Nearly 180 cars on display over Barclays weekend
Over the past couple of weeks the Farmingdale Fire Department (FFD) has played host to a series of Main Street car shows. The final show, on Friday, Aug. 24, rounded out the series, alongside the other main attraction in town, the Barclays PGA FedEx Tournament at Bethpage Black.
Each week, more and more cars and their owners participated in the downtown pageant of cars, ranging from the first Model A, to souped-up high-tech racing machines. The show attracted not only car lovers and enthusiasts, but artists and photographers, and spectators of all ages.
Ellyn Okvist, founding member of the Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Society, owns a 1929 Ford Model A that she bought in Tennessee two years ago.
“I love fixing it; I love driving it, it gives you an idea of where everything started,” said Okvist. “We took this car apart and started restoring it from scratch.”
She remarked that she often sees car show spectators gravitate to the Model A in every car show she and her husband, Robert Kentner, do.
Ken Tortoso proudly showed a vintage tractor, the1948 International Farmall Cub C60, 4-cylinder McCormick-Deering, that was on display at the firehouse. “We’ve had it in our family since the early ’80s,” after the village had planned to discard it from their fleet, he explained. His family had purchased it and Tortoso began all of the restoration work. He said it still works and is fully functional; his family uses it on their land in New Hampshire.
As Deputy Mayor Patricia Christiansen admired the tractor display, she jokingly told Tortoso that the village was considering buying it back because of its exceptional condition.
Fire Chief Keith Ryan told the Observer that 180 cars were in attendance for the final show on Aug. 24. He said, “We believe it was another great success, not only for us [the fire department] but also for the village merchants.” He said more shows could definitely be a possibility; the details are being discussed.
