2009 Event Articles
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2009 Desert Concours d'elegance: The next Pebble, but... better...
Written by Orange County Car Enthusiast - March 06, 2009
Over the years we have been to many a Concours d’elegance; more than a few have been very prestigious events. What has always attracted us, are the fantastic automobiles that are displayed in what are normally very attractive settings. Pebble Beach is an event that we have attended more than just a couple of times and one would have to argue a great setting- a golf course we have yet to play, but, an eighteenth fairway that we are very familiar with; more on Pebble later.
What we want to try to describe to you here is the simply fantastic event held just last weekend in Palm Springs; The Desert Concours. Masterminded (brilliantly we might add) by Paul Merrigan, his wife Holly and his amazing, though very tired, band of volunteers. Paul and Holly- listen carefully and you will hear the applause of many-strike that-thousands!
This years Desert Concours was but the second of hopefully many, many more to come. As impressive as the inaugural event was, this year was simply stunning. The cars and their “custodians” were absolutely top drawer. The collection of automotive history gathered in one place, at one time and at a venue that is-well; perfect, is something that those who attended will have very fond memories of for years to come. We most certainly will!
The list of significant cars is long, so long that we just don’t have room here to talk about them all. Some of the most memorable cars to us were (and not in any particular order) a fantastic Ghia bodied Chrysler, If Chrysler were to build anything like it today, they would not need financial assistance from the government; again. An amazing and perhaps the most important post war race car ever built; a 1947 Cisitalia D46. A Maserati “monoposto”….WOW! Another instant favorite was a very, very rare Delahaye….oh my goodness. To imagine driving this perfectly curvaceous roadster somewhere in the south of France- our mind wonder’s back to the real days of motoring; and is perhaps one of the reasons that a Concours event is second only to driving a race track; to us.
We could pontificate endlessly about the cars in attendance this year. Yes, truly great cars and though a Concours event is about the cars, it is also about those who are fortunate enough to care for them, the judges, all of those who make it happen and of course those who attend. This event has all of these wonderful attributes; all of them. That, is what makes this Concours a cut above the rest and in our opinion even better than Pebble Beach. Besides, tickets were not a gazillion dollars nor were elbow length gloves and a tiara mandated.
A Concours d’elegance is a wonderful event to attend. If you love cars and have not yet been to one, please do it soon, you’ll love it. You will put yourself in a fortunate position to see wonderful automobiles that one normally only sees or reads about in books or magazines; whoops, almost forgot about the internet….my bad.
A Concours should not however, be about politics and this one was not. This years “Best in Show” went to a little Alfa Romeo Zagoto bodied car. No, not a multi-million dollar Ferrari or Duesenberg, nor an overly restored Bugatti owned by some ultra rich and famous designer. The judging was to be determined on originality and design, not who had the spent the most money on a restoration or whose name is on the fortune 500 list. Alfa was the featured marque and the winning car, in the eyes of the judges, was the best designed and presented car of that marque- perfect!! The “win” was earned-not bought. BRAVO to the judges who selected this fantastic little car and BRAVO to its fortunate owners who lovingly and caringly brought it back to its current and wonderful condition. A little Alfa….who would have thought. Pebble could learn something……
O.C.C.E.
