The Bridge is one of the most unique and exclusive car shows in the United States. Every year, owners of rare, interesting, and discussion-worthy vehicles make a trip to the end of New York’s Long Island to showcase what they have. Members of the golf club, their guests, and a select few who have managed to snag an invite can then spend the day viewing the vehicles on offer.
So what’s at the show? As you can expect, there are a lot of Porsches, Ferraris, Bugattis, and Lamborghinis. Classic muscle cars, like the Oldsmobile 442 and the occasional Shelby Mustang, are also present. Then, there are classics from the likes of Britain, Germany, Italy, and France to gaze at.
You could pluck 10 random cars off the list, and each would be interesting in its own right. But after attending The Bridge a few weeks ago, I’ve done my best to choose the ten most standout and interesting vehicles on show that day.
The Porsche 911 Dakar
A good chunk of the vehicles on display were Porsches, and as you may expect, the vast majority of those were 911s. As exclusive as it is, it’s a car show at the end of the day. And car shows tend to have an abundance of what is arguably the most well-loved sports coupe in history. But if you can tear your eyes away from the gathering of Porsche 930s and make your way to the sand trap (which has been named the “Bridge Beach”), then you’ll see a couple of Porsche Dakars.
The Porsche Dakar is a bit of a weird one. It’s taking something totally inappropriate: a small European sports car designed for windy roads and modifying it to take on one of the harshest offroad races on the planet. That’s just what happened in 1986 when three modified Porsche 959s took on the Dakar Rally and won.
Those Dakars weren’t there, but a couple of the limited edition production models based on the 992 were. As was the Porsche ROCS Tatooine, a sand-crusted, Star Wars inspired anomaly assembled by ROCS Motorsports.
A Diablo they didn’t ruin
I’m always wary of “Restomods.” Half the time they take a beautiful classic, something that should have minimal, authentic, restoration work before being plopped in a museum, and totally ruin it. It becomes a shell covering an electric powertrain. Yes, the specs are impressive, but it’s like seeing a Terminator murder and then wear the skin of your childhood hero. It’s just wrong.
Thankfully, Eccentrica didn’t do that with its 1991 Lamborghini Diablo. Much of the original car has been preserved to keep the same feel and spirit the classic supercar had when new. This includes the 5.7-liter V12 engine purring away behind the driver’s head. So what has changed? A new transmission has been fitted, as has a new exhaust, an electronic throttle body, and new camshafts. The tweaking has upped the horsepower from 485-ish to 550, with the chassis and suspension being updated to match.
The interior has been uplifted too, with some plastic making way for premium materials like leather and the whole thing being modernized slightly while still keeping its original aesthetic. So it’s now more powerful than ever before, handles better than ever before, and rides better than ever before–while still feeling, and looking, like a Diablo.
Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing
One of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing’s close relatives, the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, is the most expensive car ever sold, having racked up a price of $142 million at a 2022 auction. The two 300SL Gullwings on display at The Bridge didn’t quite cost that, but still command a price well into seven figures. What’s more, you get a feeling of what standing close to a 300 SLR would be like, especially when you cast your eyes on that vintage interior.
There’s a fair argument that the 300SL Gullwing is the best looking sports car ever built. It was also pretty exceptional in terms of performance. 215-horsepower, an 8.5 second 0-60 time, and a top speed just north of 160 mph may not sound like a lot today, but back in the 1950s those specs would be terrifying. It’s not the most expensive vehicle at The Bridge, nor is it the rarest. But there’s a solid argument for the 300SL Gullwing being the coolest thing at the show.
The Shelby Cobra Le Mans Roadster
If you want to talk about unique pieces of automotive history, it’s hard to overlook the Shelby Cobra. It’s American racing and automotive legend Carroll Shelby’s take on the European roadster. There were a few on display, but one is a full-on automotive crown jewel in its own right.
The Shelby Cobra Le Mans Roadster is one of eight vehicles built to Shelby’s exact racing specifications with the goal of taking on Ferrari. One of the vehicles did just that, notching a win in the FIA World Sportscar championship. The first by an American driver in an American car. And it all took place in Bridgehampton, NY, of all places. The one on display was the last Le Mans Roadster produced, and it was originally sold to “privateer racer” George Constantine. Over the decades, it’s notched up plenty of wins in SCCA races, but its first win came early. It was pretty much shipped straight to the Bahamas in 1963, where it won the GT Governor’s Trophy Race.
For me, vehicles like this are what the bridge is all about. Newer vehicles can be brilliant; it’s always nice to see a record holder, but standing inches from an actual piece of automotive history in the place where it or one of its siblings made that history is a special experience.
Jaguar XJ220
The Jaguar XJ220 has a bit of a weird history. It looks great, and it’s exceptionally rare–with fewer than 300 examples being built during the vehicle’s two-year production run. It was also the fastest production vehicle in the world, briefly, before the legendary McLaren F1 hit the streets. During testing, it clocked speeds of up to 217 miles per hour, though the car’s catalytic converter was conveniently misplaced during that particular run.
Many lament what could have been had Jag stuck with the 6.2-liter V12 that sat under the hood of the concept vehicle, instead of opting for a V6 that was roughly half the size. But emissions regulations forced Jaguar’s hand, and sales suffered drastically as a result.
Still it’s a beautiful vehicle, with a unique history, and being within a few feet of one is a genuine privilege.
A Czinger 21C V’s skeleton
While it’s easy to fixate on the classics, something very modern was on display in for form of a Czinger 21C V Max. The hypercar is stunning to look at, goes from 0-60 in just 1.9 seconds, and has a strange central seating arrangement that places the passenger behind the driver. Sort of like a road-going bobsled.
Oddly enough, the most interesting thing about the Czinger was the thing parked next to it. A naked chassis, which allowed you to appreciate just how brilliant and weird this vehicle is. The company uses a unique 3D printing process to manufacture a good portion of its vehicles, and the chassis itself was designed with a lot of computer input. Basically, AI made it “evolve” from a regular chassis to what it is now.
Underneath it all, the vehicle looks pretty organic. It basically has hip bones. If you buried one in the desert, you would get some very confused archeologists digging it up in a few millennia and theorizing about some vast, metal-skeletoned, beasts roaming the landscape. I bet they’d never guess just how fast that beast was.
It’s a DB5, but not as we know it
The Aston Martin DB5 will forever be associated with James Bond, and every serious car collector with a bit of a spy fixation absolutely has to have one. They’re pretty rare, with the fact they were hand built, limiting production numbers and some inevitably meeting an untimely end. There are estimated to be fewer than 900 DB5s left worldwide, and a good number of them were at The Bridge.
But only one had most of the Bond toys attached to it, and it wasn’t quite what you would expect. The Little Car Company’s “No Time to Die Edition” DB5 is only 66% the size of the original and is fully electric. Despite its small size, you can fit a 6’4” tall human in there if you try hard enough. I’m not that quite tall, but I am a comfortable 6’, and I got in without any trouble.
Despite looking like a toy, it will do up to 45 mph, has dual wishbone suspension at the front, a live rear axle and trailing arm suspension at the back, and even has trunk space. Oh and yes you do get (non functional) machine guns behind the actually functional headlights, a changeable license plate, and the ability to create a smokescreen. No, you do not get an ejector seat.
A pretty special Dodge Challenger
Since the movie Vanishing Point wrapped filming in 1971, all five of the Challengers used in it have gone to the big scrapyard in the sky. Unlike the vehicles from Bullitt, none have since been found. But YouTube Channel Nick’s Garage has produced the next best thing, a fully restored tribute to the movie’s vehicles with a U-code chassis, original 440 engine, pistol-grip gear shifter, four barrel carbs, the list goes on.
You can see the restoration for yourself on Nick’s YouTube channel, and it was nice seeing the vehicle up close at The Bridge. The organizers even referenced its presence with a poster for the movie Vanishing Point attached to a billboard on the way in.
