By ELIZABETH LITTLE/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — For 65 years, the Jersey Cape Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America has been putting on a car show in Ocean City. This year, the vehicles rumbled onto the lawn at the Ocean City Tabernacle, 550 Wesley Ave., followed by car buffs.
A plethora of vintage cars were parked on the Tabernacle grounds Saturday, providing a visual history for car buffs and others passing through. There were automobiles of all kinds from different eras, dating all the way back to when the automobile was first introduced to the public in the early 20th century.
One such car owned by Bill Walsh was a 1907 Model B, No. 1 Morse. Walsh said there are only two currently in existence, and he owns one.
“The maker’s cousin invented Morse Code. We have other ones that are extremely nice too,” Walsh said.
The car has a front seat and a passenger seat, as well as one seat in the back. Walsh specified that the third seat is called a “mother-in-law seat.”
Another oldie showcased was a green Ford Model A from 1930 owned by Marcel Manhim. The car is unlike cars of today, with an incredibly small two-seat interior and a stick shift. Some cars today are still manufactured with a stick shift, but at the time there was no getting around not knowing how to drive one.
“I have been looking for many years to purchase a car like this, and I found this near my daughter’s neighborhood in Lake George. We went and saw it, and we bought her. She is known to us as ‘The Elegant Lady,’” Manhim said.
The Ford Model A is quite a sight to see, and surprisingly there are quite a few in existence today. Henry Ford, the man known to have created the assembly line and the founder of Ford Motor Company, produced 5 million Ford Model As from 1928 to 1930, before the model was discontinued in 1931. Thus, the antique car is more common than you might think.
“There’s a lot of Model As because Henry Ford made so many of them,” Manhim said.
Looking closely at the antique vehicles, spectators may notice differences not just in the aesthetics of the cars but the functionality.
A 1961 Parkwood Chevy, owned by Joy and Bo Remvidas of Egg Harbor Township, was decked out in surfboards and beach materials. It looked like a car the Beach Boys would have taken out to go surfing.
The couple said the original owner of the vehicle was an Ocean City resident who owned a penny candy store on 30th Street. The baby blue Chevy came with a dent on the tail end of the driver’s side, but the Remvidases said that it just adds to the story of the car. The dent was created when the previous owner backed it into a trash can. They have owned the car for 15 years.
The Chevy has no seatbelts, as it was made three years before they were required by law.
Vince DiMezza was showing off his 1951 Chevy Fleetline that he had detailed to be matte black.
“It’s by PPG, it’s called denim black. That’s a Harley-Davidson color,” he said. “This car was actually built for a Harley-Davidson show display. I bought it two years ago, from Scottsdale, Ariz. I ordered it on the computer. They delivered it on the big reliable truck,” DiMezza said.
The Blackwood, N.J., resident said he has won 10 trophies out of the 15 shows he has entered and that he enjoys traveling to show off his antique cars.
“The thing that’s really unique about this car is the engine, it’s a 261 dump truck motor from a ’54 Chevy dump truck. They did what’s basically a nostalgia build,” DiMezza said.
The Rotary Club of Ocean City-Upper Township had a tent that it used as a concession stand. The members were cooking up hot dogs, serving drinks and snacks to raise funds. Proceeds from the concession stand will go toward scholarships for students and the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).
