The 2015 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix & the Pitt Birds Thunderbird Club

One of the best local events each summer is the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (PVGP) held at Schenley Park July 18 & 19th. The PVGP started in 1983, and I have been at each one since 1988. I am a huge automobile fan, and this year I helped sponsor the weekend tailgate party for the club. The club celebrated the Thunderbird’s 60th year and had a beautiful display of cars.

The Pitt Birds Thunderbird Club is a Chapter Club of the Classic Thunderbird Club International and the International Thunderbird Club. There have been two generations of the Pitt Birds Thunderbird Club. Three guys, Perry Anthony, Tim Kirby, and John Vierthaler got together and came up with the idea of starting a Thunderbird Club. The club was officially organized in March of 1970 and became inactive in the 1980’s. The second generation of the Pitt Birds started in July 1997, and remains a very active club. The first meeting of the second generation club was initiated by Elmer Andrejcak and Nick Ballas.

For the past 18 years, the Pitt Birds have chosen the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix event as the venue to have its annual picnic. This is the club’s best attended event. They usually have between sixty and eighty members in attendance and display thirty to forty Thunderbirds.

I got involved through Peter Sarkis, the club’s Vice President by way of a mutual friend. It was fun helping them out and getting to meet some of their club members. They have a good group of car fans and enjoy talking about their pride and joy. It was great to see all the different years the Thunderbird represented. The weather was great, and I got some cool photos of the cars. Peter told me about his 2005 James Bond 007 Limited Edition Thunderbird and we got a picture together with it. I am sure I will see the guys there next summer.