Joe Biden’s slow, stiff walk across a show field in Newport, R.I., has reignited concern about the former president’s health less than two years after he left the White House. Biden, 83, who is living with stage 4 cancer, turned up unannounced at the Audrain Newport Concours d’Elegance & Motor Week at Fort Adams State Park on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, a rare public outing that drew a crowd and a wave of commentary.
Footage circulated online showed Biden lifting a hand to onlookers, then moving stiffly and at a cautious pace toward a waiting blacked-out SUV, his Secret Service detail at either side. When local reporters called out for him to say a few words, he raised a hand in a wave and answered only with repeated thanks. He lingered beside the vehicle, turned back to hold up a jacket embroidered with his name, and lowered himself slowly inside as an agent held the door.
Before stepping in, Biden turned toward former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, the event’s chairman, and muttered, “I don’t want to go.”
A Surprise Arrival at Fort Adams
The rumor had been building all morning. A 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray in Goodwood Green sat by itself near the entrance, and word spread across the grounds about who owned it. By midday a crowd had gathered outside a cordoned-off area around the two-seater, where agents kept spectators at a distance.
Leno, who hosts the classic car series “Jay Leno’s Garage” and has been associated with the Audrain Automobile Museum in downtown Newport for a number of years, had invited Biden to bring the car and show it off. At a welcoming ceremony, Biden was handed a lifetime museum membership numbered No. 46 — a nod to his being the 46th president — along with a quilted jacket embroidered with his name by Myron Wood of Warwick. His Corvette took home the Spirit of Audrain Award. The crowd applauded politely as the ceremony ended.
Biden brought his grandson Robert Hunter Biden II, son of the late Beau Biden and his wife, Hallie, and spent part of the afternoon smiling behind the wheel, shaking hands and greeting well-wishers.
The Corvette From Wilmington
Few objects in Biden’s life carry more sentiment. The convertible was a wedding gift from his father, Joe Biden Sr., who managed a major Chevrolet dealership in Delaware, when Biden married his first wife, Neilia Biden, in 1966. It came with a 327-cubic-inch V8, a four-speed manual transmission and an original sticker price of $5,700. He has owned it for nearly six decades, and the odometer now reads more than 200,000 miles. Biden has said he once pushed it to 132 mph, and his sons Beau and Hunter had the engine rebuilt for him as a Christmas gift.
The car and its owner already had a place in Leno’s orbit. Biden appeared on “Jay Leno’s Garage” with the Corvette in October 2016, when he was vice president, telling Leno he had driven it only three times since becoming vice president in 2009 before lighting up the rear tires in a burnout. That episode has drawn more than 4.6 million views on YouTube. Automotive photographer Larry Chen, who met Biden at the concours, wrote on Instagram that he told the former president he is the only one to have held the office who knows how to do a burnout.
Concerns Over Biden’s Health
Biden’s appearance comes as he continues treatment for stage 4 cancer. In August, his son Hunter Biden said the disease had advanced, describing it as painful and debilitating. “The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further,” Hunter Biden said, adding that he wished his father would complain more about his condition.
His last major public appearance before Newport came at the 25th anniversary commemoration of the 9/11 attacks in New York City, where he joined every other living former president and looked frail and at moments pained beside his wife, Jill Biden, at Ground Zero. Critics on X pounced on the Rhode Island video, insisting his mental decline was obvious, with one jeering at the embroidered jacket. Others struck a gentler note, pointing out that he is fighting cancer.
Biden himself gave no sign of unease about the day. In a message posted to Instagram on the afternoon of Oct. 4, he wrote that he enjoyed spending the day in Newport with his grandson Hunter, his friend Jay and some incredible vehicles, said the green 1967 Corvette from Wilmington was looking especially nice, and thanked Nick Schorsch and his team for hosting the event. The concours organizers, in a Facebook post, called it an honor to welcome him and said it was clear he is a true car enthusiast at heart.