Amelia Island 2018
The 23rd Amelia Island Concours built on this glamorous event’s reputation. Matt Stone joined the beautiful people at the Ritz-carlton hotel
Now in its third decade, the Amelia Island Concours d’elegance has taken its place among the world’s great automotive events. Aside from the concours itself, the Florida weekend has expanded into a social gathering for the global classic community, with enough activities to keep even the most ardent enthusiast busy – from the ‘Cars & Coffee’ cruise-in to a road tour, a huge automobilia sale and several auctions. It’s all spearheaded by founder and chairman Bill Warner and his tireless team.
Warner is a long-time racer, writer, motorsport photographer and gatherer of great car people. He’s also a philanthropist and, despite its ostentatious location at the Ritz-carlton resort hotel – with the main show field at the Golf Club of Amelia Island’s Summer Beach – the event’s main purpose is to raise money for charity.
The Amelia judging team – this year consisting of 135 automotive experts, restorers, writers, museum curators, artists and racing drivers – presents not one but two Best of Show prizes. One goes to a traditional road car, and the second to a competition machine; this year’s victors were as spectacular as ever.
The Best in Show – Concours d’elegance Trophy was presented to a 1929 Duesenberg Model J/SJ Convertible owned by collector Harry Yeaggy of Cincinnati, Ohio. This elegant machine’s Murphy coachwork was restyled in period by Bohman & Schwartz, with a lengthened bonnet, straked wings and more modern bumpers.
A 1963 Ferrari 250/275P from The JSL Motorsports Collection in Redwood City, California took home the Best in Show – Concours de Sport Trophy. The winner of the 1963 ADAC 1000km Rennen at the Nürburgring driven by John Surtees and Willy Mairesse, and the 1964 Sebring 12 Hours with Mike Parkes and Umberto Maglioli, this car also finished second at Sebring in 1963 and won the first race at Mont-tremblant circuit in Canada as a NART entry with Pedro Rodríguez at the wheel.
This blend of road and race machinery is one of the elements that make Amelia stand out, and is driven by Warner’s motorsport background; around half of the show is dedicated to competition cars. Each year, the event also honours a legend of motorsport, with past Honorees including the late Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby, Sir Stirling Moss – twice! – Bobby and Al Unser, local hero Hurley Haywood, Derek Bell, Jochen Mass and Hans Stuck Jnr.
The choice for 2018 was the double F1 World Champion and winner of two Indy 500 races Emerson Fittipaldi. Sporting his trademark sideburns, 71-year-old ‘Emmo’ appeared to enjoy himself
‘Sporting his trademark sideburns, Emmo appeared to enjoy himself as he smiled for countless selfies’
as he posed and smiled for countless selfies and signed hundreds of autographs. The event features a class for cars raced by the Honoree, so this year there was a huge gathering of ‘The Cars of Emerson Fittipaldi’. It included the Lotus 72 in which he won his first F1 title in 1972 – at the time the youngest driver to do so – along with sports cars such as the Porsche 911 3.0 Carrera RSR that he drove in the International Race of Champions.
Another class celebrated 50 years of the Ferrari Daytona with a fine set of 365s including the Panther shooting brake, two Michelotti ‘wedges’ and the Kirk White-sponsored GTB/4 that Dan Gurney and Brock Yates drove to victory in the inaugural Cannonball Baker Seato-shining-sea Memorial Trophy.
Warner always cooks up several weird and wonderful groups that you seldom see at other concours events. How about a line-up of wacky customs by pinstriper and legendary show-car builder Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth? Or a special set of hunting cars kitted out for the wellto-do, including a dazzling 1925 Rolls-royce Silver Ghost?
As if putting on an event of this magnitude isn’t enough of a challenge, several times in its history the concours has been struck by tropical storms. This year, with rain predicted, the management team decided at the last minute to bring the concours forward by a day. Nevertheless, enthusiasts were out in force and the quality of cars on show was up to its usual standard – from an electric 1912 Rauch and Lang Town Car first owned by Thomas Edison to the oneoff, factory-designed Chevrolet Corvette SR2 racer.
Making its first public appearance since the early 1970s was the unique Shelby Lonestar. Fresh from restoration, this fascinating car was created by Carroll Shelby and John Wyer Automotive Engineering in Slough, England, with its lines representing a dramatic mixture of the Cobra and GT40.
Another crowd-pleasing turn came from the recently rediscovered Bullitt Mustang (C&SC, April), one of the two ’68 GTS used during filming of the iconic movie.