One of the things we really like about the annual — this was the 35th — Concours d’Elegance of America is its eclectic mix of classes. Sure, it offers the Prewar European and American Classics 1928-1942 sort of groupings. But it puts them alongside such displays as Vintage NASCAR; Jet Age Convertibles (what a colorful array that was this year); cars from The Great Race; a row of the ultimate Muscle Cars as modified by the likes of Yenko, Baldwin Motion and Nickey; and this year it also celebrated its rivalry with Indianapolis for the very title of America’s Motor City.
Remember that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was funded in large part to provide a proving grounds and showcase for that city’s growing auto industry. To showcase the Detroit vs. Indy rivalry, this year the concours featured classes for Detroit Iron and Indianapolis Iron from the heyday of manufacturing cars of elegance — the 1930s — with Detroit represented by Packards, Cadillacs, Lincolns and Chryslers and Indy by Marmons, Duesenbergs and a couple of Stutz (there was a separate class for Cords, which were built not in Indy but in northern Indiana).
At the end of the day, it was one of those Dusenbergs that was judged to be the best-in-show among all the made-in-America cars — a Derham-bodied 1931 Model J Tourister. The winner is owned by Joseph and Margie Cassini III of West Orange, New Jersey. This was the second year in a row in which one of their cars drove away from the fairways of the Inn at St. John’s with such honors, and their cars took the other best-in-show award, for European cars, in 2006 and 2008.
This year, best-in-show European went to a 1934 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 boat tail speedster owned by Roger Willbanks of Denver, Colorado (see adjacent photo of the best-in-show duo).
Just like at Monterey, the weekend no longer is large enough for all that happens around the Motown concours, what with various tours and even the Automotive Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
For the last 19 years, there’s been an RM auction, which this year sold 90 percent of the 80 cars offered for nearly $7.75 million, led by a 1929 Duesenberg Model J dual-cowl phaeton that went for $682,000. All of the top-10 sales were Detroit or Indiana classics from the 1930s.
