A few weeks back, Carlisle Events Event Managers Ken Appell and Ed Buczeskie took a trip out to Pittsburgh World of Wheels to check out the flavors from the west side of the state. The Pittsburgh edition of World of Wheels is one of the longest running on the circuit and hosted it’s 62nd edition of the annual tradition. We spotted a number of cars that caught our eyes for one reason or another, so let’s quit the chitty chat and get you what you came to see, the cars and machines at this event.
Before we even entered the main hall, we were greeted with a bittersweet Mopar display in the lobby. Five Mopars from the collection of John Borgen were featured to honor the enthusiast who passed away unexpectedly in 2022. The cars were backdropped by the Allegheny River and included John’s 1968 Hemi Charger R/T, which was refreshingly unrestored, two ’71 ‘Cudas, a 1970 AAR ‘Cuda and a ’70 Superbird; the latter were all beautifully restored. Rest in peace, John.
One of our first stops was visiting with our friends at Super Car Workshop and Super Car Restoration. These guys put on our annual Solid Lifter Showroom at the Carlisle GM Nationals as well as support a number of our other events by bringing us some great vehicles. Brian and his team just finished up Mark Prunesti’s ’69 Chevrolet Chevelle, which if it looks familiar it is as it was one of the in-process builds Brian brought us last year for the Solid Lifter Showroom. Now in the final stages this Chevelle is looking killer in every way.
Located not far away, another build that caught our attention was Dave Kindig of Kindig-It Designs ’53 23 Window Barndoor Deluxe Bus [say that 3 times fast]. Subtle details and a slew of hidden touches caught our eyes.
Clubs are the backbone of many shows and one of the clubs supporting this show had a cool variety of Pontiac products. The Greater Pittsburgh GTO Club had a lineup just inside one of the doors that really captured the attention of show-goers by having something really different than most clubs.
Mopars are generally in short supply at multi make shows but Pittsburgh held another surprise besides the John Borgen tribute. In the main hall was a quartet of Chryslers from the Johnson family. Bob Sr. had a pair of 1970s on display in the form of a Road Runner and a Challenger T/A. His sons followed in his footsteps with a pair of B-Bodies.
(Jake Johnson’s 1969.2 Dodge Super Bee A12)
(Bob Johnson Jr’s 1968 Dodge Charger)
Imports are also rather uncommon at shows that are usually associated with traditional hot rods but this show was an exception. Beyond the aforementioned Kindig Bus and some other sweet air-cooled VWs was everything from an LS-swapped BMW to a righthand drive Nissan Cedric. Several clubs were on hand with great displays but it was Burgh Built that made the biggest impression with us. The cars were neatly arranged with purpose and the attention to detail on not just the cars, but also the overall display, stopped us in our tracks.
Another show feature of the Autorama circuit wherever it travels is the Cavalcade of Customs displays, this year the Pittsburgh World of Wheels showcased a number of Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln products in this area. Like Carl Ventresca’s ‘60 Mercury above the cars joining him in the display [pictured below] were a hit with the crowds.
(Christopher Lopes’ ’63 Mercury Comet)
(Jim Gibbons’ ’54 Mercury Coupe)
(Rob Rizzo’s ’56 Mercury Monterey)
(John Lyman’s ’64 Lincoln Continental)
A pair of Ford Broncos from Steve Zalusky also caught our attention.
Additionally other 70’s Ford Trucks made quite a showing nearby like Nick Dankovich’s “Desperado” Ford F-100
And Terry Wilson’s ’78 Ford F-150
Along with a couple of other 70’s Ford Trucks
Nearby was this Ranger who was one of our Carlisle Elite pics from the 2022 Edition of the Carlisle Truck Nationals which is celebrating the Ford Ranger in August at the Carlisle Truck Nationals this year.
Trucks in general seemed to make a commanding presence. We actually seemed to make a comment in unison that it looked like a “little SEMA Show” in some parts of the building with some of the truck builds.
(Seth Feiock’s ’15 Ford F-150)
(Austin Helper’s ’16 Chevrolet 2500)
(Jason McCarthy’s ’15 GMC Sierra 2500)
(Johnathan Wischmann’s ’96 Ford F-250)
(Chris Cossell’s ’55 Ford F-100)
(A pair of Mopars representing the Malaise Era, which will be a featured display at the Carlisle Chrysler Nationals in July)
(Cynthia Kramer’s ’69 Dodge Super Bee in the Pittsburgh International Dragway display)
1966 Hemi Satellite of Janice Sutherland and Les Shank looked awesome and took home some hardware.
This ’68 Chevrolet C-10 owned by Heather Giambalvo was a real head turner. Not only did it look good, but we are sure with the SLP TVS Supercharger under the hood that it must be a blast to drive.
Opposite of Heather’s C-10 was this custom ’57 Chevy 210 from Bill Kniffen featuring an interior that may look familiar to many of our Corvette Enthusiasts
Other Tri-Fives did not disappoint at the show, one that caught our eye was this ’55 Bel Air which belongs to one of our Spring Carlisle vendors with a lot of custom touches throughout the build.
Nearby was also Andy Oskam’s ’71 Chevrolet Chevelle
And Gerry Kerna’s beautiful ’30 Ford Model A
There was also this super clean ’68 Chevrolet Camaro from Tim Kilkeary
Larry Boyd also had this very cleanly transformed ’68 Firebird next door.
Another F-Body of a different flavor showed up from Evan Rigas with his ’69 Camaro featuring that big turbo under the hood
And Kip Madeira also brought out his ’67 Chevrolet Camaro build:
Another race-prepared build from Mark Seyler also grabbed our attention with his ’70 Oldsmobile Cutlass
And Charlie Sorce’s ’59 Corvette we are sure is a blast to drive
Speaking of Corvettes, Gil Berry’s ’60 LS Swapped Vette was extremely clean.
Along with this Corvette build in the Max Motive booth
Featured just across from the Max Motive Corvette was a very well restored ‘87 Oldsmobile 442 owned by Chip Dufala and restored by Hahn Auto Restoration. The level of detail on this restoration matched the owners love for this car!
Another G-Body GM rested not too far away in the main lobby. This ’87 Buick Grand National from Dave King was a hit as you entered the show!
Also in the Lobby area was the High School Pedal Car Challenge, while they all caught our eye, one stood out in particular with its Ken Block Hooni-Pedal-Car livery from the students at Steel Center CTC in Jefferson Hills, PA.
It’s not uncommon to see turbo piping sticking out of the hood of a Honda…
…but this one by Jeff Lutz, Jr. has extra cylinders and powers the rear wheels!
(Super clean 1981 VW Scirocco owned by James Baird)
VW “Caddy” pickup of Jen & Chris Mance was the perfect blend of patina and detail.
Coming back in from the Lobby there was something large that really needed a second look. Check out this RV which really captured a lot of attention from show-goers. Can you believe it is actually Corvair based?
Thanks for checking out this week's All About Cars. Check out our Flickr gallery for higher resolution photos of each showcase vehicle. We hope you enjoyed learning about them and seeing them as much as we did. Be sure to check out CarlisleEvents.com to learn about our upcoming 2023 schedule and a special thanks to the World of Wheels organizers for their hospitality in January.
