Taylor James
palmettoreport@gmail.com

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — The White Home in Rock Hill welcomed more than 50 vintage cars that were showcased in their annual car show April 17, with cars dating back to 1910, both in restored and completely original conditions.

The Historic Rock Hill Car Show was open to the public and also featured a special showing of four Anderson Motor Company cars that were made in Rock Hill in the early 1900s.

“So historic Rock Hill’s classic car show will have cars dating, over 50 cars dating 1970 and older with special focus on the Anderson Motor Company’s cars. We’ll have I believe five on-site, so some of the rarest cars from the South, to this day, the South’s most successful carmaker,” said Lindsay Stuber, the program and preservation director for Historic Rock Hill.

The Queen City Model A Club partnered with Historic Rock Hill for the third time to sponsor the event and provided many of the cars showcased, while others came from single collectors from all over the South.

“This is a big group of people from all across the states and even into North Carolina, but it’s private owners, some members of the Model A Car Club, some members of the Queen City Car Club, Rock Hill car clubs and just people in general who enjoy historic cars,” said Stuber.

The car show was cancelled the previous two years, because of inclement weather and the COVID-19 pandemic, so Stuber said organizers hope the show will comeback as an annual event.

Jim Townsend, former president of the Queen City Model A Club, arranged the first event five years ago and continued the tradition this year.

“Being that the Queen City Model A is a co-sponsor, we’ll have 20 Model A’s in the show. Roughly half the cars, close to half the cars will be Model A’s,” said Townsend.

Townsend said other members of the club did choose the showcase another car, one of which was a 1960s model Comet convertible and another that is his own Model T.

Townsend owns a warehouse that was originally used by his grandfather to sell Dodge Plymouths, but he said Model A Fords are something special.

He now uses the warehouse to store his collection and to work on and restore his cars and those of other club members.

Historic Car Show 1
This Ford — owned by Jim Townsend, former president of the Queen City Model A Club — was one of more than 50 vintage cars on display at the Historic Rock Hill Car Show on April 17 (photo: Taylor James).

“It’s a club activity in some ways, it’s personal, it’s camaraderie. It’s a good hobby to have,” said Townsend.

Of the four Anderson’s that were on site, one is number 13 on the National Historic Vehicle Register and is completely original and in running condition.

Another car featured in the show, a 1920 Anderson Six Convertible Roadster, was sought by Paul Ianuario for years and was brought home to South Carolina all the way from California.

“I hunted that car 23 years before I found it. When I found it, it was in San Jose on the West Coast and this particular car had been, in 1920 when it was built here in Rock Hill, it was loaded on a flat car and shipped by train to Portland, Oregon,” said Ianuario.

“I think you’re a historian whether you like it or not and I’m happy that people, there were years and years that nobody wanted to admit that there was a car made in South Carolina,” said Ianuario, “But it’s good that people recognize it.”

Whether you were a vintage car owner or just appreciated the preservation of history, most visitors said the event celebrated the best of the car industry.

“What do I hope they gain, a perspective on what it was like to be in 1910, what you rode in, what you had to do to maintain your car and, for all of us that have these cars, it’s like driving history,” said Bill Mcleave, a vintage Cadillac owner.