Classic car show returns to Newburyport | Local News | newburyportnews.com – The Daily News of Newburyport
NEWBURYPORT — A heat wave couldn’t keep the downtown from jumping back into the 1950s once again as the Cruisin’ the ‘50s Car Show made its motorized return Thursday evening.
The Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce & Industry presented the show. Interim chamber President Nate Allard said about 200 cars were on display, lining State and Pleasant streets, and parked in Market Square and on Inn Street.
“This is fantastic,” Allard said. “If you look around, you see hundreds of people lining the streets, checking out all of the cars. We’ve got live music (in the Newburyport Bank parking lot) and it is a gorgeous night.”
The chamber had to cancel last year’s car show due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the return Thursday was very welcome to most in attendance.
Mike Hammond of Exeter, New Hampshire, brought his award-winning 1969 GMC, which was parked in the Market Square bullnose in the company of a 1967 Shelby GT500 and a 1961 Chrysler 300G.
“Some of these cars here have won a lot of awards,” Hammond said. “I’ve done eight shows so far this year and people are pretty happy to be out. Just having that camaraderie to be talking with other car guys is great.”
John Arsenault of Merrimac brought his 13-year-old son Thomas to see the cars.
A1967 Corvette parked in the bullnose was the hit of the show, Thomas said.
“I’m trying to teach them about the finer things,” John Arsenault said. “I used to go to the car shows all the time with my uncles and my dad. So I figured, why not?”
Jeff Picard, the owner of Jeff Picard Building and Modeling in Amesbury, brought his 1967 Pontiac GTO to the show.
“I had it restored to the original condition,” Picard said. “I bought it in 2009 and you could still smell the mice in it. So, I took it apart and it took me about 7½ years to do a total restoration on it, right down to the bare frame.”
K.C. Barila, 23, of Byfield was admiring Picard’s GTO along with her friend, Elias Campanella-Garcia, 22.
“I am really fascinated by some of these engines that have been so finally tuned,” Campanella-Garcia said.
Barila said she was enjoying her first car show.
“It’s really nice to see the condition all of these cars are in,” she said. “I love to see how much people care about them and how everybody is so excited about them.”
Campanella-Garcia drives a 2017 Mercedes but said he looks forward to graduating to an electric car.
“Speed isn’t everything,” Campanella-Garcia said. “Besides, when am I going to actually get to really go fast without getting pulled over?”
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
