THE LAST ‘NORMAL’ EVENT IN 2020 AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS

    Amelia Island 2020 will go down in history as one of the best events of the year. Not necessarily because it had the best automobiles on display or the largest crowds or even the best weather, but because it may be the last car event in America and perhaps the world, for 2020.

    As I write this two weeks after the event, the world has changed. What we thought might be a passing issue has turned into a world-wide problem. Regardless of what the future may bring at least we have the memory of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance to help keep our automotive sanity alive.

    Once again the owners, celebrities, auctions and cars descended upon the small Florida island March 7-8th to get away from cold winter and shed the winter blues. While the weather was not hot, it was windy and cool; with a light jacket it was more than bearable.

    The overall mood was one of friendliness although there were many hand sanitizer stations set up. About half of the people I met would laughingly elbow bump and the other half would shrug and shake hands anyway.

    The crowd at Saturday’s Cars and Coffee was substantial and the cars numerous. There were few Ferraris; then again, Saturday doesn’t always bring out many Ferraristi.

    Sunday was a whole different story. Overall, the crowd seemed to be smaller; there were times one could walk around and see the cars. The total number of cars seemed to be fewer, but the quality was off the charts.

    The Amelia event highlights several different makes or personalities in its annual program. This year was The Cars of Roger Penske. Penske is a monumental figure in motorsports. Few men have created a legend in their lifetime, and get to see that celebration while still living.

    Imagine any car associated with Penske and it was there. The Trans-Am Camaros, Formula, Indy, and sports cars all part of the Penske history were displayed. They even brought the infamous gravity fueling stand which could be seen from anywhere on the field.

    In the middle of a sea of blue and gold was a red 250 GTO. Now owned by Ralph Lauren this rarely seen GTO was displayed in the bright sunshine.

    Seeing any GTO is noteworthy, but it was not the only one there. Farther down the lawn was an impressive array of competition Ferraris.

    We walk through one of the greatest collections of automotive sports car history. The first half of the 1950s was represented by a 1953 375 MM brought by Oscar Davis; Tom Peck’s 1955 500 Mondial; a 750 Monza by Patrick Ottis, and the monster of 1955, a 410 Sport.

    The back half of the 1950s had the 1956 pontoon-fender 500 TR of Les Wexner, the 1957 335 Sport of Peter Sachs and the 1958 pontoon-fender 250 TR of Harry Yeaggy.

    Gentleman-racing Ferraris were represented from the beginning to end of the era with a very early 250 TdF of Michael Leventhal and another 250 GTO of the Rare Wheels Collection. A solid field indeed!

    The next class was Scaglietti Production and it also had an impressive lineup of Ferraris. Although designed by Pininfarina these Ferraris all were built in the Scaglietti workshop.

    Peter Kalikow brought a 250 GT SWB Spyder California and Glenn Simon displayed his early 246 GT, both cars in dark blue.

Red cars were represented by a pair of 275 GTB/4s; well, one was a Berlinetta  brought by Henry Wilkinson and the other was a NART Spyder brought by an anonymous owner.

    The Daytona was also represented with a Berlinetta brought by Duke Steinemann, and a Spyder from Don Fort.

These cars were of the highest caliber. The Amelia Island Concours organizers pulled off one of the premier events of the season and maybe the last car event of 2020. But if it is the last one this year, at least it was the best one to attend.