Marblehead is a place for interesting and eye-catching cars. But where do people get to show them off?
The Christmas parade… maybe? But if you want to see a wide variety of cars, some dating from the 1920s and some that are not even old enough to drive yet, you have to visit the Marblehead Cruise In, which was started by a group of young men with a love for cars.
Held on the scenic waterfront of Ocean Avenue, the monthly event hosts cars of all makes and models.
Enthusiasts gather, proudly representing their cars and the stories that precede them, and talking shop with anyone who strolls by.
The car show takes place between April and September on the first or second Tuesday of every month. The event was started by Tucker Beatty and his friend Nick Parente.
The idea, which started as a small birthday bash for Beatty, now hosts approximately 50 cars “on a good day,” Beatty said. On the busiest days, it has hosted more than 80 cars.
“We have always felt that there was an appetite for a fun little car show around here,” Beatty said.
He said they both have Land Rovers (Beatty’s is named Nigel) and, after hosting a car show for Beatty’s birthday a couple of years ago, they thought they should open it up for the entire community.
What started out as a way for his friends to come together has turned into a spectacle for the entire community.
Jimmy McCarriston, who was representing a silver 1997 E36 BMW and also helped get the car show off the ground, said he and his friends would place business cards on the windshield of “cool cars” in order to bring awareness to their mission and get people interested.
He was also in attendance at Beatty’s birthday party and said that over pizza, he and his friends thought, “Wait, we could make this into a car show.”
Beatty said the car shows have come to be known by the entire community for a “really weird and crazy” variety of cars.
“It’s kind of a melting pot for whatever you like. Whatever you’re into, there’ll be something here that you would be interested in,” he said.
A tiger guards the engine
of Edward Poulin’s
1965 Pontiac GTO.
Attendees of the Cruise In gather around a group of antique cars.
A clean wheel of Joe Moccia’s 1974 Corvette Stingray.
Spectators at the Cruise In check out a Porsche 944.
Here are just some of the stories car enthusiasts come to share at the Cruise In:
Michael Lafayette represented a 1931 Deluxe Roadster. He said he and Tom Blackler, who is president of the Marblehead Old Car Club, worked on the car for three years “to bring it back from the dead.” This included replacing the gas tank, which caught the car on fire the day it was delivered.
Lafayette said the car’s nickname is the Flaming Coffin. “It went from being on fire to a beautiful car,” he said.
Blacker started the Old Car Club more than 20 years ago and has been repairing and restoring “old cars” since then.
A special-edition 1993 Jaguar XJS was proudly represented by Bob DiLisio. He said there were only 66 made of the vehicle and it only has 35,000 miles.
“I have always wanted an XJS with a five-speed transmission and I finally found one,” he said.
Michael Smith was representing a 1929 Ford Model A Tudor. He said his favorite memory of the car has been representing it in the town’s Christmas parade.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “Everyone is there for a good time, and that’s definitely been my favorite thing so far.”
William Tracy, better known in the community as Uncle Sid, is the original owner of an Excalibur SSK, made by Automobiles Inc. in Milwaukee, which he bought in 1966 for $5,700. The company made 200 cars a year for 10 years, he said.
He said the car was used in “Bewitched,” a sitcom that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC between Sept. 17, 1964 and March 25, 1972 and starred actress Elizabeth Montgomery.
Tracy said the show paid him $100 that week to use the car, “which was a lot of money back then.” The show paid his brother, who was in high school at the time, $50 a day to drive the car on and off the scene for the shoot.
