Vintage Ferrari Race Car Revs Up The Crowd At New Hope Auto Show

NEW HOPE, Pa. — Thousands flocked to New Hope over the weekend to get a look at a vintage Ferrari race car.

Comfortable temperatures and sunny to partly cloudy skies greeted this year’s New Hope Auto Show show, which did not disappoint with a century’s worth of automotive history on display on the grounds of the New Hope-Solebury High School.

Saturday featured all American-made rides while Sunday’s show spotlighted the foreign models.

Sunday was also Ferrari Day, marking the 75th anniversary of the Italian automaker known for producing fast, sleek vehicles. Both days also featured this year’s poster car, a breathtakingly beautiful vintage Ferrari 365 P2/3 Spyder owned by a local collector.

A group of lucky visitors got the thrill of the weekend Sunday afternoon when a driver hopped inside the historic Spyder and revved up the engine for the crowd.

The vehicle was a competitor in the legendary 24 Hours of LeMans (made famous in the film “Ford vs. Ferrari”) in 1965 and 1966 and has raced around the world.

The revving engine was one of the many highlights of the weekend show

Dominic Mari of Furlong brought his 1970 300 SEL 6.3 Mercedes-Benz to New Hope. The vehicle had originally been owned by Graham Nash of the folk rock super group, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

“When their first album went gold, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Steven Stills went into a San Francisco Mercedes-Benz dealer,” Mari told Andrew Hinckley, who interviewed Mari over the show's loudspeakers. “The salesman, upon seeing the long haired hippies on the showroom floor,
came up to them and said, ‘Fellas. I don’t think this car is for you.’ Graham responded, ‘David is going to take the blue one, Steve is going to take the black one and I’m going to take the burgundy one.’”

After Mari acquired the car, he spent four years bringing it back to life.

“I tried to contact Graham several times, but I could not get through. I only want him to know that his car, which was his first car, is still here.

“These cars love to be driven,” adds Mari. “The engine is over 300 horsepower, they are rock solid, and when you hit that gas pedal it actually throws you back in the seat,” he said.

Another vehicle featured at the show was a 1967 P210 Volvo Duett station wagon owned by Andrew Clauss of Doylestown.

The fourth owner of the car, Clauss found the vehicle for sale at a car show about 20 years ago and had it restored.

Presented by New Hope Helping, the New Hope Auto Show is one of the oldest and most celebrated auto shows in the country. It features many of the finest antique and classic automobiles and motorcycles from across the eastern United States. The event has been staged in historic New Hope since 1957.

Established in 1949, the mission of New Hope Helping has grown from raising funds to support the needs of the New Hope-Solebury School District to fundraising efforts to support the community at large via auto show related events, cultural events, sports, and music.

New Hope Helping has been responsible for providing the New Hope-Solebury High School with a new gymnasium, a 17-acre recreation field, Community Center, and track, as well as annual scholarships to New Hope-Solebury High School seniors.

Additional donations are provided to regional non-profits, many of whom provide volunteers to help with The New Hope Automobile Show, which is New Hope Helping’s largest fundraising event.