Model car show, contest coming to Freeport Recreation Center
Ernie Finamore shows off one of the many slot cars in his collection, a model of a 1965 Ford Galaxie, with an AMT model car body converted for slot-car racing with an original 1960s Cox driver figure. Credit: Marisol Diaz
Start your engines . . . or at least, start building them.
The Long Island Auto Replica Society, catering to a small but passionate crowd of hobbyists who enjoy building model cars to scale, hosts its annual model car challenge at the Freeport Recreation Center this weekend.
The event — one of New York’s largest model show contests and swap meets — has attracted spectators and participants from across the country since 1991. The types of models span decades of car design, mirroring a crowd of hobbyists that ranges in age from 20-somethings to retirees. The makes and models of the cars at the daylong event include NASCAR-style stock cars and Indy 500 speedsters.
Ernie Finamore, 62, of Massapequa Park, is a builder, racer and collector of model cars whose work will appear in Saturday’s show.
“We typically get 250 models on display — cars, trucks and motorcycles,” says Finamore, who has been involved with the event as a club member and vendor for close to 20 years.
Finamore, a retired commercial truck driver, began constructing the tiny, ornate vehicles more than 50 years ago, building model airplanes while his father was in the Navy.
ABOUT THE HOBBY
Enthusiasts say model car building is an accessible hobby, and part of the allure is the relatively low cost of building supplies. A basic kit costs about $10.
“Your level of expertise increases as your experience increases,” Finamore says. “The more you build, the better you get at it.”
Finamore built his first model car at age 10.
Many of the tools necessary to build a simple model are household items — rubber bands, toothpicks, tweezers, white glue, masking tape and scissors.
Expert-level model car builders not only build but paint and personalize their cars.
BUILD OR BUY
But not everyone at Saturday’s car show is planning to show off their original work.
Bob Beers, 64, will be selling vintage car kits from the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. “I became interested through the collecting end of it,” says Beers, who grew up in West Islip.
Beers, now a Connecticut resident, travels to model car shows in the tri-state area and says his interest was piqued by the rarity of some of the cars.
ATTRACTING A YOUNGER AUDIENCE
While model car building is a relatively accessible hobby, both Beers and Finamore say the show has struggled to attract a younger crowd, something they blame partially on the patience required to construct a model.
“Kids do like model cars in reality,” Beers says. “But they’re distracted by technology.”
To help draw in younger spectators Saturday, the model car challenge will feature a “make and take” table where children can put together a model car at no cost. These kits will be of the most basic variety and will not require glues or paints.
Other models will be up for awards in a variety of categories.
“That’s part of the thing with the hobby is that you can make all different types — a drag-race car, a street hot rod or a showroom stock car — and that’s what lures people as far as customizing the models,” Finamore says. “You are making it the way you want.”
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