Rolls-Royce Roadster The Star Of The Show At Washington Crossing

WASHINGTON CROSSING — A seldom seen, stunning one-of-a-kind Rolls-Royce Roadster took Best of Show at the Rebels and Redcoats Car Show held Sunday at Washington Crossing Historic Park.

The unique car show featured American, French, British and German cars, all representing the four countries involved in the American Revolutionary War.

The Rebel entries had the advantage, many of them lined up in the shade on the warm July day, but the Redcoats won the day with Best of Show going to a 1950 Rolls-Royce Roadster owned by Bucks County philanthropist Gene Epstein.

The public came close to not even seeing the one-of-a-kind special, as Epstein had originally planned to show his super rare Lincoln Continental, which just won Best Postwar at the Simeone Foundation Museum's Philadelphia Concours d’Elegance last week.

When he couldn’t get the Derham Victoria Coupe to start, Epstein moved to Plan B - his 1964 Chrysler Imperial LeBaron - “just a very, very nice driver and very low mileage car,” he said.

But when he went to start that car up, it kept breaking down. “Something was wrong with both cars and the only thing we could think of was bad gas,” he said.

“Reluctantly I pulled out our Pebble Beach car that is very seldom seen by the public and drove out there with absolutely no problems,” said Epstein.

“I had stanchions placed around the automobile because I didn’t want to take a chance of anyone getting too close and scratching it, however when I saw some disabled people around, I got them out of their wheelchairs and into the car so I could take pictures using their iPhones," said Epstein. "That made me happy and it made them happy, too.”

Epstein said the quality of automobiles displayed at the show was definitely more upscale than the last event. “I was obviously glad to receive best of show, but I enjoyed the day so much even though I had so much aggravation earlier that it didn’t make any difference.”

The Rebels and Redcoats Car Show was part of an extended weekend of Fourth of July events at the park, which included Colonial Toys and Games on Saturday and an Independence Day celebration on the Fourth.