Words and photography by Paul Magee
Who amongst us hasn’t wanted to hop out to the west coast to take in the week that includes the Monterey Historical Races and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance?
While that isn’t the farthest-fetched of dreams, it does require a fairly serious commitment of time and money unless you already live within a day’s drive of Monterey or Laguna Seca. Fortunately for those of us in the Mid-East, all is not lost; there are alternatives.
On August 3rd, Michigan hosted the 30th annual Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance on the Oakland University campus in Rochester Hills, Michigan. This event needs to make the wish list of anyone that proclaims themselves a car person.
There are several events throughout the week, including a motoring tour, an auction of classic cars run by RM Auctions, as well as historic races run at Waterford Hills Raceway, all culminating in the show itself on Sunday.
Meadow Brook is arguably one of the three most significant car shows in the United States, in the company of Pebble Beach and Amelia Island with respect to Concours events. The attendees and their cars at this year’s event further solidified Meadow Brook’s stature amongst these two giants.
Brushes with celebrity included Barry Meguiar, Bob Lutz, Brian Nesbitt, Peter Horbury, Ralph Gilles, as well as the cast and crew from Dream Car Garage.
Of course the real stars of the show were the cars. This year, there were several featured categories, including:
- General Motor’s 100th Anniversary
- Significant Ferraris
- 8 litre Bentleys
- 16 cylinder cars
- The Model T’s 100th Anniversary
- Flying cars
- Vintage motorcycles with side cars
- Class of 1933
General Motors cleaned out the closet for this show, yanking out dozens of cars, including significant ‘X Studio’ concept cars from the 50′s and 60′s that have rarely been seen by the public since their creation.
The collections Meadow Brook managed to pull together representing the big Bentleys and the Ferraris were unbelievably impressive. Many of the Ferraris in attendance were one of a kind, including two from 1957 that were literally built with distinctive custom coachwork to the taste of the specific owners.
Although they may not have been classified as featured marques, there were several Duesenbergs, Bugattis, and a Stutz that are so historically significant, when they are spoken about, it isn’t just about the history of the model of car, but about that exact car. Some examples:
The 1935 Duesenberg Mormon Meteor. This car is one-of-one made, ever. It was equipped shortly after it’s birth with a huge Curtiss V-12. In 1936, it set the duration land-speed record by averaging 153.823 miles per hour for 24 hours. And 148.641 miles per hour for 48 hours. Â That’s impressive by today’s standards, let alone for 1936.
There was the absolutely flawless, exceptionally rare 1957 Dual-Ghia D500 convertible that Ronald Reagan once owned, and apparently lost during heavy betting in a high-stakes card game to then-President Lyndon Johnson.
One particularly interesting car carries some relevance to us amateur racers. The 1959 Stingray Special Racer. This was one of the first concept cars ever designed by Bill Mitchell, who went on to become one of the most prolific designers in GM’s history. This particular car was essentially a very early preview of what was later to become the legendary 1963 Corvette. The relevance to racing? The car campaigned with solid success for several years on the SCCA circuit as a B and C-Prepared car, winning a national championship in 1960 in C Modified, long before the 1963 Corvette debuted. Wise marketing tactic on GM’s part to establish the car as a seriously performance-oriented car. The sound of the barely muffled, heavily-cammed small block engine as it drove onto the stand at Meadow Brook only further confirmed it was a true competitor.
To give a better sense of the magnitude of the gathering, at the edge of the property, a brick patio contained a collection of what might be considered modern-day classics. There was the exceptionally rare Lamborghini Reventon, a  Bugatti Veyron, the new ZR1 Corvette, a Ferrari 599, 612 Scaglietti, 430 Scuderia and 430 Spider, the Maserati MC12, and Nissan GT-R. Oh, and a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Audi R8, and a Ford GT in Gulf livery. And they were, in essence, the lesser opening act before the main show on this particular occasion. How’s that for a tough crowd?
Logistics were for the most part well-handled. It was easy using standard maps to find the Oakland campus. Once there, the signage to guide visitors around the campus to the parking areas could have been a little clearer. Ticketing lines were fast-moving, and shuttles ran with such frequency that nobody waited more than a few minutes to come and go. If you’d like to add to your trip, you’re within minutes of the Walter P. Chrysler museum in Auburn Hills, which is a great museum even if you’re not a Chrysler fan. And of course the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village and the River Rouge factory tour are all just a little further down the road.
Put this highly under-rated event on your ‘must-do’ list for 2009. Even if you’re not in the Midwest.
For more information regarding the event, visit http://www.meadowbrookconcours.org/
For a full catalog of images for this event, visit http://mageep.smugmug.com/gallery/5616416_gYQcT#344902004_BNh5z
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