Eastwood Classic draws in crowds
POTTSTOWN >> The Eastwood Summer Classic returned to Pottstown for another year and the showing was impressive.
For the first year ever, the annual car show was hosted at the grounds of the Pottstown Municipal Airport on Saturday and the change has allowed for more space, more guests and many more cars.
“It seems to me that there’s probably about three or four thousand people here,” said Martin Bispels, chief sales and marketing officer for Eastwood. “I’m going to say there’s probably about 1,000 custom vehicles. That’s about twice the size of last year’s event. We’re thrilled. We moved from our headquarters down the street up to the airport just so that we could have a bigger, better event and I think that’s exactly what’s happened here.”
As guests wandered through lines of souped up classic cars, the revving of engines could be heard from nearby cars competing in the muffler contest. Participants revved up their engines and onlookers cheered for the car they thought sounded the best.
That wasn’t the only contest going on Saturday either.
The Eastwood Summer Classic also kicked off Eastwood’s national DIY Legends contest at the show. The contest, which has been going on for 38 years, requires contestants to enter a drawing and essay submission of a dream project they want to pursue. Out of thousands of entries, it was whittled down to five. Each of the finalists were given $2,000 in tools and $500 in cash Saturday to pursue their project. The winner receives a trip to SEMA in Las Vegas, one of the largest invite-only auto shows in the country, where their winning project will be displayed.
One of the finalists is from the Pottstown area — Robert Chappelle, a retired army veteran. Chappelle expressed his excitement Saturday after the finalists took part in a few rounds of friendly automotive-related competitions.
“It’s pretty cool. I mean, who would have thought? It’s been a total shock,” said Chappelle of competing in the contest. Chappelle said he entered the competition after doing some late night internet surfing on Eastwood’s website and that he did it on a whim after having been a customer of theirs for 30 years.
“I’ve restored vehicles and helped friends restore vehicles for about three decades. I recently moved here in 2014 and started putting together a place where I can restore my vehicle. I’ve been a customer of theirs probably pushing 30 years and shortly after I moved here found out that they were located here. One night I was suffering from insomnia and I went online and saw this thing for DIY Legends and I had nothing but time. So I applied and figured nothing would come of it and lo and behold I found out I was missing a bunch of phone calls and emails telling me I had become a finalist,” explained Chappelle.
Chapelle has previously restored a few World War II military vehicles and for his challenge is looking to restore a 1964 Chavelle.
According to the rules, the main projects must be a mode of transportation, must be completed by the entrant and be completed by Sept. 21. A team of judges will then select the winner, but the public will have an opportunity to vote online for their favorite.
Bispels said guests seemed pleased with this year’s show, expressing how much they enjoyed the various sights, events and contests.
“They appreciate how much this is a community event. We have live music, we have a DJ, we have Alex’s Lemonade Stand. There’s food trucks, product demonstrations, the Med Evac helicopter that landed and opened its door for tours ... The combination of all those different attractions really make for a great event. There’s a lot of car shows out there and I think this one is really something special,” said Bispels.