Vintage cars take over Butler airport for Passport to Elegance
PENN TWP — Automotive enthusiasts in Western Pennsylvania were in heaven Thursday evening, July 20, when the Passport to Elegance Vintage Grand Prix event stopped by the Pittsburgh-Butler County Airport.
This marks the second year that the Passport to Elegance has visited Butler’s airport. Prior to the advent of COVID-19, Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin was host to the show. It very nearly joined the long line of events throughout the world to be killed off by the pandemic, as the airport sold off the hangar that hosted the first few shows.
That was until Scott Kerr convinced the organizers to bring the event to Butler.
“I took my first flying lesson here in the ’70s,” said Kerr, who is on the committee for the Grand Prix. “I said guys, why don't we come up and look at the Butler airport? They fell in love with the airport. They thought it was great.”
The event officially kicked off with a flyover from a rare Chance Vought F4U Corsair single-engine fighter plane, which saw service in World War II.
The two original hangars from the airport’s opening in 1929, now used mainly by the on-site flight school, were stacked wall-to-wall with vintage cars. Each vehicle was donated by a private collector and lovingly restored. This year, Ferrari was the “featured marque,” and got one of the two hangars all to itself, stacked with Ferrari vehicles and theming.
Not all of the vehicles on display were intended for passenger use, however. Among the cars on display outside the hangars was an IndyCar racing machine driven by Juan Pablo Montoya for Chip Ganassi Racing. Also featured was a touring car that won its class at the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Indy and Le Mans cars, among several others, were brought to Butler by Dan Panoz, representing the Georgia-based Panoz automotive company. According to Panoz, the cars rarely leave the company’s museum in Georgia and are brought out only for special events.
Part of the reason for Panoz to bring their cars to Butler was the fact that much of his family hails from the Pittsburgh area.
“My granddad was a Pittsburgh man,” said Panoz. “And my mom and dad … Morgantown, West Virginia. Very close by.”
Two other cars displayed outside the hangars — both MGs — will take part in an all-MG race through Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the MG marque.
“The city lets us use the park as a racetrack for one weekend a year,” said Ted Sawyer, a former sports car racer who served as the announcer for the event. “It’s a 2.3-mile course that we laid out using the park roads. So the people can watch from the grassy hillsides and the golf course.”
At least one of the cars on display would not leave the airport with its original owner. The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix auctioned off a brand-new Chevrolet Z06 Corvette.
Numerous smaller items were also up for auction throughout the event, including a die cast model of Charles Leclerc’s winning Ferrari Formula One car from the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
