Polish your fade-away, dust off your rumble seat and make those white walls shine for the first ever Seal Beach Vintage Car Cruise this Saturday, April 24.
Residents, spectators and car enthusiasts will come together, socially distanced, this Saturday from 10 a.m.-noon to share their love of classic touring cars, land yachts and just plain sweet rides. (For a map of the cruise route, see below) Leading the pack will be Seal Beach realtor, Wyatt Hill in his 1962 Plymouth Valiant Signet 200, chosen as a symbol of the valiant perseverance of our local businesses over the past year. The Car Cruise will begin on Seal Beach Blvd. and will make its way through the Hill and Old Town in Seal Beach.
The “poster car” for the cruise, a 1962 Plymouth Valiant Signet 200 boasts a sandstone paint job with matching pink/burgundy interior and a 225 Aluminum Slant 6. Hill has owned the car for 3 years, but it has been in his family for 25, gifted to him by his uncle, Mark Etheridge, who will ride with Wyatt in the cruise on Saturday.
The cruise will feature approximately 200 vintage cars from 1980 or earlier. Seal Beach residents and spectators will be able to watch, socially distanced, from their yards, balconies, green belts, parks and businesses along the 3 ½ mile route. A sampling of the cars they will observe includes a custom-built 1938 Buick Replica Indy Car, a 1958 Flip-Top Box Ford Fairlane, a custom-built street/off-road Empi Dune Buggy and a 1967 custom Cadillac Convertible.
“The caliber of cars joining the cruise is incredible,” said event Chair Tim Way. “We are so excited to share them with our neighbors and friends in town.”
The event will be recorded and televised on local SBTV-3 and live streamed by the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce, for those without a front row view.
Trophies will be awarded in 8 classes, as follows: 1. Best Truck, 2. Best Convertible, 3. Best Coupe/Sedan, 4. Most Unique, 5. Best for Mom, 6. Best for Dad, 7. Best Paint Color and 8. Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce Choice. The first 7 classes will be judged via online voting, by spectators. To cast your votes, visit www.sealbeachchamber.org and click on the “Vote Seal Beach” button or text “votesealbeach” to “646-00” and a link to the voting app will be sent to your phone. This is live now, should you want to set it up in advance of the Car Cruise. Each person will be able to vote for the cars of their choice during the cruise, and the results (winners) of each category will be sent to all voters at the end of the Car Cruise.
To commemorate the first annual Seal Beach Vintage Car Cruise, special edition t-shirts and posters will be available for sale at select Main Street businesses on and before the day of the event.
The First Annual Vintage Car Cruise is an official event of the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce and could not be produced without the support of event partners: the City of Seal Beach, the Seal Beach Lion’s Club, Boeing, Seal Beach and event sponsors, G & M Oil, Republic Services, Baytown Realty, 16th Street Garage, the Sun Newspapers, Original Parts Group and Ferguson Realty.
