For car enthusiasts, it is a sign of spring after a long winter’s nap: the concours d’elegance. But this year’s season will be abbreviated as the nation copes with the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
The season starts in Florida in March with the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, hits a crescendo with California’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and wraps up with the South Carolina’s sublime Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance in November. A modern interpretation of 19th century French contests, where wealthy carriage owners would compete to see who had the best carriage, the name concours d’elegance is a French term meaning “a competition of elegance.” These shows display the rarest cars ever produced, with owners participating by invitation only.
Although the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, arguably the nation’s best concours, was held during the first weekend in March, other top shows, such as the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance held in June, and the Greenbriar Concours d’Elegance held in May, have been scrubbed. Others, such as the La Jolla Concours, have been rescheduled for September, while shows held later in the year are expecting to continue as scheduled.
But the new reality of social distancing has hit just as the season was getting underway, something that hadn’t escaped the notice of Andy Reid, a classic car insurance agent and concours judge.
“I was supposedly cleaning my office on the Sunday before last when I realized that I had all of these diecast cars,” said Reid from his home near Hartford, Conn. “Then I was thinking, Why do I have all these? They’re stupid, they cost a lot, nobody would buy them all. What can you do with them?”
That’s when inspiration hit.
“Then I thought, Wait, all of my concours guys who are showing cars are bored. All of my concours judges, of which I’m one, are bored because there are no events. What if we could create an online concours of diecast cars, judged by real concours judges from Pebble Beach, Amelia Island and Hilton Head?”
Thus inspired, Reid created a Facebook page for the new show, and with help from Amelia Island Concours founder and chairman Bill Warner, it got a name: The Isolation Island Concours d’Elegance.
Next, he enlisted some of the top judges from the Concours world, including Fiat Chrysler’s head of design Ralph Gilles, automotive photographer Michael Furman, Sports Car Market publisher Keith Martin, hot rod expert and author Ken Gross, and master restorer Paul Russell. Reid even enlisted two-time IMSA GTU champion and four-time SCCA Trans Am Series champion Tommy Kendall to judge race cars.
The rules are simple. Entrants need to submit photos of their car along with a description on the show’s Facebook page. And given that some diecasts can cost thousands of dollars, Reid stipulates that the cars can cost no more than $350. Finally, since all concours raise money for charity, entrants must donate at least $5 to a local community food bank or first responder charity. The show is about to start its second round of judging, which will run through April 17. Look for another round after that.
“It’s fun,” said Warner, whose own concours celebrated its 25th year in March. “And why not? They’ve got virtual NASCAR, they’ve got virtual CART racing. These are all unchartered waters. We’re all sitting here trying to entertain ourselves to bide time until things turn around.”
Of the show’s 11 classes, “Misfit Toys” is the most unusual, inspired by Reid’s own purchase of a Renault Fuego for $10 and judged by Concours d’Lemons founder Alan Galbraith.
“Why did anybody ever make a diecast Renault Fuego and who did they try to sell those to,” Reid wonders. Yet this is proving to be the show’s most popular class, and one that’s filling up quickly with cars you’d never thought had been in made into diecasts, like a 1973 Chevrolet Bel Air, a 1961 Dodge Phoenix and a Rover Sterling. “Who the heck bought that diecast? And it was built in period.”
Even if you don’t participate, scrolling through the classes reveals some clever entries, such as the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato diecast subtly photographed on the hood of an actual Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato.
“And for some of the racing cars, we’ve got guys that were crew on those racing cars in period. It’s really, really neat. The stories are as much as interesting in many ways as the cars themselves,” Reid said.
While a virtual concours will never replace the real thing, it is an amusing way to get your fill of classic sheet metal, albeit on a smaller scale.
“After all,” said Warner, “there are only so many reruns of the Brady family you can watch on TV.”
———
ABOUT THE WRITER
Larry Printz is an automotive journalist based in South Florida. Readers may send him email at TheDrivingPrintz@gmail.com.
———
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.