Spectacle and surprise at Cobble
Third annual Concours d’Elegance rolls out the rarest and most beautiful classic cars
OWEN SOUND, ONT.— Cadillacs, Duesenbergs, Packards, Pierce-Arrows and Rolls-Royce were thick on the ground at the third annual Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance, held last weekend just north of Owen Sound. There was even a rare and beautiful Bugatti Type 57 coupe.
At most Concours, the Best of Show winner tends to come from within those elite Grand Classic ranks. But not this time.
That honour went to an extremely rare 1938 Graham 97 supercharged cabriolet, with coachwork by the French coachbuilder, Saoutchik. This vehicle is so rare that only one other is known to exist.
AGraham you say? You can be forgiven if you’ve never heard of it. It was one of many small independent American automakers that failed to survive the Great Depression years — some say because of the radical art deco styling exhibited by this generation of the nameplate, which proved too avant-garde for the typical U.S. sedan buyer.
But there was no denying the grandeur of this particular car, originally built for display at the Paris motor show. A class ribbon winner at the recent Pebble Beach Concours, it provided full value for its win here. And it has a Canadian connection too. The car was restored by RM Auto Restoration of Chatham, Ont.
The other two big winners were the 1938 Bugatti Type 57C coupe and a 1958 Studebaker Golden Hawk, which in addition to winning in their own classes were named the most Outstanding Pre-War and Post-War vehicles, respectively.
But those were just the tip of an iceberg that included more than 100 spectacular vehicles in 23 classes — every one a winner in its own right. Highly sought-after Concours entries are by invitation only.
The People’s Choice award went to a 1929 Packard 645 Dual-Cowl Phaeton, while various class winners included a 1903 Stanley Steamer, a supercharged 1935 Auburn Boattail Speedster, a1972 Ferrari Dino 246 GT, 1953 and 1957 Corvettes, a 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429, a 2006 Ford GT and a 1959 Kurtis Indianapolis 500 race car.
That list exemplifies the breadth of vehicle types included in the Concours; there was something to suit every automotive fancy. This year, there was a bike class, too, for vintage Vincent motorcycles and, for the first time, a display of classic wooden boats.
Also on display only was another Bugatti Type 57 — this one a reproduction of the spectacular one-off Aerolithe Elektron coupe built for the 1935 Paris Auto Show.
The original has long-since disappeared and this one was built to duplicate it on another Type 57 chassis, by the Guild of Automotive Restorers here in Ontario.
Returning for a second year was a display-only Museum Class, housed in its own tent and enabled by TFX International, which provided transportation for the priceless vehicles within, which came from five different museums in Canada and the United States.
Among those cars was an 1898 Locomobile, a 1928 McLaughlin-Buick, a 1929 Duesenberg Model J, a 1931 Alfa Romeo and a 1932 Pierce-Arrow.
Also in that display were a pair of Cadillacs: a rare 1957 Eldorado Brougham and an original frontwheel-drive 1967 Eldorado.
Cadillac was the presenting sponsor of the Concours this year. In addition to offering test drives in its new VSeries cars, it provided an on-field lounge that also contained Cadillac’s recent Ciel and 1953 Le Mans concept cars.
As a whole, it was a show unequalled in Canada and surpassed by few others on the continent. And it gets better every year.