I created the Guys With Rides brand firmly believing every car tells a story. Who owned it? Where did they drive? What memories did it help create?  I subscribe to the notion that there is a story under every hood.  While I enjoy looking at Concours-clean collector cars (regardless of whether they are low-mileage originals or lovingly restored examples), the car’s history is more important to me than its current condition.

That’s one of the many reasons I enjoyed attending Northeast RADwood events.  The original founders nailed it when they created a non-car show car show. However, when Oligarchs of the classic car hobby, a.k.a. Hagerty, offered the RADwood originators a princely sum, it was just a matter of time before they ruined the original concept.  One of those is Hagerty’s attempt to blend in the RADwood scene with existing bigger, established shows (notable past examples include the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance and the Amelia Island Concours). Space limitations often means they have to curate the cars shown, completely defeating the original purpose of the show.

One of Hagerty’s stand-alone casualties was Philly RADwood, last held in South Philadelphia in 2023. When I confirmed RADwood would not host a Northeast/Philly area event for the second consecutive year, I decided that GuysWithRides would step up and host an alternative. That was the creation of Best Fest with a slight twist: the addition of Malaise Era (1972 to 1984) rides in a addition to RAD Era (1980-1999) vehicles. With the help of another RAD-era car club, RAD Stallions of Connecticut and New Jersey, we successfully pulled off GuysWithRides’ first car show, Best Fest 2025:

The hardest aspect for organizing a car show is securing a venue.  Luckily, I have access to Flying W Airport & Resort in Medford, NJ. Flying W is a privately owned small plane airport and pool club with a huge tarmac that hosts a variety of activities throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Located 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia, the venue is centrally located less than two hours from Allentown, Pennsylvania, New York City, and Wilmington, Delaware. While the majority of cars at the show were from New Jersey, we also attracted cars from Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania.

As a small upstart in the classic car world trying to compete against the likes of Bring a Trailer, I had an uphill battle promoting Best Fest to RADwood fans.  Sadly, despite publishing two press releases and numerous media outreach requests, it fell on deaf ears save for Brian and Nick of Regular Car Reviews fame. Consequently, we relied heavily on social media advertising, which attracted over seventy car owners from five different states to pre-register for the event. Much like RADwood, I focused heavily on getting people to pre-register for the event, mainly to aid in planning and to pre-print scorecards containing QR-codes for People’s Choice Judging. Consequently, what kept me up at night in the days leading up to the event was how many cars would show up the day of the show not pre-registered. My fears were quieted when only seven day-of-show registrants appeared at the entrance gate.

After the expected line of pre-registered cars arrived before the show’s 10 am start and were staged on the Airport’s Tarmac, we continued finalizing the show set-up when we noticed what appeared to be a white mid-1980s Chevrolet Celebrity sedan driving by. Upon seeing the car, someone quipped, “that must be a little old lady heading to church.” At that moment, we realized the car was not heading to church; it was turning into our show!

The sixth of seven day-of-show-entrants was a very clean white 1984 Chevrolet Celebrity sedan. Bridging the gap between the Malaise and Rad Eras Chevrolet produced this front-wheel-drive A Body platform from 1982 to 1990. Based on the X-Body platform launched two years earlier, it replaced the Malibu as Chevrolet’s primary mid-size offering available as a sedan, coupe, or station wagon, it targeted families and fleet buyers with its practical design and affordable pricing.  The base model equipped with the standard 2.5 Liter, Pontiac-Sourced “Iron Duke” inline-four retuned to produce a whopping 92 SAE net horsepower. Saddled with bland styling, the Celebrity keep became a favorite option for fleet and rental cars companies.  Four decades later, Chevrolet’s Celebrity is largely forgotten.

When the owner of the white 1984 Chevrolet Celebrity approached the gate leading into the tarmac, I was there to greet he and his wife. As they drove up to the gate, I said, “Wow, what a clean car” to which the owner replied, “Yeah, it only has 7,300 miles.” At first, I assumed it might have been a family heirloom his grandmother bequeathed to him. That’s when he told me about the story under the hood of his otherwise ubiquitous 1984 Chevrolet Celebrity sedan.

The owner proceeded to explain to me that their Celebrity was a junkyard find he successfully brought back to life.  When he first came across the car sitting in a junkyard, he could not get over how clean and complete the car was.  The 1987 window stickers confirmed the car had been parked in the junkyard for over two decades!  The more he looked at the car, he could not believe how clean and complete is was.  After buying the car for a few hundred dollars, he set about getting it roadworthy again.  A replacement fuel tank, a fresh set of tires, and a tune-up brought this Celebrity back from the dead.

When the Woodings, the owners of the car, pulled onto the tarmac, not only was was a hit with the crowd, it was the best of many great car stories I had that day. Hours later when I tallied the people’s choice votes for the best 80s vehicle, the Celebrity tied with a very popular and barely street legal 1982 Porsche 911 Turbo!  As a result, I awarded the Porsche the best 80’s award and the Best of Show award to the Celebrity!

When I called the couple up to the podium to receive the Best of Show Award, they were floored. As the owner explained the story to the crowd, he even welled up with emotion – mission accomplished! While many car enthusiasts will balk at the notion a Chevrolet Celebrity could win Best of Show, the car represents what were trying to Best Fest that is now lost on the Hagerty-Owned RADwood franchise: a non-car show car show for unloved Malaise and RAD era rides.