It is not inapt to think of automotive concours as beauty pageants. Concours d’Elegance, after all, translates from the French as “elegance contest.” And since beauty is in the eye of the beholder one can expect all sorts of beauty, provocative and subtle, beguiling and bewitching. Such was the experience at the thirteenth annual Greenwich Concours d’Elegance held this past weekend in Connecticut.
Greenwich, benefiting the disaster relief organization Americares, is actually two shows in one. Concours d’Elegance for American antique and classic cars occupies Saturday, with Concours International for foreign-born automobiles following on Sunday. The oldest car on Saturday’s field was a tiny 1901 Crestmobile, but it wasn’t the smallest. That honor went to an electric Auto Red Bug Racer. Steam was represented by two Model K Stanleys, while Dick King’s 1910 touring model showed that Rambler was not always a compact car. Notable cars included a 1931 DeSoto SA, 1934 Pierce-Arrow 840A coupe, Kaiser Darrins in lemon and lime, and a Derham-customized Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. The muscular entries topped out with Dodge’s winged 1969 Daytona. Buick built America’s last wood-bodied wagon, the 1953 Roadmaster, one of which was on hand, and the white 1959 and 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertibles gave no hint that they’re sisters under the skin. Sibling to the Mercs, and less subtle, was this 1956 pink Linc.
Grand Marshal Don Peterson commentated at the awards drive-by, joined by Chief Judge Edward Herrmann, here presenting Best Combination of Car and Costume. Saturday’s Best of Show went to the 1929 Duesenberg Model J Derham Phaeton owned by Timothy Durham.
Sunday’s show used to be Concours Europa, but this year’s title “International” acknowledges elegant cars from beyond the Continent, like this Datsun 280ZX. Its contemporaries included a Citroën SM, Saabs conventional and sporty, and volumetric Volvos, the 122 at left owned by Automobile magazine bureau chief Jamie Kitman. There were no Amphicars, but those of a nautical bent were attracted to this aquatic Isetta combination and aficionados of Eastern Europe could check out this Tatra 603. France was represented by sedate Hotchkiss and quirky Georges Irat, as well as Malcolm Pray’s Figoni et Falaschi Delahaye, hardly phony but certainly flashy. Statesman of the Mercedes-Benz entries was an “Adenauer” 300b convertible. Amidst a gaggle of Porsche 356s hid a Dannenhauer & Strauss cabriolet and a Beutler-Porsche (you can look them up). English sports cars abounded, including Morgans with three and four wheels, a Lotus Elite, the rarely-seen Elva Courier and a twin-cam MGA owned by sports car savant Jonathan Stein. Best Jaguar was a svelte XK120 fixed-head coupe, and an original tobacco-coloured Triumph Stag won its class. A real rarity was a four-door Bristol. Lest you think that all Ferraris are red, Greenwich also had them in yellow and mustard.
There were a few cars with multicultural genes, including a Dual Ghia, Cunningham C3 and John Fitch’s prototype Phoenix, driven by the master himself. Sunday Best of Show honors went to Joseph and Margie Cassini’s Tipo 8A Isotta-Fraschini, presented by Concours founders and co-chairs Bruce and Genia Wennerstrom (seen here flanking the Cassinis).
Bonhams (1793) have taken over the auction concession, Christies, purveyor of recent Greenwich sales, having exited the motor car business. Choice lots included a ’54 Plymouth with rare “wood weave” trim (sold at $64,350), a 1934 Aston Martin sport saloon ($155,500), 1949 Austin Atlantic ($55,575) and the star of the sale, a long-dormant Type 57 Bugatti ($364,500).
Attendance was abundant, especially considering the hot, hot weather, mitigated to some extent by availability of vintage ice cream. Finally, a thunderstorm broke the hot spell and ended the prize-giving, Grand Marshal Peterson not missing a beat until the last drive-by had driven past. Credit is due to all who made the show a success, including hard-working judges and the Three Musketeers, Kent, Dennis and Nick, who don’t complete their behind-the-scenes work until Sunday’s sun sets.
