What a La Jolla Concours weekend! Where can I begin? Let’s just say it was the best concours south of Pebble Beach.
Festivities kicked off with a special Rolls-Royce Dapper & Delight Soiree at the Covo restaurant on Friday evening followed by a Saturday Porsche Concours d’ Elegance tour of the San Diego area by classic and vintage vehicles.
Then there was the Aston Martin Saturday Art Deco evening party at the Ellen Browning Scripps Park Cove, La Jolla, presented by Fraser. (see separate story)
This year’s Concours event was a salute to Lincoln’s 100 years of history and a large contingent of lovely Lincolns participated in the meet itself and the La Jolla Motor Classic on the street outside the main event.
Both Lincoln Motor Company and nearby Black Label dealer Witt Lincoln were event sponsors. And both had new cars and representatives at the event in addition to the Witt’s 1964 Continental convertible. The brand new Lincoln Navigator drew admiring crowds at the Lincoln Motor Company display along with some of the other new Lincoln models.
Five Lincolns from John Ellison’s Calumet Collection joined Jim Ayres’ and Elayne Bendel’s ’64 convertibles in the concours along with LCOC members Mike and Jodi Williams’ ’58 Lincoln and Joseph Ventura’s ’56 Premiere. Thanks in part to Ayres’ efforts more than 15 Lincolns were offered and accepted into the meet and were onsite at Scripps Park early Sunday morning to get in place.
There were two Lincoln classes; 1917-1969 closed and 1917-1967 open. John Ellison won 3rd with Calumet’s 1937 Model K and 2nd with its ’41 Custom Limousine in the closed class. 1st place went to Ron and Sandy Hansen with their 1926 Lincoln Le Baron 4-door.
In the open class 1st place went to a 1940 Zephyr Continental owned by the Academy of Arts University and shown by LCOC member Paul Borgwardt. 2nd place went to a ’42 Cabriolet owned by Passport Transport, and 3rd went to soon-to-be-new LCOC member, Rich Greenfield and his ’66 convertible.
Stan Lucas’ silver and green 1929 Lincoln Aero-Phaeton roadster that won best in show at last year’s Greystone Mansion Concours in Beverly Hills won the LPL Summit Best of Marque award this year at La Jolla.
People’s Choice Award winners were Karen and Stuart Tanz for their 1956 Mark II coupe, and the Mayor’s Award was presented to the Calumet Collection’s 1966 Lincoln Continental 4-door convertible.
Best in Show was a 1939 Bugatti Type 57SC Aravis Cabriolet from the Mullin Museum.
The concours committee led by board member Bob Kerner, judges and an army of volunteers did an outstanding job of planning and executing the events. The Saturday party and organization of the concours itself were practically flawless. There were over 135 cars in the meet on the grass, along with vendors, food and beverage stations, and even some private event lounges. Outside the gates were an additional 100 special vehicles and vendor stations on view for the non-paying public.
Antique aircraft and pelican formation flybys provided by Mother Nature also crisscrossed the venue during the meet. Just enjoying the view was a pleasure, but seeing the spectacular cars was more than enjoyable. Many of the cars displayed were award winners from other shows and this made for a very high quality event for both exhibitors and visitors.
Popular collector makes such as Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, Mercedes, Thunderbird, Packard, Porsche, Ferrari and Rolls Royce were well represented along with such other classics as a 1929 Ruxton, 1936 Lagonda open race car, 1938 Bentley, 1949 Alpha Romeo cabriolet, 1923 Stanley Steam Car, 1961 Aston Martin, a 1967 Mazda Cosmo Sport plus many others and some rare collector motorcycles.
Nearly perfect California spring weather added to the turnout of both cars and spectators and most participants returned home tired, but happy and looking forward to next year’s concours.
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