Muscle cars wishing happy birthday

By J.D. FREDA

jfreda@liherald.com

The loud engine of a muscle car roared as it paraded down Maple Avenue in Seaford last Thursday. Then followed another and another, as neighbors began opening their doors to investigate the commotion before seeing a cavalcade of classic American muscle cars and hot rods.

The reason for the hot rod procession was apparent to onlookers as honks of car horns were directed at the DiBlasi family household and many cars held signs out of the window reading “Happy Birthday Paulie!” Paul DiBlasi, 41, motioned for his son Paulie, 11, to walk outside their front door. April 2 was Paulie’s 11th birthday. He walked outside to watch the convoy of cars pass through with a smile, not knowing that they were there for him.

“We didn’t tell him that it was happening,” Paul said. “We just told him to the come to the door and look.”

Paulie takes after his father with a keen interest in cars. His father said that when he saw all the cars, he was ecstatic. Then he took a closer look.

“He saw that people had signs saying ‘happy birthday,’” Paul said. “First, he saw my buddy Franco’s car and he asked ‘what is Franco doing here, dad?’ But he found out pretty quick.”

Franco Candela is a family friend of the DiBlasis. Candela was the first driver in the procession, driving an early 2000’s Ford Mustang Cobra. He also runs a Facebook group for muscle car and hot rod aficionados. In the week leading up to Paulie’s birthday, Candela started posting in other groups. He was asking for volunteers to help make a child’s birthday memorable for the right reasons.

“He put it out there on a few different group pages, like Strong Island Mustang Group and he managed to bring a bunch people down,” Paul said. “It was fantastic. It turned what could’ve been his worst birthday into maybe the most memorable and coolest one ever.”

Paulie looked on, with many neighbors from his block, as cars continued to file down the Seaford street.

“There were pickup trucks, Mustangs, Corvettes, newer muscle cars, vintage police cars with the alarms going off, there were so many cars, almost too many,” Paul said candidly.

Paul was touched at the response by not only his community, but from those that traveled to help his family celebrate. When the full group of cars arrived, Paulie was not the only one surprised at who showed up.

“Some of my own cousins, who I didn’t know were going to be involved, were there,” Paul said. “People traveled from Suffolk, Western Nassau, from the North Shore. It was great.”

He continued: “We couldn’t say enough about how grateful we are. The reaction of everybody, the reaction couldn’t be any better. Families were holding up signs and balloons. Perfect strangers, people we never met in our life were there.”

As the cars finally passed, the day’s impact did not leave the DiBlasis.

“We have already given back,” Paul said. “Another group started on Facebook to do this very thing. The next day, we participated in one.”

The DiBlasis saddled up in their 1967 Pontiac Firebird and joined another car procession.

“Paulie loved it. He even said he can’t wait to go to another one,” Paul said. “It was touching.”