Concours d'Elegance of America......

[bluefury361]

Sorry it has taken me so long to post up about our experience at the concours. It has been a whirlwind month for us. After eight days on the road for the Carlisle trip I had a week to prep for the Michigan trip and the Concours.
We left last Wednesday morning and arrived at my brothers place on Thurs afternoon, 800 miles. We had nice weather all through the Tennessee and Kentucky back roads but a couple of wet roads made a mess of Jazebelle, (again).
She was all cleaned up again by friday and we went on a 35 mile back road tour with 25/30 other exibitors that included a visit to the Roush racing auto museum and a lunch at a restored garage/resturant. that afternoon we also went to a local cruise in for ice cream.

US24 is a major N & S route through the western Detroit subs, known as Telegraph road. It was a hot bed of car culture back in the day and the "Telegraph cruise in" is now an annual event. It was this past weekend.
We piled into my brothers 1961 Chevy Biscayne faux Detroit police car and headed over there. 10 miles North and then 10 miles back south it was wide open ...... 1000's of cars and people partying in the parking lots all along the way. 6 lanes divided full of cruising vehicles. what a blast.

A final clean up, saturday, of Jezabelle after it rained overnight and we headed to the site of the Concours. I was able to place her on the golf course Saturday and so avoided the "crack of dawn" arrival on Sunday, (show day).
We ran into Matt ...... He was just leaving after attending some siminars and we were on our way to the Virgil exner siminar, (very interesting).

Saturday night back to cruising Telegraph with my brother, his wife and Ellie. He had bought a dozen "Dunkin Donuts" and we were waving them out the window of his cop car, People loved it and we laughed our butts off.

Sunday ....... show day .........
I have had past experences with the level of vehicles displayed at a concours ...... generally the best of the best are invited. So I had no illusions of winning an award. The invitation was award enough. Of the 12 cars in our group at least half were restored beyond original ....... just beautiful ...! And showed no signs of ever being driven. As nice as Jazebelle is she was pretty much a "used" car, as were a couple of others in the group. All were beautiful examples of the type ofcar they represented.
Top award in out group went to a 64 Mercury and two red ribbons to a 64 Galaxie XL500 with 427 & 4 speed, and a 63 Pontiac bonneville in triple black. And they deserved the awards.

I'll let the pictures talk from here.

 

[bluefury361]

Also ........................

 

[bluefury361]

Some more ............

 

[bluefury361]

Some non mopars............. But ya can't help but like them.

 

[bluefury361]

And ......................

 

[bluefury361]

Almost done ..................

 

[CanCritter]

nice cars,,,those bugattis seem to be popin up everywhere these days

 

[bluefury361]

Some casual shots.........

Thats my brother, Gary sitting with Ellie ........ And thats Mike standing with me ...... NO ..... I'm not that short, Mikes a tall drink of water.

 

[bluefury361]

And the best of show award went to two vehicles....................

 

[amazinblue82]

And the best of show award went to two vehicles....................

well executed vehicles im sure and hats off to their owners. anybody help me with what these vehicles are?

while i respect/like them for what they are, i have a little trouble "connecting" with them tho since I wasnt born/didnt grow up seeing them. havent yet owned a car older than I am for that reason perhaps.

 

[1978 NYB]

I would of gave Jezebel Best of Show!

 

[1978 NYB]

Will....

Anything interesting from the Virgil Exner seminar that you can share with us?

 

[Big_John]

That yellow Cord 812 is the one Tom Mix was killed in.

 

[1978 NYB]

That yellow Cord 812 is the one Tom Mix was killed in.

On October 12, 1940, after visiting Pima County Sheriff Ed Nichols in Tucson, Arizona,[SUP][4][/SUP] Mix headed north toward Phoenix on U.S. Highway 80 (now Arizona State Route 79), driving his 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton. He stopped at the Oracle Junction Inn, a popular gambling and drinking establishment, to call his agent, and then continued toward Phoenix. About eighteen miles south of Florence, Arizona, Mix came upon construction barriers at a bridge washed away by a flash flood. He was unable to stop in time. The car swerved twice and then rolled into a gully, pinning his body underneath.[SUP][4][/SUP] He had placed a large aluminum suitcase containing a substantial sum of money, traveler's checks, and jewels on the package shelf behind him. It flew forward and struck Mix's head, shattering his skull and breaking his neck. The actor was killed almost instantly. Eyewitnesses said Mix had been traveling at 80 mph.[SUP][4][/SUP] He was 60 years old.

 

[Zymurgy]

well executed vehicles im sure and hats off to their owners. anybody help me with what these vehicles are?

while i respect/like them for what they are, i have a little trouble "connecting" with them tho since I wasnt born/didnt grow up seeing them. havent yet owned a car older than I am for that reason perhaps.

Yes the first pictured is a 1932 Duesenberg Model J and the second was a 1939 Bugatti T57C Cabriolet. Both absolutely stunning cars.

Here is the official press release photo.

 

[bluefury361]

Will....

Anything interesting from the Virgil Exner seminar that you can share with us?

It was a 2 hour seminar Bob, giving by a panel of seven retired automobile stylist's, including Virgil Exner jr.
They primarilly covered the post WWII auto style progression, touching on demographics of the era. They featured Virgil Exners designs but covered the ideas and designs of several other noted designers of the era. Slides were used to illustrate the drawings, concepts, and idea cars.

I got there after the seminar had started, and left before it was over. Although very interesting, having grown up in Detroit and working with automotive advance product, One thing I learned is that automotive dsigners and stylists favorite subject to talk about is themselves. The subject at hand always seemed to diegress into "What I did". LOL. At times the speaker would be interupted by another panel member who wanted to have a turn talking about himself.
It was interesting and the slides were great. But I didn't learn anything I coudn't find in my own library.

Gary ....... Some of those designers really believed that "vertical stabilizers" worked.

 

[1978 NYB]

It was a 2 hour seminar Bob, giving by a panel of seven retired automobile stylist's, including Virgil Exner jr.
They primarilly covered the post WWII auto style progression, touching on demographics of the era. They featured Virgil Exners designs but covered the ideas and designs of several other noted designers of the era. Slides were used to illustrate the drawings, concepts, and idea cars.

I got there after the seminar had started, and left before it was over. Although very interesting, having grown up in Detroit and working with automotive advance product, One thing I learned is that automotive dsigners and stylists favorite subject to talk about is themselves. The subject at hand always seemed to diegress into "What I did". LOL. At times the speaker would be interupted by another panel member who wanted to have a turn talking about himself.
It was interesting and the slides were great. But I didn't learn anything I coudn't find in my own library.

Gary ....... Some of those designers really believed that "vertical stabilizers" worked.

Thanks for sharing Will!

 

[bluefury361]

I would of gave Jezebel Best of Show!

Thanks Bob.
Most anything that takes an award at these concours events likely was not driving to the event...... They have progressed to "art" status. Beautiful to look at.

 

[commando1]

Thanks for all your time and effort posting these pics

Posted via Topify on Android

 

[detmatt]

Art objects on wheels! Thanks Will!