GARDEN PARTY
A WINNING AND LUXURIOUS SUPERCAR SHOW FORMULA
This weekend marks the eighth annual Luxury & Supercar Weekend, the unofficial end of another great car show season in Metro Vancouver. But what a way to go out.
This year’s two-day show at VanDusen Botanical Garden hosts the Canadian premiere of not one, not two, but three amazing vehicles: the $4.5-million 2017 Pagani Huayra roadster, the $750,000 2018 RollsRoyce Phantom and the $200,000 Karma Revero.
That alone is testament to the ongoing efforts of show mastermind Craig Stowe to position the event as a premiere event on the North American luxury show circuit. That said, the high-end automakers of these ridiculously overthe-top vehicles fully understand the appeal of the ‘garden party’ environment, finding it a much more fitting setting to prance out their thoroughbreds than a run-of-the-mill auto show in a convention centre in the middle of the winter.
Other showcase marques include Lamborghini, McLaren, Bugatti, Ferrari, Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW, Bentley, Aston Martin, Cadillac and Lincoln.
But it’s not all glistening new models, as over the years the lawns of VanDusen have seen no short supply of classic, concours-quality vehicles rubbing fenders with the supercars. And this year’s lineup for the Canadian Concours d’Elegance could be the most impressive yet, featuring a varied, even eccentric, host of classes. These include: Austin Healey (1953-67); Cadillac hardtops and convertible (1950-58); Datsun Z cars; Porsche (pre-1997); and Volkswagen Kombi Van and Bus (up to 1978).
Once you’ve had your fill of fourwheels, there’s fashion shows, highend watch and jewelry displays, specialty foods, wines and premium spirits to keep the party going.