Community Corner

PHOTOS: Cutchogue Antique Car Show Highlights Motoring Past

Antiques cars and trucks and people in period costume wow car show goers Saturday afternoon.

The early part of the 20th Century was covered through antique cars and trucks of all stripes parked on the Cutchogue Village Green for a car show run by the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Society on Saturday.

Patch blogger and antique car enthusiast Howard Kroplick showed off his 1901 “Black Beast” racer, always a popular sight at Long Island car shows. Kroplick and his car will also be featured Saturday night at 9 p.m. on the History Channel’s presentation of the “Men Who Built America Series” — Kroplick will be playing Alexander Winton racing Henry Ford.

Walter Ernst of Holtsville brought out his fully restored ’49 Chevy ¾-ton pickup truck for the first time to the Cutchogue show — an experience he said he greatly enjoyed on this sunny day and one he hopes will not mark the end of car show season on Long Island.

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“As long as the weather holds, another show always pops up,” he said, adding that his bright red truck is always an attention-getter when he decorates it up during Christmas.

Brian and Christine Williams of Mattituck sat in their recently acquired 1931 Willys convertible, a car originally owned by Cutchogue resident and famous composer Douglas Moore. Williams said he bought it from former owner James Grathwohl, who’d had it since 1959.

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“I didn’t want him to sell it to someone who wouldn’t be able to keep it in town,” said Williams, who is a marine mechanic by trade and restores cars as a hobby. “I took care of Parker Wickham’s cars before he passed away.”

Wickham was the inspiration for the building of a garage to store antique cars on the village green. That garage and the other historic buildings were also open for tours on Saturday. Eileen Whitehead of the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Society said that over 300 people attended the antique car show.

The Best in Show was Steve Koller’s 1932 Cord.

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