One Of A Kind 1956 Continental Derham Wins Best Of Show At Newtown

NEWTOWN BOROUGH, PA — A one of a kind beautifully-restored 1956 Continental Derham Victoria Coupe won the Mayor’s Best of Show trophy at Sunday’s car show in Newtown Borough.

Show chairman Dan Petty joined Mayor John Burke and Police Chief James Sabath in presenting the award to car enthusiast and collector Gene Epstein who was on hand to accept the recognition.

It took Epstein three and a half years and more than 5500 hours of paid labor to restore the vehicle, which is the only one of its kind on the planet.

“I have been collecting cars for what seems like forever and I really have it in my blood,” said Epstein. “I’ve been with my cars at events in Europe and throughout the United States. They are all magnificent productions with untold money and national and international sponsors, but there is nothing that feels better than being able to take your classic car that you've worked on for several years and present it locally.

“I was honored today to be presented with the Mayor’s Cup for Best of Show,” continued Epstein. “I walked the entire field of vehicles and was pleasantly surprised seeing quite a few incredibly well restored vehicles including a gorgeous 1956 Belair convertible, a 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood, a handsomely restored 1964 Studebaker Avante and an absolutely striking 1959 Ford hard top convertible black finish with red and white interior.

“I could go on and on since the NBA and all their volunteers put together a great event,” he said. “The public was thrilled to be out in the fresh air seeing quite an array of interesting automobiles. Numerous people were commenting on how great it felt. My hat is off to everyone that works so hard to put this together for everyone's enjoyment. I look forward to coming again next year.“

Epstein’s Continental Derham Victoria coupe has also won major awards at Amelia Island Concour d’ Elegance, Boca Raton Concours, Greenwich Concours plus Best of Show at the New Hope Auto Show.

This was the first time since 2019 the show, presented by the Newtown Business Association, was staged on historic State Street due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And it brought out close to 200 of car owners and thousands of car enthusiasts for a day of celebrating foreign and domestic automotive workmanship and ingenuity.

One of the show’s most unique entries was an exact duplicate of the Batmobile from the original 1966 Batman TV Series starring Adam West.

Owner Paul Curtis of Wrightstown won the show’s first place trophy in the special interest category for the very cool ride.

It took Curtis 3 1/2 years to modify the 1979 Lincoln into a Batmobile, which features a working bat phone, bat scanner, bat computer, retractable license plate, bat beam and Bat-O-Scope. It even has fire in the back, powered by propane, although he doesn’t drive around with it firing.

“I just bring it out to watch people smile,” said Curtis adding that every time he takes it out, at a red light people get out of their cars to take pictures or when he pulls into a gas station, people gather around.

“Getting gas is usually a half hour event,” he says.

“I always liked the car. So when I retired I needed a project. I did a lot of research and decided this is what I wanted to do. I ended up building it.”

Between 5,000 and 7,000 people attended Sunday’s show, which featured a century’s worth of automotive history parked on State Street between Jefferson and Centre Avenue.

Throughout the morning and into the early afternoon young and old enjoyed the automotive display, which included more than 160 classic antique cars, trucks and specialty vehicles.

"There was a lot of pent up demand," said Petty.