso Rivolta GT (IR300) was the Euro winner. Which has a factory V8 in it! I cant wait to do a story on his car. And Mark Shane with his 1969 Pontiac Firebird Convertible was the overall winner. Congrats to both!

I wanted the gathering of vehicles to be diverse. And it doesnt get much different than a fully electric converted 1983 Land Rover Series 3, restomoded to look like a 1968 model. Andrew Whittam of Whittam Engineering is converting a variety of vehicles into EV. We hope to do a story with him soon as well.

Overall we had great weather, great rides, great people and the music of vintage race cars playing in the background.

I enjoyed connecting with the show participants and the people of Coatesville. Especially all the young people who may have never seen any of these cars and bikes before. I noticed for some, it further stoked their love of cars. Which felt great in this day and age of kids not wanting to drive at all.

Thank you to all those who participated, volunteered and trusted me with putting on the show. Especially Lisa Thomas, who I worked with throughout the planning and implementing of the show.

It was an honor for me to participate in a charity event that will help improve the City of Coatesville thru its Park & Recreation initiatives.

I cant wait to host more events and have a ton of ideas brewing. So stay tuned to see what other things Motor House will be doing soon. J