Motorama 2016 Fills Downtown North Adams With Classic Cars
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Well more than 400 cars and other engine-equipped items packed into the city's downtown on Sunday for the 6th annual Motorama.
The blue skies were a far cry from torrential rains that hit the city five years ago to the day when Tropical Storm Irene roared through. Instead, hundreds of people wandered along Main Street and Monument Square, and through the Steeple City Plaza admiring the shiny automobiles.
Pegged as an event that welcomes anything with an engine, Motorama offered a wide range of vehicles — from classic fire engines and police cruisers to muscle cars to vintage creations from motoring's early years to just off the assembly line.
"It's been a crazy day," said organizer Joseph Dean of Dean's Quality Auto. "It's insane how fast it goes by, but all in all, it was pretty good."
Dean thought the numbers could be down a little from last year because a new car show was scheduled the same day in New York State.
Still, there was plenty to look at during the North Adams show's six hours in the downtown.
George Canales had arrived at 6:30 a.m. hoping to get a spot on Main Street, but there were so many ahead of him, he ended up across the street in the parking lot.
It was a chance to meet up with old friends and show of his Mustang, said the North Adams resident, who ran into three childhood friends who'd brought their own cars to the show.
"We haven't seen each other in 62 years, but we knew each other," he said.
Ron Copp came from much farther - Cumberland, Maine - but brought one of the more unique entries with him.
Copp said there are only six 1931 Imperial Chryslers known to be in existence. His had been a restoration project of an Ohio man how died before finishing it. His widow garaged it for a dozen years before finally letting it go.
"He never backed it out of his garage, never had a chance to drive it," said Copp, who "finished it off, a few little things."
He brought the formal sedan to North Adams on a trailer, to keep the finished undercarriage clean, after a couple presenters had asked him to bring it.
"Everybody loves it," he said. "It's not a Chevy, it's not a Ford, it's different."
Motorama had a few other different things as well this weekend. On Saturday night, the Center Street parking lot was turned into a driven-in for a "Grease" sing-along and the third of the city's Levitt AMP Concert Series offered music Sunday afternoon under the shade trees at Colegrove Park.
A new swap meet run by PopCares Inc. ran from Friday to Sunday in the overflow parking lot behind Big Y. Dean said the turnout was small but there was a lot of selling.
"The vendors that came had a good time with sales," he said.
The Night Cruzers sold what seemed to be miles of tickets for 50/50 and chances at a $600 leaf blower and $1,000 in services at the new Vianor tire service center.
Motorama is put on by Dean, Jeff Sylvester from McAndrews-King, and Daryl Roy from NAPA Auto Parts as well as a group of hard-working volunteers, in conjunction with the city.
Proceeds from the event and the Night Cruzers' raffles are donated to local charities; last year some $4,000 was raised.
Once the trophies were handed out (with top winners Mike Goodson's 1967 Chevelle, Phil Laframboise's 1932 Ford and Joe Kane's 1967 Chevy Nova getting spots in an upcoming Boston show), the contestants roared out of the city.
And the planning for next year began.
"We'll go back to the drawing board, see what did work what didn't work and go from there," said Dean.
Tags: community event, downtown, motorama,
