A woman approaches James Peterson’s 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, a chrome- and gold-emblem encrusted red ruby of a car. The woman is a spectator at the 36th annual Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance, set in the rolling farm country and fir forests of northwest Oregon. She’s kept at arm’s length by the ropes surrounding the Biarritz, which commands the respect of a precious museum rarity despite the fact that it’s parked outdoors, beneath a tree, less than 100 yards from a tent selling grilled sausages and potato chips. When the woman breaks free of the Biarritz’s spell, she speaks to her husband in an art gallery hush, saying simply, “This is it. This is the one I want.”
This is a common game at any concours event, the “which one would you like to own, if you could own any one” game. It’s hard to resist, surrounded by a field of hundreds of shimmering cars, most of which exceed showroom quality. In many cases, concours cars have a better fit and finish or a deeper paint job than would have been possible with the technology available in their original year of manufacture. Many of the cars parked at the concours arrive in trailers, with nary a trace of road wear evident on the spotless undercarriage. Those that are driven to the event are painstakingly cleaned, staged to remove all trace of dirt and debris. Pebbles are plucked from tire treads, hoods are buffed at hourly intervals, and tailpipes are patted dry of exhaust moisture.
The dedication of concours car owners honor the 1920s Parisian roots of the event, the “parade of elegance,” that began as a showcase for the most luxurious current offerings in fashion and automobiles. In Paris, automakers assembled their most extravagant designs and custom coaches, which were driven in parade-like succession to a judging platform by fashion models wearing the haute couture of the time. Both fashion and automobile were judged here in a spectacle that was ultimately intended to generate pop marketing buzz for designers from both industries. Americans imported the concours d’elegance concept after World War II, dropping the very French element of runway pageantry and focusing exclusively on honoring cars at the pinnacle of automotive elegance.
The most glamorous of these American concours, the nearly 60-year-old Pebble Beach event, is known for pulling off remarkable gatherings of rarities. In 1985, the six Bugatti Royales of the world were assembled here, all in one place for the first time on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. In 1989, the same organizers managed to draw three Alfa Romeo Disco Volante concept racers, along with their original designer Nuccio Bertone, to headline a concours dedicated to Italian auto styling. In 1994, automakers like Ferrari and Rolls-Royce/Bentley began making market and concept car introductions here. And this year at Pebble Beach, Porsche will display its first two-seater sports car, the Porsche No. 1, for the first time ever in North America.
This level of extravagance may be an anomaly even within the concours world, but the less glamorous annual events held elsewhere in the country deliver ample intrigue and envy. Here in the tiny burg of Forest Grove, the back stories of the 2008 concours collection are captivating. A 1966 Sunbeam Tiger Mark IA, originally owned by Get Smart Agent 86 Don Adams, always has a crowd. So does the striking 1956 Mercedes 300SL “widowmaker.” There’s also a 1968 Jaguar E-type that was once used in an unsuccessful bank robbery - the nearly 30-year restoration effort by current owner Howell Cobb included the erasure of several .45 caliber bullet holes in the passenger compartment. Nearby another 30-year project, a 1947 Chevy Fleetmaster paneled in supple mahogany and alder wood, has been so impeccably restored that it shows no scars from its humble beginnings as a rural ambulance for injured Oregon loggers.
Old stories abound, but it’s current events (read: gas prices) that drew a steady throng to the “microcar” category in Forest Grove this year. Microcars made their concours debut in Pebble Beach in 1996 and the appeal of the category is undeniable – looking into the frog-eyed headlights of Mark Hatten’s three-wheeled Messerschmitt KR200 inspires serious novelty lust. No one can get enough of this odd-looking, bubble-domed cabin scooter that resembles an old airplane cockpit on wheels. And every five minutes someone asks the inevitable questions about weight and gas mileage. “It weighs 506 pounds and gets about 87 miles to the gallon,” Mark says. “That’s the one,” someone chuckles in the crowd. “That’s the one I want.”
1957 Cadillac Biarritz
1947-Chevy-Fleetmaster
1956-Mercedes-300-SL
1962-Messerschmitt-KR200
1963-Studebaker-Avanati
--Sloan Schang