Stirling Moss pilots 722 through the crowd on the show field.
Almost like Moses parting the Red Sea, Stirling Moss gently guided the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, No. 722, down the fairway and through the crowd of spectators last weekend during the 20th Anniversary of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Where else could you see one of history’s great drivers behind the wheel of what could arguably be called one of the most valuable and most famous race cars in history, driving unprotected and unmolested, through throngs of admirers?
Moss, now 85, and co-pilot Denis Jenkinson won the 1955 Mille Miglia in a drive that has been memorialized in Jenkinson’s book, The Racing Driver, originally published in 1959. No. 722 is only rarely seen outside of the Mercedes-Benz museum.
The Amelia Island Concours is a celebration of the automobile unlike any other. Race cars share billing with perfectly restored concours cars on the golf course of the Ritz-Carlton. This year the show displayed 26 race cars driven by Stirling Moss, undoubtedly the most complete gathering of his cars ever presented.
Stutz was one of the celebrated marques, but the show field also was dotted with entries such as Cars of the Cowboys, the BMW 328, Ferrari Formula One cars, Lancia rally cars, the Chrysler Town & Country, the Porsche 914, hot rods and Orphan Concept Cars, to name but a few.
Photos by Tom Strongman
