Roswell Motoring Festival returns with 150 classic cars

Roswell Motoring Festival co-founder Philip Carroll expects a crowd favorite to be a 1924 Flathead Ford Roadster V8, which he sponsors. Courtesy Philip Carroll

Credit: Courtesy Philip Carroll

Credit: Courtesy Philip Carroll

Roswell Motoring Festival co-founder Philip Carroll expects a crowd favorite to be a 1924 Flathead Ford Roadster V8, which he sponsors. Courtesy Philip Carroll

Classic cars from Ferrari to Rolls Royce and Pierce Arrow will be on display Saturday outside Roswell City Hall, 38 Hill Street.

The Roswell Motoring Festival will showcase 150 cars traveling in from all over the South. The third annual event takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Dan Panoz, whose company has manufactured sports cars for more than 40 years, is honorary grand marshal of the event.

“Panoz cars have competed and won in racing series around the world,” said Philip Carroll, co-founder of the festival with his wife Pualani.

Car owners can register vehicles in the festival through Saturday morning. Pre-registration is $30 and $35 on the day of the event.

A parade of the showcase vehicles will kickoff the festival with a casual spin around downtown Roswell at 9:45 a.m. Leaving City Hall, the cars will travel on Ga. 9 to Woodstock Street, turn left on Canton Street and then proceed back to Hill Street.

Carroll expects a crowd favorite to be a 1924 Flathead Ford Roadster V8, which he sponsors. The automobile holds a record of reaching 186 mph, he said, and the goal is to reach 200 mph in a Bonneville Salt Flat car race in Utah next year.

“The race is like the Indianapolis 500,” Carroll said. “The car will be on display. We want people to come and see it take a picture with us and cheer us on for our record attempt in August 2023,”

Carroll said other automobiles to be featured in Saturday’s festival include a 1966 Ferrari P4; a fly yellow 1972 365 Daytona; and a 1912 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost.

Vehicles from the modern era, will include a 2022 Ferrari SF90 Stradale Fiorano. Carroll said the car, which is both gas and electric, is the fastest model of Ferrari ever built.