1956 Chevy Bel Air Wins Top Award At Newtown Antique & Classic Auto Show

NEWTOWN BOROUGH, PA — A 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air captured the hearts of car enthusiasts on Sunday, winning this year’s coveted Best of Show Award at Newtown’s 2025 Classic and Antique Car Show.

Owned by Steven Mebs of Southampton, the car caught the judges’ attention for its meticulous restoration work and glimmering tropical turquoise exterior.

“(Winning the award) is gratifying, especially with so many nice cars at the show,” said Mebs. “A lot of time, a lot of work and a lot of love has been put into this vehicle.”

Close to 200 cars and trucks rolled into Newtown Borough for the show, which is presented by the Newtown Business Association every summer and sponsored by Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic/St. Mary Medical Center.

(Jeff Werner/Patch)

(Jeff Werner/Patch)

(Jeff Werner/Patch)

Throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, thousands enjoyed the display of vehicles,
which featured a century’s worth of automotive history parked on the street.

As the event began to wind down, show chairman Dan Petty stepped to the microphone in front of the Newtown Borough Hall to announce the winners of the show’s top three awards.

“This year we had a tough call,” Petty told the gathering of car enthusiasts as he monitored an ominous weather forecast leading up to the show. “All week it looked like we were going to have rain today. Can you imagine how we’d feel right now if we had postponed the show?” he said. “But we
didn’t. We came together and had one of the best car shows Newtown has ever seen.

“It’s an unbelievable turnout this year. We have close to 200 vehicles,” he said. “We have a lot of beautiful cars here today, some of which have never come out to the show before. This is a first for them.”

Among this year’s showstoppers was a high-powered 1962 Bentley Continental, which was 007’s preferred vehicle in the James Bond book series.

This 1962 Bentley Continental owned by Gene Epstein won the Best of Show Emeritus Award.

Gene Epstein, center, accepts the Best of Show Emeritus Award. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

This 1962 Bentley Continental owned by Gene Epstein won the Best of Show Emeritus Award.

Owner and Bucks County car enthusiast Gene Epstein won the Best of Show Emeritus Award for the car, which attracted a lot of attention at show central in front of the Newtown Borough Hall.

In accepting the award, Epstein, who has become a regular at the show, announced that he will be withdrawing from the show circuit after four decades of competition and after winning innumerable awards at shows across the country for his high-end collection of show cars.

“With this last best of show award, I am not only retiring the 1962 Bentley Continental from future shows, but I am going to withdraw from the show circuit officially,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for about 40 years and realizing how difficult the work is to keep producing top competitive automobiles I still have always enjoyed it. Then recently coming down with kidney disease, being active at the shows no matter where the event is has become exhausting and not following doctors orders to keep out of the sun and heat as much as possible.”

While he will no longer be showing competitively, he will continue to participate in the show by bringing an unusual automobile to future shows for display purposes only.

Epstein used the moment in the winner’s circle to encourage anyone with a used car to donate it to the Wheelz2Work program offered through the Bucks County Opportunity Council. The program provides safe and reliable transportation to families in need.

In other awards, the Mayor’s Trophy was awarded to a 1964 Chevy Malibu owned by Bob Roman. Bucks County U.S. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick stepped in to present the award in the mayor’s absence.

Dan Shapiro also won first place in the marquee car category for his 1998 Porsche 911.

Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick and show chairman Dan Petty present the Mayor's Trophy to Bob Roman for his 1964 Chevy Malibu.

(Jeff Werner/Patch)