I had a great year in 08 for judging and photographing some high end cars. I thought some of ya'all would like to see some of the shiny stuff. The first batch is from Amelia Island in Florida. Its the first major concours of the year, held at the Ritz Carlton on their golf course. There are over 300 cars with a spectacular, divergent crowd of cars.
I just realized that I may have posted a few of these images before, but here are some more. You'll see some of the cars of Parnelli Jones who was the Grand Marshall of the event. regards and happy new year! ken
Wow! Being a Ford geek and all, the PJ #15 Boss is really cool, but is that really Henry's 999?? Man, I'd love to know more about that car.
There is such a selection at Amelia. If you have the means or opportunity, you really should try to attend. I drove 10 hours from DC. I originally planned to sleep in my van (this was how I convinced the wife that I wouldn't spend any money) She reluctantly allowed me to leave the 3 kids in her lap as I left to hang out with the riff raff at the Ritz. As it turns out, I had shot a lovely E type some time ago while it was in the possession of a restoration shop. The pictures got back to the owner, he loved them. When he heard that I was coming to Amelia, He insisted that I stay at his place. It ended up being a 2 million dollar mansion on some island in Georgia. So instead of being in a van by the river, I ended up at his shack. Not bad! I'm not sure, I'll leave that to the knowledgeable folks here Yeah, those Bugattis are really special. I'll have a Bugatti story later in this thread. Meanwhile, here are some more from Amelia Island. I'm going to use this thread as a rehash of all the concours and cool cars I shot last year. cheers! ken
That was one of the cars you never knew about cl***. You expected a clown to pop out. It was the cutest little car that you can imagine. regards ken
Is this the car the AACA Museun sold a few years ago?Thanks for posting the photos. Sure would like to go to a concourse some day, just have no way of knowing how to blend in.
Don't let the name fool ya'! There is nothing that should keep you from attending one of these events. There's not one I've ever been to that you don't see all slices of life rolling thru. Just keep in mind that there usually is entrance fee that normally goes to the cost of the show and then the remains to a charity of choice. These events usually are fundraisers. I sat at the black tie event for the Louisville Concours and saw these folks raise close to 75 grand for an excellent charity focused on kids. There usually is pretty good food but you can always bring your own cooler and eats back at the car. What's also really cool about these events is that you get a chance to meet the owners of these cars. Some are collectors and are very approachable. Others have had the car for 40 years and know every single aspect of the history and technology. In the end, they are car guys. They wouldn't hang out if they weren't. There is some ego that plays with the big boys, but that is out of the public eye. The idea is to go attend one of these events to see stuff that you just don't normally get a chance to see. regards ken Meanwhile, here are a couple more...
Nice Pics Thanks. I used to look foward to a local one each yr. at the Crane Estate in Ipswich Ma.until the tree huggers killed it off. You see stuff that you did'nt know existed every time. Great stuff.
There was a special Bizzarini cl***. Nice group of guys. What's pretty cool is that the cl*** winner drove his car down from North Carolina. This first one was restored by a friend of mine. It probably took over 7 years to get this puppy done. Beautiful car, exquisite details. I love the gas filler tube thru the rear window! regards ken
What I wouldn't give to hop in one of those rigs and pull some serious donuts on the Golf green. I can imagine all the golf shirted, khaki shorted, no socks with boat shoe wearing *****s ****ting themselves...not that I have any idea if those types frequent the concours shows, but if its anything like the money crowd at the auctions... nice photos of some unique cars by the way...
Haven't spoken to the wife about my plan to abandon her again. I'll see how that goes... The concours was on Sunday. I wanted to get down on the field early to shoot without 10,000 folks. I was supposed to get a ride in a friend's Delehaye but I couldn't find him. Walking up the line I ran into a collector whose Jaguar D Type I judged at Radnor 2 years ago. He let me jump in his 66 427 Cobra with only 3000 miles on it. I squeezed in with my photo bag and his 2 collapsable seats and umbrella. It was tight. We were creeping along with the traffic and the temp gauge was *******. We finally got on the field and when he popped the hood the steam flew. That car wanted to go fast. regards ken
Thank you for posting the great photos of the many interesting cars. (A little OT) but I was surprised and glad to see the prototype 928. I was a designer on that development project many years ago. It was a pillarless 4 door. There was also a silver wagon version built too, but that one stayed in Stuttgart.
That is what makes this forum so uniquely cool. My understanding is that the 4 door Porsche was a gift to some corporate type. With over 300 cars to photograph and only 8 hours to accomplish it, I didn't get more then 2 pictures of that particular car. Here come the Trans Am cars. On Saturday is when the auction is run. You have to have a bidder's panel to enter the tent. The gentleman whose house I stayed at (the custom built 2 million dollar one) had a bidders p**** and I received an instruction from his wife to not let him use it. Since I wasn't registered, I couldn't get in to restrain his bidding. I was stuck on the outside looking in. It was kind of boring so I decided to look for my ride into the Sunday Concours, the 48 Delahaye. There were 2 loading areas, one for trailers and one for the Semis. I managed to hitch a ride to the first unloading area. I ran into one acquaintance with a very nice blue Allard. He was fixing an oil leak. Next to him was a very strange and unique Tatra. It was so cool looking into the trailers to see what treasures were to be unloaded. The Delahaye was shipped down on a Semi with other cars from the Northeast so I hitched another ride to the semi parking lot which happened to be right next to the ocean. Here is where the real big iron was being unloaded. I ran into friends from the Eastern shore with their 1911 Benz Mercedes 19 liter aero motored beach race car. A stunning vehicle of tremendous proportions. I found the delahaye in the back. It was gleaming in white tucked in the belly of a semi. He was surrounded by all the Trans Am cars. I was in heaven. The Trans Am cars all started up and created an impromptu loud parade to the concours grounds. All those marvelous v-8 open headered motors revving it up will bring tears to your eye. I followed the cars to the parade grounds and photographed them as they lined up. These guys all knew each other because they race hard against each other on the track. I spoke with one fellow. I think he was in the George Follmer Mustang. He hadn't drive the car since the previous year. He had forgotten just a little bit the sound, taste and feel of his car. He said it was like falling in love all over again. This will probably wrap up the Amelia Island concours. I'll go thru the archives and see what is next. regards ken
I was in the #67 Camaro above...when we all fired our cars up it was like an explosion, almost everyone on the field came running over to see what was going on. The women were covering thier ears and the men were giving us all thumbs up...it was pretty cool. Most people have never heard the rumble of an old TA race car, let alone 20 of them on a peaceful golf course. After Amelia we all went down to the 12 Hours of Sebring and raced before the Pro race, it was a great time in FLA!
It was the same reaction when your group left the field. What a glorious sound. Hearing that on a track has to be even better. The 67 Camaro was gorgeous. Do you know the fellow that was walking around with the parrot on his shoulder? I didn't get a chance to meet him but he looked cool. regards ken
It was FLA, was he a pirate? Sorry I missed him, I hope he was not around when we fired everything up, the bird might have ripped into him pretty good. Most of us are from the west coast and every summer we take a trip with our cars to race at a new venue, not sure where we'll be this year as of yet. We are all good friends on and off the track and we enjoy the cars as they were back in the day. I'm sure you have seen the website: www.historictransam.com Cheers...and great pictures!
went to the Vintage races at North Island a while ago, watching and hearing an entire grid of Trans Am cars launch is something every gear head should experience.
Wow, thanks for that link, and all the pics! I was a SCCA volunteer worker 67-70 and saw the great battles in the Trans-AM, Can-Am and the Formula 5000 series - THE greatest days of racing! cheers,
Ken, Thanks for the many pics. Always nice to see new and interesting stuff, especially some of the earlier pics in the post, like the Martin Stationette and the Alfa 256 (which incidently has many similarities to the Pebble winner). The Delahaye shipped down from this neck of the woods is out of the Pray collection, and man does he get those cars around. He does have a bunch of interesting things though. Not all big money cars, and one of the nicest WWII era Jeeps around. Alot of those Trans-Am guys raced at the Monterey Historics this year. As Fur Buscuit said above the sound of a grid of those cars is pretty awesome. The Number 5 Ford was a particular favorite, though it never made p***ed mid-field. It was a bit funny to see an old BMW 2002 or Alfa GTV dukeing it out with these monster machines, but it was fun to root for the underdogs. Maybe we can hook up at one of the many events this year. Best, MRAK
Actually, he was one of the drivers. I'll try to dig up the photo. It does seem like a really tight, fun group of guys. You would have to be friends to be willing to risk your very expensive, historic trans am vehicle. That is what makes those cars and that group of people so utterly cool. They drive the piss out of those cars Cool, I judged one of Malcolm's cars at Radnor this past year. He had a very nice 22 rolls royce. I also interviewed him for the Discovery Channel. I'm working on a car show pilot and I did test interviews with Malcolm, Jim Grundy and a couple of other notable collector guys. I'm going to keep this thread going. I've only posted a small percentage of my photos from last year. We'll discuss what shows I'll be judging at and attending later on. So far I'm scheduled to judge at the Eastern Concours in Bethelhem, the Radnor Hunt Concours and the Louisville Concours. regards ken
Ken - I saw that guy with the Allard (the one from Europe with the Flathead in it) out at Pebble. It is a truly outstanding car. I wish I had know that you would be at the Radnor Hunt, I was there this year too. This was my personal favorite from there. I personally think that the Hunt is a bit underrated, the only real downside to that show is the weird drive to get to the place!
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