‘Like going back in time’

Autos of the World Car Show set for 17th, and final, year

By Matt Bower
Posted 7/28/16

What began as a unique way to raise scholarship money for a local church has evolved into the largest car show in Rhode Island, and the fourth-largest in New England.

“I don’t know exactly how …

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‘Like going back in time’

Autos of the World Car Show set for 17th, and final, year

Posted

What began as a unique way to raise scholarship money for a local church has evolved into the largest car show in Rhode Island, and the fourth-largest in New England.

“I don’t know exactly how much we made over the years,” said the show’s founder, Gene Pezzulli. “Whatever we made that year, if it didn’t rain, always went to charity. Just over $120,000 would be close. Every year we give all that we made to charity, then start from zero the next year. There are no salaries to worry about, just what it takes to run the show.”

If you have yet to experience the Autos of the World Car Show, this Sunday, July 31, will be your last opportunity, as 2016 marks the 17th and final year of the event.

The show will be held at Goddard State Memorial Park, 1095 Ives Road, Warwick, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature more than 60 vendors of memorabilia and craft items, a variety of food vendors, a dozen or so home show-style vendors, fire trucks, big trucks, and cars of every brand and model from 1910 through 2015.

“This is one of the most beautiful car shows because it’s held at one of the most beautiful parks,” Pezzulli said during a phone interview last Friday. “It’s a rainbow of cars, color, and brass. This is a slice of history. It’s like going back in time.”

Pezzulli said a normal car show usually features between 150 to 200 cars, but there will be more than 1,200 at Sunday’s show, 450 of which have already pre-registered.

“At my first show, I was told by the professional DJ I hired that 75 to 100 cars is a very good first show. Well, I did something wrong because our first show was 275 cars and trucks,” he said. “We also broke the record number of cars at our show the following year. The old number then was 300, which was set in Newport, and we did 326 our second year.”

Pezzulli said Autos of the World has the record for the largest car show at 1,126 cars, which was set back in 2004.

He said three of the top cars that will be featured at this year’s show include a 1937 Duesenberg J, a very rare car with a street value of $3 million; a 1911 Pope Hartford worth $1.5 million – originally built in Hartford, Conn. by Pope Manufacturing Co., which was founded by Albert Augustus Pope, a lieutenant colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War, in 1876 in Boston and incorporated in 1877 in Connecticut – specializing in the manufacture of bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles; and a 1910 Buick, one of two in existence (the other in a museum) that took about 14 to 15 years to completely restore.

Pezzulli said there are a number of reasons he’s calling it quits after this year – among them the fact he’s getting older and costs to host the event are going up.

“The show is getting tougher to maintain. I’m in my 60s and I had open heart surgery last year,” he said. “It used to be a few thousand dollars when it first started, but now it’s almost $15,000. The bills still have to be paid even if the show gets rained out.”

Pezzulli said costs include the price of tents, renting nine acres of park space – “which includes whatever park staff the state tells you that you need” – insurance, port-a-johns, trophies, T-shirts, and show jackets for the “Best of the Best” winners, flyers and signs to let people know about the event, food to feed the approximately 60 volunteers (many of them there from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.), the expense for a live DJ, and the cost of the tickets for raffles.

“We used to put up our own tents, but we were told by our insurance man that it would be better to have a professional do it, plus they have insurance,” he said. “It’s the little things [that add up], like having to buy pens for the [car] owners to fill out the registration forms. No matter how hard you try, they disappear.”

Pezzulli said a lot of time and effort goes into the show.

“It’s tough to do it. I’m out putting up signs all over the state,” he said. “I put up signs during the day and pass out flyers at cruise nights. I work right up to and during the show.”

Although it’s a lot of work, Pezzulli said it’s something he enjoys.

“It’s fun to see what the mind and the hand can create. Every year someone surprises you,” he said. “My favorite part is the people and seeing the interaction between a grandfather and grandson, for instance. When you walk in there and a youngster is interested, all of a sudden the older guy has knowledge and the two can make a connection and share something. I get a kick out of seeing that.”

Pezzulli said the show is not exclusive to men, as many women also build cars that are featured. He said the friendship of car show people is like none he’s ever seen.

“They cover for each other,” he said, adding that when everyone is sitting in chairs by their vehicles, it’s like sitting out on the front porch and visiting with neighbors.

“Everybody is coming. We’re expecting 4,000 spectators,” Pezzulli said, adding that the following groups will be in attendance: Falcon Club, Cadillac Club, Rhode Island Pontiac Club, PT Cruisers, and Mustang Club, among others.

Pezzulli said he’s always been interested in cars, especially the vehicles he grew up with in the ’50s and ’60s.

“The only thing is, they weren’t old and antiques then. We sort of aged and became classics together,” he said. “My friends are much better on the mechanic side of our sport, but I love the history of our hobby. You can trace the growth of this country directly to the automotive industry. Before our technology came from space exploration, it came from the automotive industry. Advances in plastic, rubber, and electronics all trace back to the auto industry.”

To get a glimpse of that history, stop by Goddard Park this Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., for the Autos of the World finale. Pezzulli said between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. may be the best window for families to come and enjoy the show, but he said many people also like to arrive early and watch the cars coming down the street as they get set for the day.

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