Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance

Let me take you on a little journey. We're in Paris, 1682. It's a warm Sunday morning and Jardin du Luxemborg is clamoring with elites, dressed in the finest of Victorian clothing and parading about in their luxurious horse-drawn carriages. Few imagined this would mark the beginning of a now worldwide collection of gatherings, known generally as "Concours d'elegance." Translated to English this means "competition of elegance," and it has evolved from these parades of horse-drawn carriages into automobile-based competitions, where vehicles are judged and awarded based on many criteria.

Throughout the years, many prominent concourse competitions have emerged, many of which may sound familiar to you. Pebble Beach, Meadow Brook, and Amelia Island are some of the most famous venues. Being a "common folk", I had never experienced a concourse event before this one. I had only read about them of seen them on programs like Top Gear (remember, the episode with the Alfa Romeos?). So I had some prior knowledge and expectations, but not much to go off of.

You may have read my previous posts already, but if you haven't, I'll fill you in. Since I'm now living about 45 minutes from Savannah, I've been looking for some new car events to visit. Rather by accident, I came across the Hilton Head Motoring Festival, which is actually a combination of racing events being held in Savannah and car shows held on Hilton Head Island. Upon noticing this, I realized that this was my chance to attend my first ever Concours d'elegance. Boy was I excited.

As usual, I showed up at the venue right at the announced start time. However, unlike the Speed Classic practice I had attended a week earlier, this event was already in full swing when I arrived.

Upon entering, I spotted something familiar. Remember the Ferraris I saw at the Speed Classic? Well, here they were. Sure enough, this was the display put on by Foreign Cars Italia, an exotic car dealership in North Carolina. This time, it seems, they added even bigger guns to their collection: a Ferrari 458 and an Aston Martin DBS convertible, to be exact.

Venturing further through this sort of introductory area, I found a display of boats, with a Russian craft that was commanding my full attention.

Moving on, I spot my first rarity of the day: a BMW M1, which is joined by a Euro-spec BMW M3 of the E30 generation underneath BMW Motors' canopy.

This is one of my favorite shots of the day. Set aside from the rest, this Camaro was sure to announce how special it was, with its placard explaining that this car was found on the grounds of the Hilton Head Councours, then restored to its current state by the owner. Because of its unique story and beautiful restoration, this car has become known as the Honey Horn Camaro, named after the island the competition takes place on.

Also within the rotunda was an elaborate display put on by Porsche, with the centerpiece being two beautifully-restored classics. Both Carrera RS and the 356 that flanked it were gorgeously restored, but only one of them is my dream car. There's just something about that duckbill spoiler, Fuchs alloys, and those "Carrera" motifs along the side; not to mention the sounds produced by the air-cooled 2.7 liter flat six. Yes, Dr. Porsche, yes please.

Stepping through the treeline, through what looked like the back way in, I finally began to walk through the well-organized show area. The first thing I noticed, from hearing them, were the Shelby Cobras.

In the row across were the mini-cars. I'm certain that isn't the same term they used to categorize them, but nevertheless, these were probably the biggest attention-grabbers for the younger audience, for obvious reasons. It's hard to look at cars like the Crosby Farm O Road and not chuckle at it's awkward stance.

My favorite from this category, without a doubt, was the Fiat 500 Abarth. Love those scorpion graphics.

Moving on through, I reach what would become my favorite section of the entire show, the classic British sports cars. Some rare beasts flanked the corner cap, among them was a 1970 Marcos GT, a 1927 Aston Martin (which would later be a prize-winner), and a Shelby-powered Sunbeam Tiger (which would also receive a prize later in the day).

Further down the row, it seems that the category has changed, possibly to European sports cars. Regardless, the showing just kept getting more and more impressive, with one of the biggest stars being a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing.

In need of some Italian flare, I looked further down the line and was relieved to see that my wishes had been granted with a couple of cars I had never heard of. Look at the front of this Lancia Appia GTE at a slight angle and you'll immediately think Aston Martin, which makes sense, given the Appia GTE's aluminum body was designed by coachbuilder Zagato.

Even more compelling, however, was this Fiat Dino 2400 Spider. This car was basically used to fulfill Ferrari's requirements for running their V6 engine in Formula 2 cars. In order to continue using their V6, Ferrari needed to sell at least 500 road cars with the same engine. Worried they wouldn't see sales numbers with a Ferrari branded vehicle, they sought out a joint-venture with Fiat. Soon the Fiat Dino was born. Designed and built by Pininfarina, this car was first available with the 2.0 liter Dino V6. This example, however, is the 2400, which sees a bump from 160 to 180 horsepower, along with many other necessary improvements, like a new 5 speed transmission and fully independent rear suspension. Only 400 Fiat Dino 2400 Spiders were produced, so it certainly is surprising that I even came across this one.

Up to this point, I've pretty much exhausted the entire first half of the show area, so in part two, I move on to the second half, which contains quite a few early automobiles, along with European cars from 1950-onward.