Flatheads Forever June 2006 2006 Amelia Island Concourse d’Elegance By James Dorsey Every year I say that I’m going to Amelia Island Concourse d’Elegance. This year I went and had a great time. I first went to Savannah, stopping off to visit my daughter and new granddaughter. On Sunday morning March 12, we all drove down to Amelia Island to see the show. The show is held on the golf course of the Ritz Carlton hotel. This made a beautiful setting for all the cars and vendors. The dark green grass with the bright cars and tents made it a perfect place to have a show like this. There were rare and expensive antique and classic cars that you might only see in a special museum. A large number of about 20 Stanley Steamers started the show off with a parade on the green grass. You can only imagine what that looked like with the brightly painted cars with plumes of white steam on the green golf course. This in itself made it worth while to go see. Tucker’s Chip Cofer was there with his 1915 Mitchell Special Six. Early V-8 member Larry Bailey was there with his 7 passenger 1934 Ford sedan. There were several other Early V-8 Fords there, including the rare stainless steel 1936 Ford 2 door sedan. Anyone who loves antique and classic cars would enjoy a day at Amelia Island Concourse d’Elegance. The Editor’s Desk: July Monthly Meeting Sunshine Report!! Mary Ann Padovano has volunteered be The Sunshine Committee for the club. She will coordinate all information about illnesses, surgeries and such, send cards. If you have information that needs to be reported to Mary Ann please contact her @ 770-978-7555. May May Birthdays Anniversaries 5/1 Bill Miller 5/3 Jerry & Cheryl Reichel 5/3 William Swilley 5/16 Bob & Kathy Farmer 5/5 Mary Ann Padovano 5/17 Doug & Elizabeth 5/5 Shirley Brownlee Hollandsworth 5/6 Hazel Leach 5/20 Roger & Gaye Strickland 5/6 Lettie Garner 5/6 James C. Knowlson 5/8 Becky Strickland 5/12 Frank Arnold 5/12 Larry Kennemore 5/13 Glenda Bucky 5/13 Robert David Jumper 5/13 Roger Strickland 5/14 Parks Duncan 5/17 Mary Anderson 5/17 J.W. Bailey 5/20 Wayne Hicks 5/28 Michael Hintz 5/30 Gaye Strickland 5/31 Vina McIntosh Tucker cruise-In Saturday, May 13th 5 PM to 8:30 PM This will be the second cruise-in on Main Street in downtown Tucker. This monthly event is co-sponsored by our club. It will be held on the second Saturday of each month, April through September. The May cruise-in will follow the annual celebration of “Tucker Days”. Because of this it is necessary that we enter only from First Avenue from the West. Come over and bring your old car to show off, or stop by to visit. We’ll be glad to see you either way. Look for good weather and a full moon. Visit Us On The Web at http://clubs.hemmings.com/ 2006 Amelia Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Island Concours Regarded as ‘a Concours as good as Pebble Beach, but without the d'Elegance ego,’ the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance has quickly grown to be one of the world’s finest, especially considering it’s only celebrating its RM Auctions Vin- 11th year. This year’s affair benefits the Community Hospice of Northern tage Motor Cars Florida and similar to other large Concours, was held at a prestigious at Amelia Island location; in this case the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island and adjacent Golf Yet another very Club of Amelia Island. With this being our first year in attendance, we successful classic were pleasantly surprised to find some exceptional entries, and some car auction has very interesting categories. With nearly 300 entries in 37 Classes, come and gone organization is key, and Chairman Bill Warner and his staff excelled in this past weekend all aspects. at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island in Florida. RM has been auctioning classic This year’s Honourary Chairman was racing legend Johnny Rutherford, cars since 1991 and they clearly showed their experience in this and was appropriately reunited with his 1974 Indy-winning McLaren competitive business by selling over 98% of the listed vehicles at this M16. Unfortunately without even an ounce of asphalt nearby, Johnny event. The range of car manufacturers was diverse and included such was restricted to doing a very slow victory lap in front of thousands of rare names as Allstate, Maxwell and Rockne. As usual however the big spectators on lush golf course grass. names were present as well; Duesenberg, Talbot Lago, Bentley, and of course Ferrari. With so many classes, where should we begin? Perhaps the ‘Promotional Vehicles’ class was the most fascinating. Where else would The display field was neatly arranged in the Ritz-Carlton oceanfront you see a Budweiser boat, Twin Zippo Lighters, a can of V8 Vegetable courtyard, adjacent to the sand dunes of the Atlantic. All 109 vehicles Juice and a white Horse Statue all on four wheels? Somehow the were available for close inspection by prospective buyers all day Friday selection committee decided that the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile was and Saturday morning before the official auction began at 11:30 a.m. too tacky for this show. Bidding began with 12 consecutive lots from the Smokey Mountain Car Museum including a five-wheeled 1919 Briggs & Stratton Flyer. What A featured marque for this years running, Stanley was represented by 19 appeared to be a go-cart type child’s toy of today was described in its spectacular examples of steam power from the early days of automobile original advertisement as “a sturdy, strongly built and highly efficient two engineering. It was a particularly special event to see so many of these passenger vehicle combining all the delights of motor sport with the temperamental horseless carriages in full operation, considering the practical convenience of rapid transportation at an insignificant cost.” It average 30 minute startup time. Can-Am racers were also featured this was estimated to sell for $8,000 - $12,000, but excitedly finished at year, and required plenty of lawn for the twenty-three entries; all of which $20,900. had interesting racing histories to share. In comparison, the Microcar Class was made up of eleven tiny entries but were strategically located Auction Feature Cars beside the motorcycle class so as not to lose them completely in the As mentioned earlier, some rare names were on the list but it was the mix. familiar names that brought in the big dollars. A powerful looking J. Gurney-Nutting bodied 1931 Bentley 8-Liter Sportsman Coupe with disc The massive retro display caravan GM Futureliner received a lot of wheels and a large sliding sunroof required nearly $1.5 million to change attention at one end of the field whereas the many alternative fuel hands. Talbot Lago Teardrop Coupes have been consistently known to vehicles were crowded at the other. A wind propeller driven 1932 bring in seven-figure values as we’ve seen in previous auctions such as Helicron stood out beside a coal-fueled 1938 Citroen Traction Avant, but RM’s 2005 Monterey event. The T23 Model offered at Amelia was it was a turbine-powered 1968 Lotus 56 Indy racer that won best in class finished in metallic blue with brown leather and is one of three ‘Jeancart’ and later screamed its way over to receive its award. styled Teardrops. Another similar model sold at RM’s 2005 Monterey Auction for $3.685 million, so the $2.145 million bid for this example Most people would be lucky to see a DuPont on display at a Concours or sounds like a deal. museum so to see nine of these beauties in one place surely is an exciting occasion. Fittingly, DuPont had their own class and the Best in We had the pleasure of photographing the offered 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Show, Concours d’Elegance went to the 1931 Model H Sport Phaeton SWB Alloy Berlinetta Competizione back in January during the Cavallino owned by Richard Riegel, who also won Best in Class and Most Elegant Classic track days, and it’s safe to say that this car is in full working Open Car at Pebble Beach last year. condition. Bidding immediately began in the seven figure range and finally hammered down at $2.75 million. Best in Show, Concours de Sport went to the 1961 Le Mans winning Ferrari TRI61, which had not been seen in public for many years. Other notable lots included a 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 Roadster that Ed Leslie owned and drove to the SCCA A/Production class championship Conclusion in 1964; sold for $1.65 million. Several Shelby Mustangs also produced Consider this yet another exceptional concours event to add to our some bidding frenzy with a 1965 GT350R Fastback topping the list at already extensive list. The weather couldn’t have been better, and the $990,000. Suitably, the charitable entry was also the most dramatic. A site was perfectly suited for a world-class vintage car show. hill-climbing beast nick-named “Satan or Morimar”, this modified 1953 Hudson Hornet had Twin H-Power and was estimated to sell for $30,000 - $40,000. It graciously topped out at a surprising $110,000. Early Ford Marketplace Submit your ad to The Classifieds Running Board Editor and let us help you sell your Would you like to advertise your product Early Ford cars or parts.