2015 Amelia Island Concours

Rare Cars Win 2015 Amelia Island Concours …

AMELIA ISLAND, FL, March 15, 2015 — Two presitigious awards, among the top trophies in the collector car hobby, have been awarded here at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours. A 1930 Cord L29 Brooks Stevens Speedster with Woodlites, owned by Ed Schoenthaler of Oak Brook, Illinois, has been awarded the Best of Show Concours D’Elegance for the Amelia Island event. And a 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider, owned by David Sydorick of Beverly Hills, California, has won the Best of Show Concours de Sport. These two cars were chosen out of a field of 315 cars from all over the world to be honored as this year’s Best of Show at the 2015 Amerila Island Concours.

1932 Alfa Romeo ) and the 1930 Cord L29 Roadster (in back) have won the top awards at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours — The 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagata Spider (in foreground) and the 1930 Cord L29 Brooks Stevens Speedster (in back) have won the top awards at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours

1930 Cord L29 Roadster — The 2015 Amelia Island Concours Best of Show award the Concours D’Elegance award went to this 1930 Cord L29 Brooks Steven Speedster. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

Brooks Stevens was a famous designer who hailed from the Milwaukee area in Wisconsin. Although he was one of the great designers of the 20th Century, his work in the automobile industry brought him the most fame. He worked for Studebaker and American Motors during his glory days. But he himself was an avid sports car racer and builder. Stevens was a young man when he bought this 1930 Cord L29 Cabriolet as a new car purchase. After his studies at Cornell University in New York, he decided to rebuild his L29 into a speedster much like the Auburns of that era. The car was entered in road races, hill climbs and rallies. In fact, Stevens loved this car so much that it was still in his collection at his death in 1995. Mr. Schoenthaler purchased the car from the Stevens estate, and put the car through a 2-year detailed restoration. The results are so stunning that it won the prestigious Best of Show Concours D’Elegance here at Amelia Island.

Here is a You Tube video about the 1930 Cord L29 Speedster done by Rides With Chuck as Chuck Derer interviewed Ed Schoenthaler on the car. Click video window to watch:

The 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider (shown above) won the Amelia Island Concours de Sport award as the top two-seater sports car here at the Concours event. The Italian made sports car shows styling by the Zagato design house, and is powered by a 2.3 Liter straight 8 cylinder engine built by Vittorio Jano. The Amelia Island judges noted its outstanding racing history and its impeccable restoration as reasons for its selection as Concours de Sport. Present for the awards ceremony was its current owner, David Sydorick of Beverly Hills, California. In 2003 Sydorick bought the vehicle and had Wisconsin-based restorer Rick Bunkfield rebuild the engine.

A gathering of some of the most avid car collectors in the world has convened here at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours. It is one of the world’s most exclusive automotive Concours D’ Elegance. Photo journalists Bob and Donna Boberg are covering the event this weekend. You can follow their reports on their Twitter feed, as well as on their eClassicAutos.com website. They are enjoying the 80 degree weather and getting great photos of some of the world’s finest motorcars. The top cars selected here are among the most prestigious and collectible automobiles in the world.

Here are some of the winners in other categories:

1954 DeSoto Adventurer II — Best of Show 1954 Desoto Adventurer II

Best of Show 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk

The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is an automotive charitable event held each year during the second weekend in March at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Florida and along the fairway of the Golf Club of Amelia Island. As a top collector car event it is considered as important as the Pebble Beach Concours, Meadowbrook Concours and the Louis Vuitton Classic in midtown Manhattan.

Click the video window below to watch a video by eClassicAutos.com from the 2015 Amelia Island Concours:

2015 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance from eclassicautos on Vimeo.

As the big 2015 Amelia Island week, or as they call it, “March Car Week,” kicked off here, there were several high level collector car auctions to hold everyone’s attention. We watched on Saturday as the RM/Sotheby’s Auction was conducted at the Summer Beach Golf Club of Amelia Island. This is the first auction sale conducted by RM Auctions after being merged with Sotheby’s. It was the mosts successful sale RM has ever had here at Amelia Island with $60.3 million in total sales. RM has been holding an auction at the Amelia Island event for 17 years. They told us that 17 vehicles were sold for seven figure amounts. Here are some of the results:

1960 Ferari 400 sold at the RM/Sotheby Auction at Amelia Island — A 1960 Ferari 400 sold for $5,8 million at the RM/Sotheby Auction at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours. This was the the top price paid in the Saturday auction with the proceeds donated to childrens education. It was also the highest price paid on any collector car at any of the three auctions here this weekend. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

1967 Shelby 427 Cobra sold here at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours at the RM/Sotheby Auction. The hammer price was $1,925,000. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

Beautiful vintage motorcars as this 1930 Duesenberg Model J Dual Cowl Phaeton crossed the block at the RM/Sotheby Auction here at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours. The hammer price was $1,050,000. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

1995 Ferrari F512 M sells for $410,000 at RM/Sotheby Auction at Amelia Island. — The final Testarossa revision, the 1995 Ferrari 512 M, was very desirable among collectors here at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours. At the RM/Sotheby Auction here on Saturday this one was sold for $410,000. The 512 M was the last Ferrari to be produced with a mid-engine V12. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

On Saturday we visited the Gooding & Company Auction. For Gooding & Company the results were also spectacular. They told us their total sales for the auction were $26.9 million. According to their numbers, 76 vehicles out of 85 were sold compiling an 89 percent sell through rate. (Gooding & Company allows the consignor to set a reserve value for the sale.) Seven of the vehicles sold went for more than $1 million.

Here are some of the results:

1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 sold at Gooding & Co Auction on Amelia Island — The top sale at the Gooding & Co Auction at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours was a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 which sold for $3 million. A 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Series II Cabriolet also sold at the Gooding sale for $1,900,000 before commission. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

1934 Duesenberg received a high bid of $775,000 although it did not clear reserve at the Gooding & Co Auction at Amelia Island

1968 Shelby GT500 KR Convertible at the Gooding & Company Auction — 1968 Shelby GT500 KR Convertible sold at the Gooding & Company Auction at 2015 Amelia Island Concours weekend. Back in 2007 it would have sold for twice that price. That’s proof that we still have a ways to go to catch up to pre-recession values in the collector car market. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

Bonhams’ inaugural Motorcar Auction was held on Thursday, March 12, 2015, at the Fernandina Beach Golf Club. This is the first year that a Bonhams Auction has been presented at the Amelia Island Concours. Here are the top sales at the auction:

The high sale at the Bonhams Auction on Thursday was a 1930 Cord L-29 Town Car which went for $1.6 million. Click here to see the Facebook post. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

1992 Ferrari F-40 at Bonhams Auction — Less than 10K miles on the clock for this 1992 Ferrari F-40 which drew a high bid of $1,050,000 at Bonhams Amelia Island Auction. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

1987 Lamborghini 5000 QV — 1987 Lamborghini 5000 Quattrevalve crosses the auction block at the Bonhams sale on Thursday. We have been especially interested in the Countach era Lamborghinis. We think they will be the next million-dollar cars. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

1983 Lamborghini Countach LP 500 S at Bonhams Auction at Amelia Island — Another Countach, a 1983 Lamborghini LP 500 S, crossed the auction block for sale for $380,000 at the Bonhams Auction on Amelia Island. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com)

In our coverage of the 2015 Amelia Island Concours we will be bringing you more photos and auction action from the Ritz-Carlton of Amelia Island. There is a great video about the Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance that explains the history of the event and how important it is to the collector car hobby on the East Coast.

Click the video window below to see the sights and sounds of Amelia Island Concours:

2013 Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance

PEBBLE BEACH, CA — August 18, 2013 — One journalist described it as the Super Bowl of the collector car world. Certainly the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance makes it like no other car show in the world. The world’s grandest car event was held here on the 18th hole at the Pebble Beach Golf Course. It is the culmination of a week-long festival of events and collector car auctions like you have never seen before in your life. We’ll attempt to give you a little taste of what this event was like.

Something unusual is happening here in the Monterey penninsula of California this weekend. Prices at the Mecum Auction, RM Auction, Gooding & Company and Bonhams Auction have been pretty encouraging for the collector car hobby. A record sale saw a 1967 Ferrari 275 NART Spider sell for $25 million (see story below.) The RM Auction where this sale took place records the sale as $27.5 million with their sales commission included.

Estimates are that over 1,100 cars were sold this weekend at the many collector car auctions held in conjunction with the Concours. It was estimated that 110 cars were sold for more than $1 million each.

Has the recession in collector car prices run its course? Will we see higher prices in the collector car hobby going forward? These are questions only time can answer but read some of the links below to see why we are asking these questions now.

Excitement runs high here in the Monterey, California area as we cover many of the events that surround the 63rd Annual Pebble Beach Concours D’ Elegance. Cars On Line’s partner website, eClassic Autos.com, is at the event and will provide us with photos during Concours Week here at the Pebble Beach Concours.

Touring events were scheduled throughout the week and there are excellent museum quality displays of the cars of yesteryear. On Sunday we caught some of the grandeur of the the Concours D’ Elegance. This is the one that all others compare themselves to. The Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance is the most respected Concours in the world.

Click here to view some of the photos by our friends at cClassicAutos.com as recorded on their Facebook page.