km : Cultural and Events News

When you hear the word "concours" you're probably already conditioned to think of unobtainably rare metal arranged on an immaculate golf fairway with hoards of over-dressed social climbers traipsing about all-knowingly. And that's probably a fair assessment of some of the more established concours events, but certainly not typical of all. The Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance, which just celebrated ten years of success, certainly falls into the latter category, attracting a broad mix of cars and car enthusiasts to its island playground locale.

What started out in 2002 as yet another concours has actually grown into a full-fledged "motoring festival" that encompasses vintage racing (the Speed Classic Road Races at nearby Hutchinson Island held the weekend prior to the concours), a driving tour of the island on Friday, a car club jamboree on Saturday, and the concours itself on Sunday. There's also a vendor and sponsor midway with a variety of additional attractions (wooden boats among them this year) and a fashion show.

Variety is the key word for this event. In addition to the multiple activities, the show field itself is considerably more diverse than other such concours. Cars this year ranged from an immaculate 1903 Olds Curved Dash to more pedestrian (albeit equally prime) examples as a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 with just eight original miles on the odometer. It will be decades before you witness a car like that at Pebble Beach.

Of course, the big draw for us was the fact that this year's featured marque was BMW, whose South Carolina manufacturing facilities make it a home-state hero. Some of the finest vintage BMWs in the country were on display, including numerous 328 roadsters and a rare 503 cabriolet. The liberal structure of the event allows for cars as new as 1972, which meant there were some great Neue Klasse coupes and sedans on hand, as well as an impressive array of former BMW race cars.

The crowd, like the cars, is a more laid-back assemblage as well. Sure, you'll see the occasional owner/exhibitor dressed in costume of the same period as the car he's displaying, but for the most part the spectators and participants alike are dressed in casual, contemporary attire. The emphasis seems to be more on comfort than making impressions. Celebrity sighting is a little tougher, though TV's Dennis Gage and racing great Bobby Rahal were on hand as honorary chairmen and judges.

The car club jamboree held on Saturday is a novel element. Car clubs are alloted ten slots each to show off their members' best works, lending a fairly democratic feel to the day. The midway area, adjacent to the show field and spanning both Saturday and Sunday, includes a variety of related displays; this year wooden boats (predominately ChrisCrafts) were at the center, while secondary attractions included vintage tuner cars (Alpina, Saleen, Yenko and others) as well as late-era horse-drawn carriages. A vendor tent stood between the entry gates and the main attractions, forcing everyone to walk past booths of automotive art, clothing and other such merchandise.

The Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival runs the first weekend in November each year. Details can be found on the event website, www.hhiconcours.com. Click on the links below to see our galleries from all three days.

Friday (Driving Tour)

Saturday (Car Club Jamboree and Motoring Midway)

Sunday (Concours d'Elegance)

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