A pair of pre-war favorites won best of show trophies Sunday at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance: A 1930 Cord L-29 designed by the legendary Brooks Stevens and a 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider.
In customary fashion, the judges of the Florida concours pick two winners each year. The Cord was awarded Best of Show, Concours d’Elegance and the Alfa Romeo took the prize for Best of Show, Sport de Elegance. The dual awards are designed to level the concours field between tradition classic cars and sports/competition cars.
The winning Cord L-29, which Stevens designed for his own use as an evocative speedster, is owned by Ed and Judy Schoenthaler of Oak Brook, Illinois. The Alfa Romeo, styled by the Zagato design house and powered by a 2.3-liter straight-8 created by Vittorio Jano, is owned by David Sydorick of Beverly Hills, California
Racing great Stirling Moss served as honorary chairman, joining Amelia Island Concours chairman and founder Bill Warner in handing out the best of show awards. Moss, 85, was reprising his role as honored guest at the first Amelia event 20 years ago, as well as marking the 60th anniversary of his resounding victory at the 1955 Mille Miglia of Italy.
A special class of more than 20 race cars driven by Moss during his short but brilliant career was set up along the lake at The Golf Club of Amelia Island where the concours was held. These included racing cars from Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Ferrari, Jaguar, Porsche and Aston Martin.
The concours started off with Moss driving a lap around the grounds at the wheel of the very Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR race car in which he won the Mille Miglia in 1955.
Despite the weatherman’s dire prediction of thunderstorms, the 20th anniversary year of the Amelia Island Concours was bright and sunny all day. An estimated 30,000 people made the pilgrimage to the concours to view the exceptional collection of about 325 vintage cars that spanned the range of purpose and design.
