By Carl Goodwin
Photos by Chuck Hazle
The Annual Ray Boniface Picnic is more than a car show. It’s a way to make free breast cancer exams available to women in eastern Ohio who could not otherwise afford one. The Picnic raises money for and schedules two yearly programs providing free mammograms for women in the Warren and Youngstown area of Ohio.
Getting to be rare nowadays, an Alfa Zagato Jr. 1600 found it's way to the picnic.
Dr. Boniface holds this Italian car show on the grounds of his home in Poland, Ohio and each entrant or spectator pays $25 toward the program. Checks are made out directly to the St. Elizabeth Health Center, Breast Care Center Advisory Board. The daughter-in-law of Dr. Boniface, also a physician, is involved with the program too. All seven Boniface children help with the car show.
Lancia Appia Zagato graces the Boniface garage.
Ray Boniface is a cheerful man who likes interesting cars, and his friends do too. That’s why his Picnic is one of the best shows in the Northern Ohio area. You’ll see older Ferraris like the 330GT, Lusso and Daytona, and newer ones such as the 328, 456, 360, F50 and Mondial. There’ll be Lancias including the Aurelia, Flaminia, Appia and Fulvia. This year was a little short on Maseratis, with only a 3500 GT and a 2007 convertible. There was also one Lamborghini, a Diablo. Twelve Alfas made the show. And it was topped off by four Fiat 500s – two were circa 1966 and two were brand new 500s, like the ones that Fiat has begun to sell here.
The Boniface show is not judged. And there are no trophies. People just enjoy walking around, looking at the cars and talking about events of the past season.
As does this nicely kept Aurelia Convertible.
There are plenty of them in Cleveland and northern Ohio. There are nine road racing courses within a six hour drive: Mid-Ohio, Nelson Ledges, BeaveRun, Schenley Park, Watkins Glen, Waterford Hills, Gingerman, Grattan and Blackhawk Farms. There were a ton of European car dealers back in the fifties, assuring Clevelanders of a good supply of old sports cars. There was Stoddard Imported Cars (Alfa, Porsche), Jaguar Cleveland, Blaushield Chevrolet (a Siata dealer!), Car France, Lossman Motors, Lossman MG, Lossman VW, Sports Cars Limited (another Siata dealer!) and other forgotten dealerships.
Oustide, new Ferraris as well as older models gather on the lawn.
And, now, there are several good shows: the British Car Show (a spring event put on by the Austin Healey Club), the big car show in nearby Dublin, the Italian car show in Canton, the other British Car Show at Ursula College (put on by the Jaguar Club), The Shaker Square Show, put on by the merchants, the German Car Show (put on at the Donenschwaben German Cultural Center on the West Side, where you may lunch upon bratwurst, sauerkraut and German beer) and the Ray Boniface Picnic, which is usually one of the last events of the year. So there is a lot to talk about.
Summing up the picnic, “This year there were about 35 or 40 cars and about 75 people,” says Chuck Hazle, who brought his 330GT to the show. There was a very good attendance from the Ferrari and Alfa Romeo clubs.
A gathering of supercars next to the Boniface home.
In addition to the fun of just standing around and talking about cars, the lunch was good, too. “They had a mixed salad with oil and vinegar dressing,” says Hazle, “tubular pasta with cream sauce, portabello mushrooms, egg plant, and red bell peppers.”
As an owner of a Lancia Appia Zagato in 1968 – 1972 would be very interested if Dr Boniface would like to sell his excellent car.
@Lionel Wolpert – Ray Boniface is my dad. I can put you in touch with him if you’d like.