By Tim Suddard
Nov 6, 2023
|
Concours,
Concours d'Elegance,
Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance,
Hilton Head,
Hilton Head Island Concours,
Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance & Motoring Festival
Photography by Tim Suddard
In addition to dry, sunny weather with temps in the mid-70s, the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance also saw an inordinate number of British cars.
Starting with a packed class of MGs celebrating the brand’s 100th birthday, the concours followed up with another class just for rare British cars. And two other classes for sporty cars also featured several British cars.
One that stood out thanks to its early Watkins Glen race history and aluminum coachwork: the class-winning MG TD Sport Speciale owned by Howard Banaszak of Amelia Island, Florida.
The show featured more than just English cars, though, as a Volkswagen Rometsch convertible stunned onlookers with its striking coachwork that hid the rather mundane underpinnings.
A special class for the 75th anniversary of Porsche also brought out some special cars, while a class celebrated 70 years of Corvette by showcasing C1, C2 and C3 models.
Hybrids (not the electric kind) were also popular this year. A 1952 Allard J2X owned by Stan Cryz of Brooks, Georgia, won the Best Road and Track award. A Nash Healey Pinin Farina roadster owned by Don Thorp of Indianapolis won the award for Best American Sports Car.
Speaking of Indiana, the concours had a class this year just for cars built in Indiana. Best of show this year, a 1935 Duesenberg SJ convertible, was also built in Indiana but is now owned by Chip Cofer of Tucker, Georgia.
When the Hilton Head Concours started, it was considered a nice little event with great examples of mostly common cars that you could see at other places, like your local cars and coffee. After 21 years, that is absolutely not the case anymore. The cars, the venue and the judging team now rival those of almost any other concours–and not only in the South but in the entire nation.
We’ll be back next year: November 1-3.
Great show!! and as a side note- the 1963 Ferrari California in your lead photo that won "Best in Class" for International Sports Cars did not have an operational horn....I guess if it's worth $20 million, it's not so important, I thought it was sort of basic.
Displaying 1-1 of 1 commentsView all comments on the CMS forums
You'll need to log in to post.
