Business & Tech
Montville's Classic Cars Clean Up In Boonton Competition (6 Videos, 58 Photos)
Video and photos of Montville's cars at the Boonton car show on Aug. 21.
With white walls gleaming, side panels waxed to a mirror-like finish, and sunshine bouncing off brilliantly polished chrome, a bevy of purring engines lined Boonton's Main Street Aug. 21, as more than 125 classic cars competed in the eighth annual Classic Car Show.
"Again this year, it's a sold out event," said Patti Bujtas, a member of the Main Street Boonton Association's Board of Trustees.
According to board president Harold Johnson, Boonton's car show is one of many events sponsored by the Main Street Boonton Association. The association is part of a national initiative, started in 1984, to bring people back to small town main streets across the country.
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"You get people on the street," said Johnson of the event. "Especially people who are not from the community. They come in and see the uniqueness of the town"
Several of Montville's classic car collectors were on hand to compete with a variety of entries that spanned the history of the US auto industry. From a 1931 Ford Model A pick-up, to a new 2010 Chevrolet LS3 Grand Sport Corvette, the classic cars of Montville's collectors represented decades of automobile engineering and restoration.
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"I bought it in pieces, in 1983, down in Cape May County," Morris County Park Commissioner and, Towaco resident, Richard Seabury III said.
The unusual Model A pick-up, manufactured in 1931, the last model year for the Model A, was a pile of parts that Seabury had to reassemble.
"I had help," he said. "But I did a lot of the work myself. The little things I do. The big things I might need to call in the professionals."
Adorned with a late 1920s or early 1930s cast aluminum TOWACO license plate holder that may be the only one of its kind left in existence, Seabury's 1931 Model A pick-up shines with detail. A historian who has restored several classic cars, Seabury often drives his cars at special events in Montville Township and throughout the state, especially throughout Morris County at events sponsored by the Park Commission.
"Kids love to ride in the rumble seat of my Roadster," he said.
"I often drive this one down to pick up the mail," Seabury said as he nodded toward the '31 pick-up. "I've even taken it to Pennsylvania, but it's an uncomfortable ride. Now when I take it far, I truck it. Like last weekend I trucked it to the shore and we drove it around down there."
Another Towaco resident and business owner, Jim Trifari, of Big Jim's Clean-Up, entered his brand new, 2010, Grand Sport Corvette. Not only is Trifari's new, larger, Corvette spotless, with not even a speck of dust under the hood, it is also his dream come true.
"I always wanted one and I thought 'why not?" he said. "I picked it up down in Atlantic City at Kerbeck's, 'The World's Largest Corvette Dealer,' on May 15. Since then I have taken it to several car shows."
Towaco's Orchard Hill Farm on Jacksonville Road was also represented at the event. The red Dodge pick-up was purchased new, by Russell VanNess in 1957, for use as a farm truck. He bought it at Boonton's Corigliano Dodge.
"It never left the farm," Jennifer Caramucci, his daughter, said.
"We used it to haul peaches and apples and irrigation pipe," his wife, Dona VanNess, said.
"We also made deliveries to delis in Lake Hopatcong and Wanaque," Russell VanNess said.
In 1976 the old truck was retired. After sitting out in the field for about 11 years, VanNess decided to take it apart and put it back together. It took 8 years to complete the task.
"No one has ever touched this truck but me," he said. "I have refurbished every part of it."
VanNess' 1957 Dodge pick-up just turned over 50,000 miles.
"We take it to shows maybe 20 times a year, but it doesn't ride nice," Donna VanNess said.
Orchard Hill Farm has been in the VanNess family for 11 generations. Russell and Dona's grandson, Carter Caramucci, now only 16 months old, "will probably inherit the truck one day," said Russell VanNess.
The winner of Saturday's Best Restoration prize, sponsored by Boonton's Packard Industries, went to CPA, Greg Della Pia, of Montville Township, for his 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham.
"I learned to drive on a 1966 Cadillac," he said. "And that's what this is."
Della Pia had to completely restore the car, which he ourchased in Nutley 15 years ago. He now houses the award winner in a fully heated garage that he said is "probably cleaner than most people's homes."
"This is a trophy car," he said.
His car has won both the Cadillac Grand Nationals-Junior, in Rhode Island, and the Cadillac Grand Nationals-Senior, in Saratoga Springs, New York, as well as the Antique Automobile Club of America's national event in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Towaco businessman, Phil Dattolo, of the State Farm agency, sponsored the People's Choice Award at the event.
"It's a good one [award], 'cause all the people get to pick the car that they like the best," he said about his sponsorship.
Dattolo, who has been insurance agent since 2005, sold cars for 20 years and has an appreciation for the classic and unique.
"This is my driving billboard," he said, standing next to his custom painted Mini Cooper emblazoned with the State Farm logo. "I love it, it's the best car. It's like driving a go kart."
John Rylick of West Caldwell, New Jersey, was awarded the People's Choice Award, sponsored by Dattolo's State Farm agency, for his 1960 Cadillac.
More than 50 trophies were awarded on Saturday.
Montville Township 1989 high school graduates Len Oppenberg and Duane "The Bug" Belotti were also among the Boonton business owners at the car show. Belotti, who still lives in Montville, added to the fair-like atmosphere by dressing as a bug to help promote Victory Pest Solutions, Oppenberg's pest control business, now based in Boonton.
Victory's "The Bug," along with State Farm's Bear, "Neigh" (short for good neighbor), could be seen throughout the afternoon walking with children and hanging out with the classic cars.
