Philadelphia Auto Show’s Black Tie Tailgate Returns

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Tables are set, balloons are set up and pallets of adult beverages are loaded onto the main floor of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

For the first time in three years, the car show’s Black Tie Tailgate is finally back!

“When it was taken away, we all realized how much synergy there was between the black tie and the auto show,” Mike Gempp said.

Gempp is the auto show director and says they are expecting 3,500 people at tonight’s gala benefiting the Nursing Department of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“You’re dressed up, you’re having fun with a great band playing at the end of the night, and I think it’s just this whole experience with a moving 600,000 square foot party that people just love and experience,” Gempp said.

Everything you love about the auto show is back: the classics, luxury, exotics and Hollywood favourites. The E-Track is back and bigger than before with 9 electric vehicles to test drive. The Widderbahn is new this year.

“Ram Track is a 30,000 square foot experience that we actually brought in with soil and mulch and built mounds and built articulation ramps and they work there for days to get these things just right to really show and present you with what these pile drivers can,” Gempp said.

Our driver Jason Bibb took us on an off-road adventure. After that incredibly bumpy ride, it was time for the drop.

Although the route is bumpy and dirty, we can assure you that your tuxedo and dress will come out unscathed.