Historic Bristol Day 105
8621 and register in advance, insuring your spot in the exhibit.
Or register online www.bristolhistory. org and email your form to gez49@aol. com.
On Historic Bristol Day, Oct. 20, registration will begin at 9 a.m. The exhibit will run from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. There is no rain date.
Mark Louis Gesualdi and his cousin, computer tech, Christopher Joseph Gesualdi are the co-chairs of the 2012 Bristol Day Antique Car Exhibit and they have spent many hours at the Margaret R. Grundy Memorial Library doing research.
Harold D. Mitchener, Joseph N. D’Emidio and Kenny Smith were a great source of information and supplied some pictures of the borough dealerships.
Mark and Chris are members of the National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS), a non-profit hobby group dedicated to the restoration, preservation, history and enjoyment of Corvettes. The car enthusiasts regularly do the car show circuits together.
They had hoped to locate vintage vehicles from 1917 to 1922 for the exhibit. Mark shared, “I have loved cars since I was a kid.” He owns a 1974 Corvette and Chris’ pride is a 1995 model.
A neighbor, Bobby Guzzi owned the corvettes that started his fascination at the age of 7. The first car Mark owned was a 1963 compact Dodge Dart. He still owns his TransAm. Chris said, “My father, Pasquale Jr. was a car guy. When the ashtray was full, he bought a new car.”
Family member and panoramic/ automotive photographer Marc Dubus is designing the poster project boards for the displays. They will depict the original dealership buildings when they were in use, a picture of the location today, a history of the dealerships and its advertisements. An original agreement of sale from 1930 has been located.
There were a dozen car sites with twice as many dealers in historic Bristol on the Delaware. Included in the Harriman dealerships were Winter Buick and Percy Ford that started on Mill Street, William J. Strobel on Radcliffe Street, Green C Lawrence Plymouth and DeSoto on Farragut and a Studebaker dealership on Otter Street. Weed Chevrolet is currently the location of the Moose Lodge No. 1169.
According to information secured from Eugene J. Williams, executive director of The Grundy Foundation, “Senator Joseph R. Grundy at his death in 1961, owned a 1960 Cadillac Sedan, a 1958 Chevy Sedan, a 1954 Ford Country Sedan and a 1961 Dodge Dump Truck and records indicate repair work was done at Bristol Ford.”
The Bristol Cultural and Historic Foundation is hosting the 36th Annual Historic Bristol Day on Oct. 20, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This wonderful, inexpensive outing will include the car show as well as a host of other family friendly events and activities.
For more information about Historic Bristol Day, contact the Bristol Cultural C Historical Foundation, 321 Cedar St., Bristol, 215-781-9895, www.bristolhistory.org.
*** Historic Bristol Day 105 is the fifth segment of a series introducing the 36th Annual Historic Bristol Day to be held on Oct. 20.
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