Petersen Museum’s Successful Virtual Concours Leads to Repeat for 2021

This year’s successful Petersen Museum Virtual Concours in which entrants submitted narrated videos of their vehicles culminated a Virtual Car Week and has led to a planned 2021 concours to occur one week after the traditional August Pebble Beach Week.

Restrictions and closures due to the COVID pandemic shuttered the Pebble Beach event this year so Petersen officials stepped in with a full schedule of online events similar to those of the Monterey car week. Among them were a virtual car tour, a live auction, vehicle unveilings, a marque-specific show dedicated to Porsche, a hypercar show, a concept car show-within-a-show, a show focused on vintage racing and the 6-hour concours. All of the videos were broadcast via the Petersen’s YouTube channel.

According to Petersen officials 5 million viewers around the world tuned in during the car week and spent over 61,000 hours watching the events. Click here to view the Petersen Virtual Concours videos.

LCOC’s Elayne Bendel’s video of her 1964 convertible was awarded 2nd place in the Postwar Touring class. “It’s an honor to have won any prize in an event that was open to great cars from all over the world. I would encourage all our members to consider entering next year,” she said.

Petersen’s efforts were especially challenging since the museum was closed to the public and many staff members prior to and since the event.

A May article in Hemmings gave more details about the Car Week: “Typically, the museum has a large presence at Pebble Beach,” Michael Bodell, the Petersen’s chief operating officer, said. “Pebble drives the global motor world to mobilize, and so much comes out of that week. We didn’t want to see that enthusiasm go away.”

The Petersen Car Week Concours d’Elegance was on August 16, the same day that the cancelled Pebble Beach concours would have taken place. Most of the events – except for the live auctions and the live Forza-based virtual vintage racing – relied on videos submitted to the Petersen.

Prizes were given in 9 categories and Aaron Weiss was awarded “Best in Show” for his 1937 Horch 853 Sport Cabriolet.

Already Petersen officials are planning next year’s concours. Click here to sign up for next year’s event.

Class winners include:

Postwar Touring

1. 1966 Shelby GT350 – Mark Lopez
2. 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible – Elayne Bendel
3. 1973 Nissan KPGC10 Skyline – Rattachai Thammarat

Special Significance

1. 1910 Thomas Flyer – Jim Grundy
2. Audi Sport Quattro – Dirt Fish
3. 1965 Mercedes Bens 190D – John Bleimaier

Postwar Preservation

1. 1950 Simca 8 Sport (ran at Sebring 6hrs, 12:31:50) – Richard Plavetich
2. 1951 Volkswagen 11A standard (Max Hoffman car) – Robert Velis

Postwar Sports

1. 1961 Carrera Abarth GTL #1008 – Bob Ingram
2. Aston Martin DB4 – David Sydorick
3. 1954 XK120 SE Fixed Head Coupe – Glenn Chapin

Hot Rod

1. 1932 Ford Fordor – Bruce Canepa
2. 1959 Imperial Speedster – Murray Pfaff
3. 1932 Ford Vicky (All Henry Ford – Built by Brizio Street Rods) – David Lerian

American Classic

1. 1936 Chrysler C9 Airflow Coupe – Mark & Hilary Becker
2. 1942 Chrysler Royal Business Coupe – Mark & Hilary Becker
3. 1933 Packard Super Eight – Zongmin Huang

Competition

1. 1959 Old Yeller II Buick Special – Ernest Nagamatsu
2. 1972 Porsche 916 Prototype – Todd Blue
3. 1931 Ford Martin Racing Special – David Martin

European Classic

1. 1937 Horch 853 Sport Cabriolet – Aaron Weiss
2. Peugeot Darl’mat – Mark Hyman
3. 1949 Alfa Romeo 6 C 2500 Super Sport by Pinin Farina – Joe Hurwich

Ferrari Grand Touring

1. Ferrari 400 SuperAmerica – Revs Institute
2. 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza – Tazio Ottis
3. Ferrari 250GTE – Rick Myllenbeck