Sept 27: Cobble Beach, part 2

 Back to the Cobble Beach Concours d'Elegance for my second report. If you had enough with my first report last Tuesday, you should tune out now before you get sucked into another super interesting(?) blog.

Apart from the old classics, that I dealt with last time, when one thinks of a concours, they usually think of high dollar Italian iron - Ferrari's, Maserati's, etc. In this case, Cobble didn't disappoint.

Not the most popular Ferrari, but this 330 America has always been one of my favorites. Remember my pic of one that I saw in Portugal this past July. Conservative beauty.

Another of my all time favs, is this Maserati Mistral from 1967. Oh, those lines........

But a true concours envelops all types of cars, the very old and also, the somewhat newer. The somewhat newer in this pic shows cars that are at least sixty years old................

It's all in your perspective, folks. I like cars that are not seen that often, cars like this 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk.......

A rare car back in the day with just over four thousand produced, it is even rarer today. Compare that number to the hundreds of thousands of Chevies and Ford that came off the production line. Cars like this '59 Meteor........

Kind of rare, since the Meteor was a Canada only car, but in my favorite body style, the four door hardtop (no "B" pillar). My parents had a couple of cars in this style and with the windows down, you felt you were open to the whole world (great to have an imagination).

A last grasp at past glory, this 1955 Packard Caribbean stood proudly for what this brand was in the distant past (and what I showed in my last blog)........

A real highlight for me was this car.........

......a 1960 Ford Starliner NASCAR racer. A real treat was chatting with its owner, Jim Bray, who had also raced it back in the day. This car ran Charlotte's World 600 and also Atlanta. Real history. Since I've followed this series for years, it was a thrill to spend fifteen minutes chatting about the old days with Mr. Bray.

Let's step even further back for a moment and this mid 1930's Chrysler Airflow......

Ultra modern compared to any other car of its day, this model proved that being ahead of your time is not always a good thing, as customers avoided it in droves. This caused Chrysler to to try a rush redesign, which brought it back in line with the more traditional styling of the day.

And of course, there were pick-ups and all the memories they brought back......

 Hey, it's a concours and just about any beautifully restored vehicle can find a class to fit into. So as I bid adieu to my first visit to Cobble Beach, let's take a look at a more traditional concours type vehicle.......

I remember as a kid, my Dad took me to the Austin dealership in our small eastern city and the ownership rolled back some old wooden doors to reveal a new Healey. Big deal? Yes, sir, since in our town, there were plenty of plain Jane cars, but few with pizzazz. A rare sighting for Saint John, New Brunswick and little Barry got to see it first.

Cobble Beach. Even my wife, who likes cars, but is car show averse, really enjoyed the show. as it is a real event (she wasn't just humouring me).

What are you doing next September?

Until next time..........