2023 Annual Newport Beach Car and Truck Festival was a Huge Success!

About 150 cars and trucks shimmered Saturday against the sparkling  expanse of the Pacific Ocean, which served as a backdrop for the  fifth  annual Newport Beach Classic Car-Truck Festival. 

Hoping to appeal to a younger demographic, the show included a kids’  activity area with storytelling, face painting and a costume bike  parade. A surf and snow expo was also added to bring in younger  families, along with musical entertainment.

The charity  event was hosted by Knights of Columbus #15083 Balboa Council and drew  between 2,000 and 3,000 people to the Newport Elementary School  playground on the sands of the Balboa Peninsula, according to event  organizer Mark O’Ravitz. The group raised $50,000 for its efforts.

“Now  with the city into it, and quality sponsorships, [the show] has grown  legs, “ said O’Ravitz. “Until now, the city of Newport Beach was the  only local city that didn’t have a car show. Now they’re doing this for  us.”

“Our [Knights of Columbus] organization has always been been a  charitable organization, and along with Meals On Wheels, Share Our  Selves and Be Well, for example, we’re very involved in the Maui Relief  effort, with donation ‘Jars for Maui’ available,” said O’Ravitz. 

Among  the vehicles showcased at the festival was a 1966 Volkswagen double-cab  pickup bus that’s been nicknamed Tank by its owner, Robin Lewis of  Placentia.

“He’s my best friend and takes me wherever I want to go,” said Lewis,  who had it restored in 2018. “He also has a really cute butt, which is a  2054 Stroker motor.”

Costa Mesa resident Gary Boler spent seven  years on his weekend project rebuilding his 1932 Ford Roadster including  adding a 1955 Chrysler Hemi engine. “I finished it nine years ago at a  cost of $70,000, and if I’m lucky my wife will go on road trips with  me,” said Boyer. “We’ve been to Victoria, Canada, three times.”

A  few spaces away it was hard to miss the sunset orange 1955 Chevy Apache  truck glistening in the sun. “This was my brother’s truck and he passed  away, so I finished [restoring it] for him,” explained first-time show  exhibitor Anthony Gutierrez, of Long Beach. “I’ve been working on it for  about nine years, and it’s almost finished, I’m just waiting to do the  interior.”

Similarly, Jeff Tibbets of Costa Mesa pursued his  restoration project as a tribute to his dad’s memory. Tibbets has  participated in a half dozen car shows with his eye-catching 1937 Ford  Slantback with a turquoise and black paint job completed in 2008. “It’s got all the creature comforts, all modern suspension,  air-conditioning, power steering,” said Tibbets. “The car was originally  built in Detroit and I’m only the fourth owner.”

Timothy  Kosharnyi came all the way from Russia — via Simi Valley — to show off  his 1970 Plymouth Superbird for the first time in the USA. 

“The car was imported to [the] U.S .three weeks ago from Russia,”  said Kosharnyi. “It was built 15 years ago as a tribute to Richard Petty  because he had signed the car, and there is a photo in a Russian museum  of Petty signing the fin.”

In keeping with the Halloween theme,  attendees Marlita Patriquin of Irvine and Sharon Seal of Newport Beach  said they especially enjoyed the 1929 Dodge Brothers Hearse, decked out  with a mortician skeleton riding with a casket.