Fred Schwartz grew up in the 1950’s spending a lot of time in garages with his uncles. One built hot rods and another, Dick Taylor, was a champion stock car driver at East Windsor Speedway.
So it’s not surprising that Schwartz, the president of the General Motors Collectors of America automobile club, gained a passion for cars. And when members of the club show off their antique classics on Sunday, Sept. 20 at the 8th annual Bear Creek Classic Car Show, some of Schwartz’s vehicles will be on display — maybe even his 1979 Corvette.
Around 150 automobiles are expected to be on hand for the judged show, which has been held in Windsor for eight years, the last seven organized by the GM Collectors of America. Cars will be judged in 17 categories. Residents of the Bear Creek Assisted Living facility, on whose property the event will be held, will also pick a favorite.
One need not be a club member to display at car at the Bear Creek show. Registration is open to anyone who owns an antique vehicle of any make and model. Schwartz said one of the highlights of last year’s show was a 1918 Dodge that someone brought for display. The majority of cars, trucks, motorcycles and street rods are from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.
The GM Collectors of America club, based in Yardville, is officially five years old, but in truth it’s older than that. Schwartz was among the 10 or so founders who gathered in the basement of the late Kit Carson back in 1984 and formed a group that persisted until five years ago. That iteration of the club had annual car shows at the recently demolished Patterson Chevrolet, where Carson sold cars.
In 2010, club members decided to join the Antique Automobiles Club of America, or AACA, a national organization for “certified car nuts” (so says the AACA website). And so it was rechristened. One reason for the reorganization was to open the club to more people: despite the name, the GM Collectors of America is not restricted to GM cars. One member doesn’t even own an antique car.
Schwartz, 62, is a retired teacher who taught math at Hamilton High School West and Steinert High School. The Mercerville resident today owns six show-worthy cars — all Chevys — but that Corvette was his first. (Not his first car; that was a 1963 Chevrolet Impala SS.)
He said nostalgia is a common bond among club members.
“I think everybody in the car club has fond memories of their youth somehow related to a car,” he said. “They buy cars that their parents had, or that they had when they were younger. Doesn’t everybody want to relive their youth as they get older?”
The club has around 25 members, some coming from as far away as New York and Delaware. Members Marie and Ed Conroy, of Ewing, have a 1957 Pontiac Chieftain. Because the club is chartered on a national level, it is open to anyone in the country, but most hail from the area. It meets on the last Thursday of every month at the German American Club on Uncle Pete’s Road in Hamilton. Dinner is at 6:30 and meetings at 7. The club welcomes new members to drop in.
Schwartz noted that the upkeep and restoration of antique cars has become a popular but expensive hobby. At the Bear Creek show, he said, the average value of vehicles in the field will easily exceed $20,000.
Schwartz has a former Indianapolis 500 pace car, a 1969 Camaro, that he assembled painstakingly in the late 1980’s by finding vintage parts at flea markets and repair shops. Today, reproduction parts are manufactured expressly for the classic car community.
There is no rain date for the show, which is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; registration for those entering cars in the show will start at 8 a.m. While the automobiles are for display only — no touching — the event is billed as family friendly, featuring food, music, door prizes and goody bags. Bear Creek Assisted Living is located at 291 Village Road East, at the intersection of Old Trenton Road. For more information, call Fred Schwartz at (609) 577-6073.
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