by Richard Bartholomew –
Sunday October 1st 2017 at the Palos Verdes Concours D’Elegance.
While it wasn’t a true concours the event held at the Zamperini Field (TOA) formerly Torrance airport was an elegant event with some very interesting and rare cars. Laid out on the tarmac at the east end of the airfield amidst military aircraft from different era and countries were some very nice cars that would normally be displayed on the fairway up the hill in Palos Verdes.
The weather was perfect for viewing the cars with a nice marine layer that kept the temperature of all that cement nice and low, good for the cars and people.
Classics are always a highlight at the Palos Verdes shows and they did not disappoint. Lines of Stutz’ and Packards recall an era when cars were built with panache, even art deco dash boards and the trunks were really trunks.
Adding to the atmosphere of the classic cars were two sets of dancers, flapper era and 40s era, performing fun dance routines to period music.
The set up at this show also had other unique enhancements not usually seen at classic car shows. Usually at airshows the cars, if they have them, are off in a field and away from the operating and static displayed airplanes. Not this time, the planes arrived before the cars and there were no flight operations at our end of the airport. And it was a very interesting set up with Porsche 356s surrounding a World War II era DC-3, Jaguars circling a British Harrier jet and horseless carriage era vehicles amidst biplanes.
A rare YF-23 and F-14 also were part of the show. Large planes added a vertical dimension to this classic car event that they don’t have on golf courses concours, city park shows or parking lot cars and coffee shows.
There was a section of race cars with a nice group of Lotus motor cars dominating. Hot rods, real Cobras, Shelby Mustangs, an interesting Alfa or two, two Volvo P1800s, a rare Pinin Farina designed Pegaso and a hot blue Lotus Europa. Representing Forward Look Mopar a rare and pristine 1961 Chrysler 300 G with a modern looking sleek interior front and backseat areas.
The Palos Verdes Concours D’Elegance is a charity event that Southern California can be proud of and they do something very well that not all events can pull off –
they deliver something for everyone.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
More photos are in the slide shows below – all photos by Richard Bartholomew.
THE AUTHOR: Richard Bartholomew is a Riverside, California based artist and photographer.
More photos are in Part 2 here.
Update – Voisin photo added below
This was mentioned in the Comments so the author sent this additional photo.
Voisin
Great photos, looks like it was an interesting show.
The Chrysler 300G looked like a very accurate restoration or was it original? The leather on the seats had the correct impressions, not easy to duplicate.
Would anyone have any additional pictures of the black and white car pictured in part 2, 3rd block 18 of 19 with a man with a boxer dog on a leash? Could it be an Avions Voisin?
Thanks for the posting
The owner of the 300 G said it was a ’61 and they only made 460 or so and he said a lot of people spent a lot of time restoring it to what you see.I’ll look for pictures of the other car you mentioned and get them to mycarquest if I have any.
A photo of the Voisin was sent in by Richard Bartholomew and is now posted at the end of his article.
I was there and missed the Interceptor with the reddish convertible top that is in Rick’s pictures.
Never seen one with a top color other than black.
So my question for the judges is: was that color available then to match the paint? I actually enjoy color-keyed ragtops for personal use but if it was never available at the time as an option I would have to subtract some points. We could say it doesn’t matter but isn’t that was concours are all about–to award the most authentically restored cars the award?
am in awe of them.) In addition to the trees, there s also the Cholla Cactus Garden, Arch Rock, great camping, fun hikes, and more. You can check out my Things to Do in Joshua Tree National Park for other ideas. Suffice to say, it s a good day trip, and you could combine it with Anza-Borrego Desert State Park or a trip to Palm Springs, too. Unless you count Trader Joe s (which I seem to have to visit everyday), we go the beach(es) more than anywhere else in Southern California. Outside of maybe Hawaii, nowhere in the United States matches Southern California s beaches. With that said, not all beaches in SoCal are of equal quality, and the most popular beaches are some of the worst ones (I m looking at you, Santa Monica). For one thing, the beaches closest to Disneyland are in Long Beach, Seal Beach, and Huntington Beach, and all of these leave something to be desired.