Well, with the COVID-19 virus in full swing here in the States and around the world, we’re stuck home with time to catch up on some needed house projects (yecchh!), but more importantly, to share with you all a fantastic event we recently attended.
Winter here in the Upstate of South Carolina has really sucked this year. Cold, wet, windy. Five out of seven days it rains, all day. The other two: dark, gloomy, and cold. I always wondered how the folks in the Pacific Northwest could stand living somewhere it rains all the time. Now we’re living it.
And so, the first event of the year on our calendar had a date of the first weekend in March. Best of all, the venue was in sunny and warm-ish Florida. Yeah! If nothing else, that big yellow ball in the sky will be smiling down on us. Haven’t seen ol’ Sol for weeks.
This event has been on our, dare I say, bucket list (hate that term), for a few years now. We finally decided to pull the trigger and just go, having saved up enough sheckles to enjoy ourselves without buyers remorse. Road trip!
Our lodging for the weekend is in the small town of Kingsland, GA, just a 25 minute hop/skip to Amelia Island. Every hotel on Amelia is booked one year in advance of the next years Concours. Even if any rooms were available, prices are just stratospheric. Ranging from around $300.00 per night for the lowly Days Inn, to upwards of $1000.00 (you read that right), per night for a lovely room at the Ritz-Carlton host hotel. Next year, we’re “putting on the Ritz!” Ha! That always reminds me of the hilarious scene in Young Frankenstein with Peter Boyle as the Monster singing “Putting on the Ritz.” Never gets old.
Back to Amelia. We parked our car at a lovely residence that graciously opened their property to attendees to park for $20 (a bargain) adjacent to the 9th hole of the Amelia Island Golf Course, the venue show field for the gorgeous vehicles on display.
Walking along the golf cart path to the main gate, rounding a bend, we were greeted by these beautiful works of art:
The Concours d’Elegance at Amelia Island is a high end collector car show. It is one of two Concours events in the USA, the other being Pebble Beach in California, that attract the crème de la crème of collector car excellence and the people that spend their money to purchase them. Amelia also hosts Sotheby’s and Bonham’s auctions so those same folks can add to their invaluable collections.
This being our first time attending, we didn’t quite know what to expect. There is so much to see and do here over the four days that it was quite overwhelming…in a good way. Besides ogling the cars and bikes, you could pay to drive a supercar (Ferrari, McLaren, C8 Corvette, among others), hot laps in a Porsche on a mini road course, dine with Roger Penske, this years Honoree, and just too much more to mention. But the crowds, and the people watching to go with it, was almost as fun as scrutinizing the cars! Folks strutting their stuff dressed to the nines competing with the cars on display. People watching at it’s finest!
Saturday and Sunday are the big days at Amelia. Saturday is Cars & Coffee at the Concours, and Sunday is the grand finale: the Concours itself, where Collector Cars vie for Best in Show (just like a dog show!).
Next post: Cars & Coffee at The Concours
Motoring Adventures 