Today is a VERY happy day!I'm sure most of you know by now that the reason I am a car girl is because of my dad. While I like new and shiny, I have the nostalgia of a 70-year-old when it comes to cars (and music). Vintage will never go out of style and this is proven by the thousands of Antique Automobile Clubs, Classic Car Clubs, and Society of Automotive Historians across the globe. Any car enthusiast knows that the creme de la creme of "car shows" in the world is the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance!
This annual affair has raised over $12 million for charity since its initiation in 1950 and includes a series of related events such as the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance, Pebble Beach RetroAuto, the Pebble Beach Auction,
Each year only 175 of the most prized collectors cars in the world are invited to appear on the famed eighteenth fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links each year. To contend in the Concours d'Elegance, an automobile must be a well preserved or accurately restored vehicle still quite capable of doing what it was meant to do- be driven. It will almost certainly have some historic value- perhaps in its day it served to debut new technology or new styling trends or it has an amazing racing record. And it will be rare- possibly a singular example of a special chassis bearing a respected coachbuilder's art. After all these criteria have been met, a concours car must be one thing more. Above all, it must be elegant. And elegance is a matter of the eye and heart.
“There is no such thing as a score sheet for elegance. It’s largely a matter of taste, recognition of design advantages, and knowledge of the performance and quality of the total architectural concept.”
– Strother MacMinn, Renowned Automotive Designer and Former Chief Honorary Judge at Pebble Beach
“From a strictly personal point of view, my definition of an elegant car would be ‘the kind of car I would like to be buried in.’”
– Ansel Adams, Photographer and former Honorary Judge
at Pebble Beach
– Strother MacMinn, Renowned Automotive Designer and Former Chief Honorary Judge at Pebble Beach
“From a strictly personal point of view, my definition of an elegant car would be ‘the kind of car I would like to be buried in.’”
– Ansel Adams, Photographer and former Honorary Judge
at Pebble Beach
Please be sure to check out the Concours website, notably the History page, which scrolls through a timeline of notable cars and events since the shows initiation in 1950.
Oh...and by the way....the Chairman the show since 2002...is a woman: Sandra Kasky Button. Now that's a job I could have fun with!
All images and information are provided by the Pebble Beach Concours website: http://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/
And in a side note: Congratulations USA! 40 Years since our first steps on the moon!
