Advertisement

Classics come out at Corona del Mar car show

Share

Bill Dunlap has already begun checking items off his bucket list: He climbed Mount Whitney. He went to the Super Bowl. He visited Chartwell, Winston Churchill’s home in England.

Sitting at the Coastline Car Classic on Sunday in Corona del Mar, the 65-year-old Newport Beach resident explained how he also re-created his first car.

The 1958 Ford Anglia in front of him resembled the vehicle he drove as a 10th-grader in 1965. He found the body and frame in Wisconsin. He ordered other parts online, like the small beer keg that served as a gas tank.

Advertisement

So far, it’s been a $30,000 endeavor.

“We are nothing but boys with our toys,” Dunlap said with a smile.

The matte gray vehicle, coated only in primer, was one of about 90 cars staged in the Corona del Mar State Beach parking lot for the 11th annual event.

It’s not the biggest car show in Orange County, nor does it draw the fanciest cars. But in a town where a resident mounted a car to a wall in his home and a Mercedes-Benz is sometimes known as a “Newport Chevy,” the show had its share of rarities.

About 2,000 people attended, organizers say, and were greeted first by Al Capone’s 1930 Cadillac.

Holes cut in the glass windows allowed the gangster to fire shots. Play money, a baseball bat and a fake gun were strewn on the seats.

“I went to the auction, I saw it on display, I had to own it,” Mike Harrah, cigar in hand, said in explaining the $785,000 purchase.

The car is one of 205 in Harrah’s collection of what he calls “rolling art.” A Batmobile he owns — a roughly $425,000 purchase made after perhaps one too many drinks, he said — also stood on display.

As visitors to the show posed for photos with the cars, El Hathaway, who works with Crevier Classic Cars, stood captivated by a rare 1931 Alfa Romeo owned by a Balboa Island resident.

“There were no computers,” he said, gazing in awe toward the engine. “Everything was done by hand.”

Newport Beach Councilman Ed Selich was nearby with his 1937 MG “Cream Cracker.” Mayor Rush Hill dropped by to admire it.

Selich said he occasionally drives the car — one of three in his collection of classics — to City Hall.

“It’s been a police car, it’s been a street car, it’s been a wreck,” he said of the British vehicle.

Meanwhile, Neil Torrence of Banning brought out his Belvedere green 1954 Packard convertible for the day. It’s the eighth classic car he has owned, always chosen for their good mechanics and kept one at a time.

After all, he noted, “I only have a two-car garage.”

*

Specialty awards

Best of Show and Mayor’s Award

1929 Packard owned by Ed Thomson

Police Chief Award

1956 custom Ford F-100 owned by Bob Reinfried

Fire Chief Award

1949 Dodge fire engine woody owned by Randy Palmer

Grand Marshal Award

1929 Ford Roadster owned by Harry Nicks

Meguair’s Best of Paint Award

1929 LaSalle owned by Richard Law

John Honiotes Memorial Award

1927 Ford Model T owned by John Trujillo

Charity Pick – Pediatric Cancer Research Award

Batmobile owned by Mike Harrah

Source: Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce

Advertisement