Huntington Beachcruisers car show roars back to life
Classic car enthusiasts flocked to Main Street and Pier Plaza in Huntington Beach on Saturday for the return of the Huntington Beachcruisers car show.
The 20th annual automobile show came back after two consecutive years of cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s hard to put into words,” Chris Young, an organizer for the event, said of the long-awaited return. “It was a long two years. That event, which was the 20th anniversary event, was canceled one week prior to the actual show date in 2020. We were canceled on Friday the 13th, and the event was the following Saturday, the 21st, so to be that close, it was kind of tough to have to call everybody and say, ‘Hey guys, we can’t do it.’ It was really good to be back, after it was almost two years to the day.”
Huntington Beach is known as Surf City, of course, and the sight of so many classic cars in one place may have transported some of those in attendance back to simpler times of channel surfing on their radio dial while driving down the Southern California coastline.
Attendees had ample time to get their fill of nostalgia, take a look under the hood and capture pictures of their favorite cars, as the show opened to the public at 8 a.m. and went on until 2:30 p.m.
Young said the Huntington Beachcruisers show was initially developed by the late Tom Long, of Fallbrook, with the idea of allowing beach-related vehicles that were non-woodies to be showcased. About 135 cars participated in the show this year, their manufacture dates ranging from the years 1921 to 1998, Young added.
“Back in 2000, he decided to do what’s called Beachcruisers, which was any vehicle — and at that point it was up to 1972,” Young said of Long’s vision. “I moved it to 1980, only to help [some] more cars come in, but originally, it was 1972, any cars that would have cruised Huntington Beach in that era.
“That was the whole idea of the show was to allow non-woodies that were still beach-cruising vehicles to participate in a show.”
Young added that Long had always hoped the show would last for 20 years. Now that the benchmark has been reached, he was asked if there are plans to continue the event.
“I’m going to make a good shot at it,” Young said. “We’re going to have to sit down and look to see what the costs are involved, what we need. I know the city wants it back. I got a lot of people who are saying, ‘Hey, this show kind of kicks off the spring for me,’ and things like that, so I’m going to try my best to bring it back next year. It just depends on logistics right now.”
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
