By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Christian Lawlor attended the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado in the late 1980s to learn how to fly military jets.
However, after his graduation, he left the academy traveling in a much slower mode of transportation – a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.
“It was my junior and senior year car at the academy. I drove it home to New Jersey after I graduated,” Lawlor recalled of the classic car.
Still owned by Lawlor all these years later, the shiny red Chevy was among 71 vintage cars and trucks gracing the oceanfront Promenade in Sea Isle City on a spectacularly sunny Father’s Day.
The antique auto show and a parade of vintage cars around town Sunday capped the annual Skimmer Festival Weekend, traditionally Sea Isle’s largest summer event.
Normally, tens of thousands of people pack the Promenade and Excursion Park on Saturday and Sunday for a family-friendly celebration of food, shopping, amusement rides, live music and old cars.
But this year, Sea Isle had an abbreviated version of Skimmer weekend. Due to social distancing requirements during the coronavirus pandemic, the city canceled Saturday’s main part of the festival that normally involves hundreds of vendors on the Promenade, a food court and children’s amusement rides. A sidewalk sale for businesses around town was the highlight on Saturday instead.
However, the city was able to save the annual Skimmer vintage auto show and parade by spreading out the cars and trucks along the Promenade to comply with social distancing requirements.
“This is really showing that we’re starting to get open,” Mayor Leonard Desiderio said of the city emerging from the coronavirus shutdown just in time for the peak summer tourism season.
City spokeswoman Katherine Custer explained that the auto show served as a successful trial run for future public events in Sea Isle that may need social distancing.
“We are really happy that we are able to have this event. We asked all of the owners to spread out more than usual since social distancing is still so important,” Custer said. “We can prove that we can do this on a show this size and follow all of the rules, and hopefully the rules will lessen over time.”
Instead of the usual long, unbroken string of vintage autos on the Promenade, this year’s show spaced out the cars and trucks in groups of twos to provide social distancing.
The car show has been held for nearly 30 years. The beachfront location for displaying so many vintage cars has always proved to be a big hit with spectators, organizers say.
Christian Lawlor, a Shamong, N.J., resident and the owner of the aforementioned 1957 Chevy Bel Air, has been bringing his car to the show for about seven years.
Lawlor, 52, an Air National Guard pilot who flies KC-135 refueling jets, said he bought his Bel Air for $4,500 in 1987 while he was still attending the Air Force Academy.
The car was restored eight years ago. Lawlor estimates the car is worth between $50,000 and $60,000 now.
Eventually, he plans to give it to his son, Robbie, 8.
“You get to inherit a super-cool car,” he told his son.
Each year, the car show serves as a special Father’s Day for Lawlor and Robbie. They make it a point to take their photo together as a keepsake.
Another eye-catching classic car at the show was a 1963 Lincoln Continental owned by Stuart and Robin Cohen of Vineland. Still sporting its original highlander green paint job, the car has been in the Cohen family since the 1960s and is now insured for $110,000.
The Cohens, both 58, stressed that their Lincoln is no garage queen. It has literally been driven across the country on vacations and trips to car shows.
“From September 2016 to October 2018, this car was driven in all 48 states of the Continental United States,” Robin Cohen said.
During one road trip to California, the Cohens placed a sign in the back window that said “California or bust,” attracting the attention of other drivers.
“They would say, ‘Are you really driving to California?’” Robin said, laughing.
Stuart noted that the car has received numerous classic car awards in the Lincoln world. He and his wife also own two other classic cars, a 1928 Packard and a 1957 Ford Thunderbird.
While out cruising on the road, their Lincoln often elicits gestures of approval from other motorists, Stuart said.
“Typically, it’s that thumbs-up sign,” he said.
