30th Anniversary of the Annual Seal Beach Classic Car Show

Although many Original Parts Group Inc. (OPGI) customers know that OPGI is headquartered in Seal Beach, California, it seems not many know where that small beachside community actually appears on a California map. The confusion may stem from the fact that Seal Beach is just one of many small beach towns that populate the California coast along the Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1) as it winds its way through both Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The city of Seal Beach occupies just over 11 square miles of coastal lowlands and wide beaches that offer some of the best seaside scenery anywhere, with “perfect sunset” views that include Seal Beach, Long Beach, mountains, jetties, dolphins, seals, and plenty of surfers. These scenic qualities combined with the charm of a small, California seaside town also make Seal Beach the perfect location for a car show.

This year marked the 30th Anniversary of the Annual Seal Beach Classic Car Show and as in years past, Main Street in Seal Beach closed down to welcome thousands of visitors and hundreds of show cars. A combination of automotive enthusiasts and local businesses, along with the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce and the City of Seal Beach, once again worked together to produce one of Southern California’s most memorable free automotive events. With 30 categories of classic cars (and motorcycles) on display, the annual show always offers something for everyone.

As the northernmost beach town in Orange County, the Seal Beach Show seems to draw cars from many different beachside communities up and down the Pacific Coast Highway. A high point of the show for OPGI was that a great many of the cars on display were absolutely stunning examples of our favorite General Motors (GM) classics from the 60s and 70s. Along with many great Chevrolet cars in attendance, there was also a great turnout of Pontiac’s, Buick’s, Caddy’s and Oldsmobiles too. Because it has often been said that a picture is worth “a thousand words,” here’s a photographic look back at some of the best GM classics on display at the recent show.

A long time sponsor of the Seal Beach Car Show, the OPGI booth was surrounded by several OPGI display cars. Here we see the red 1970 “Executive” OPGI Chevelle Project car.

Other OPGI Project cars in attendance included the big-block 1972 El Camino, 1967 Buick Skylark GS and 1968 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.

Al Hartman’s 1968 GTO

 

Alan Rodriguez’s 1970 Buick Skylark

 

Bill Kirchner’s 1962 Catalina

Jim Course & Mark Demer’s Blue 1970 Chevelles

Dan O’Connor’s 1967 GTO

James Daurio’s 1976 Cadillac Eldorado

Tom Williamson’s 1962 Grand Prix, which was featured on the cover of our 2016 Grand Prix Catalog

Jim Fernandez’s 1965 Riviera was just one of many nice Buicks on display.

Jim Huey’s 1967 GTO

Mark Adamson’s 1964 Malibu Convertible

John Chambers’ 1962 Grand Prix

Michael Wettstein’s 1970 GTO

Mike Schuster’s 1970 Malibu

Phil Nathan’s 1968 Riviera

Paul & Loretta Gonzalez’s 1968 Malibu

Rich Kilar’s 1965 GTO

Rick Brown’s 1964 GTO

Robert Berkhart’s 1966 GTO

Rocky Pebley’s 1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

Shannon Foster’s 1965 Malibu SS

Rick Lorenzen’s award winning 1970 4-4-2. Rick’s 4-4-2 was chosen to receive the coveted 2017 OPGI Award by the OPGI Sourcing Team.

More great GM classics at the Seal Beach Show….

 

 

Posted in Buick, Chevy, Industry News, Oldsmobile, Pontiac Tagged with: , , , , , ,