Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance

Nic and I had an opportunity to attend the 2011 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance a few weeks back. It was an absolutely amazing experience.

A little back story:



I'm a car guy. I get annoyed when I walk into a car dealership and the salesman starts to spout off erroneous facts about the cars on the lot that he clearly knows nothing about. I absorb information about cars like a sponge and I hope that never stops. I love those guys that are car guys like myself. Jay Leno, Steve McQueen, Tim Allen, Jerry Seinfeld, Ralph Lauren. All car guys [with more cars and fame than me]. And I like being around those types of people and the cars that we love.

When I have a chance to learn about cars, I jump at the chance. I read a number of car blogs every day and I keep up with all the latest cars that are available all over the world. On occasion some of the blogs I read feature stories on cars of the past that pique my interest in cars of the past. I sent Nic an email after I read a post about the RM Auction on Jalopnik.com about this car, I sent an email to Nic letting her know we were going.

The weekend was filled with events that would appeal to a guy like me. I knew that we could only spend a day there so we chose the show on Sunday. It did not disappoint. There were so many cars from every end of the spectrum that were present that I couldn't find enough time to spend quality time with each one.

Only going on Sunday meant that I had to pass up the Cannonball Run Revisited Seminar on Saturday. This event featured a number of the actual participants of the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash that occurred in the 70's. BUT I had an inside track on getting to meet one of the participants, [name withheld]. And I had committed to memory the names of most of the participants so that I'd be prepared to corner them if I happened to see them at the show.

Luckily, most of these guys were working at the show or had their name called as presenters or for recognition. Needless to say, I got to meet some guys that most people had never heard of and I got to hear some stories from some true legends in the automotive world.  I realized that some of the cars on the green that day may be endangered but so are some of those legends.

I'll be going back again next year but I'm going to make sure I allot some extra time to talk to more of those legends and the owners of the cars. I took hundreds of pictures that day but the stories that these people tell are often worth far more than the cars they love.