BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Lehigh Valley Auto Show — featuring new, old, and exotic cars — revved up for the first day of its 2024 event.
The auto show is being held at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena and runs through Sunday.
Sarah Dams, the show's marketing and advertising director, said it's not just a place for car experts — but those with any level of interest in the automotive industry.
"I mean, we get car aficionados here. But no, you can just be a person who drives or a person who rides in a car. If you want to come and sit in the car, they all have the new car smell. So if you're looking for that, go and check it out. It's a great event. It's fun. It's a good opportunity to get the community out and just have a fun time," Dams said.
All of the cars — except for a handful of the most expensive ones — can be opened up and sat in, by anyone attending the show. The only limitation is that they don't have keys inside.
"It's a lot of fun," Dams said. "You get to go and sit in cars. Every car is open — well, almost every car. There are some Lamborghinis that they have stanchions around, but you can't sit in it. You can imagine yourself in it."
Beyond cars — there are home contractors, car-related businesses, and even beer tasting.
"It's a lot of fun. You get to go and sit in cars. Every car is open — well, almost every car. There are some Lamborghinis that they have stanchions around, but you can sit in it you can see like how it feels you can imagine yourself in it."Sarah Dams, Marketing and Advertising Director with the Lehigh Valley Auto Show
"There are also some other events going on like tonight there's a person perfumes raffle going on tomorrow night, Friday night flights. So you can do some tastings of different libations from the area. And yeah, it's just a good time, it's laid back you can walk around and see some beautiful cars," Dams said.
Class project takes center stage
One of the booths at the auto show that visibly drew a crowd Thursday was one with two students standing behind a 1970 Fiat 124 Spider. But the classic car had one fundamental difference: instead of gas, it ran on electricity — thanks to the handy work of the two students.
Those students, Braiden Binder, 17, and Spencer Parker, 16, are studying auto tech at Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School.
A crowd gathered around the two students and their car. At times, they were getting more traffic than the Ferraris and Lamborghinis directly across the room.
"So many people have been asking questions and stuff just in the hour or so, we've had a ton of questions and people coming up saying that it's really cool, the coolest thing they've seen all day and stuff like that," Binder said.
The process of converting a classic, gasoline-fueled car to a fully working electric vehicle is not a simple one.
"We had purchased an electric conversion kit, and we retrofitted and fabricated a bunch of mounting brackets and stuff like that, but we pretty much just purchased the kit and put it in there, and that's pretty much it," Binder said.
The two students said even though they had a kit with most of the parts they technically needed, getting them to work properly was easier said than done — and they had little guidance.
"We got the kit but there was no instruction book or anything," Binder said with a laugh. "So you kind of had to pick where things might be likely to go, or where they might fit best."
The teens also say it wasn't an immediate success. Everything was all set, and in theory, should have been fine — but it wasn't.
"When we went to start it, it didn't work," Parker said. "So we spent a good bit of time trying to figure everything out."
After a minor wiring issue was solved, it started like a charm.
The Lehigh Valley Auto Show continues through the weekend. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are available on Lehigh University's ticketing website.
