Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance
November 1st, 2009 Hilton Head Island, South
Carolina USA
www.hhiconcours.com
The premier winners, the coveted 'Best of Show' and 'People's
Choice' awards along with the two recently established honors 'Most
Outstanding Car - Pre-1948' and 'Most Outstanding Car - Post-1948'
were chosen today for the prestigious Hilton Head Island Concours
d'Elegance & Motoring Festival, held at the historic Coastal
Discovery Museum at Honey Horn.
Sunday's Concours d'Elegance top honor, "Best of Show," was
awarded to a 1933 Rolls-Royce Coupe owned by Frank & Milli
Ricciardelli of Monmouth Beach, NJ. First Owned by Sir Hugh
Cunliffe-Owen, Baronet of Brey, County of Berkshire, Chairman of
British American Tobacco Company and Director of Midland Bank, this
car is a one off example with a PII Continental High Speed Chassis.
It was built specially for demonstration purposes. Other
significant awards on Sunday included "People's Choice" awarded to
a 1932 Packard Opera Coupe owned by Grace Clark of Yonges Island,
SC. The car was restored by her father 17 years ago. Most
Outstanding Car - Pre-1948 went to John W. Rich Sr.'s 1914 Renault
EF and Most Outstanding Car - Post 1945 went to a 1957 Ford
Thunderbird owned by Vernon Smith. Philip Capossela, Event Chairman
for the Hilton Head Island show, said, "we certainly had a
tremendous show this year with more entries. This year's top honors
were well deserved and we're proud to have them in the Hilton Head
Island Concours d'Elegance & Motoring Festival's history book."
Added to that sentiment, Dr. Paul Doerring, one of the founding
members of the Hilton Head Island event, stated, that "because we
are able to display such outstanding cars, we had to showcase more
of our remarkable entries with additional top awards over the past
two years. We're proud that selecting a single "Best of Show" has
becoming nearly impossible."
Saturday's top honors for the Car Club Jamboree were the "Best
of Show Award" given to a 1967 Ferrari owned by Reinhold Preik,
"People's Choice Award" given to a 1958 Porsche 356A Speedster
owned by Ray Morgan, and the Chairman's Award awarded to a 1950
Chrysler Town & Country Woodie Wagon owned by Aiken Ryan.
More than 600 automobiles made their way to the Hilton Head
Island, SC/Savannah, GA Lowcountry this weekend to participate in
the 8th anniversary event. Dennis Gage of the SPEED Channel's My
Classic Car was on-site filming the Savannah/Hilton Head Speed
Classic track event on Savannah's Hutchinson Island for his 2010
season. Plus, Gage, was on-hand to select his favorite motorcycles
from the Motoring Midway including "Best Midway Motorcycle" awarded
to a 1966 Honda CA 77 owned by William Aldrich of Lake City, FL and
runner ups H.C. Morris for his 1967 Triumph T120TT and Robert
O'Kelley for his 1970 Norton Commando S. Michael Spezia, Executive
Director and CEO of The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners,
Michigan, served as the 2009 Honorary Chairman.
Carolyn Vanagel, Executive Director for the Motoring Festival
today remarked, "The event was better than it's ever been - higher
quality, more variety, larger exhibits - , the crowds were engaged,
and I think we have had a record year. There was a lot of
excitement on the show field." Vanagel stated that the combination
of the four glorious events, the Savannah/Hilton Head Speed
Classic, the newly established Motoring Midway, the Car Club
Jamboree and, of course, the pinnacle, the Concours d'Elegance, as
well as the increased number and variety of sponsors, all helped to
boost this year's success.
Positioned as one of the last Concours in the national annual
show circuit, the Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance &
Motoring Festival has quickly climbed the ranks among national
Concours events. In just eight short years, Hilton Head Island is
already considered by many as being among those elite USA events
with the likes of Pebble Beach, Meadow Brook and Amelia Island. Key
sponsors of the event included BMW Group/Hilton Head BMW/Critz BMW,
Porsche of North America/Porsche of Hilton Head, Jaguar Motor Cars,
NA/Jaguar Hilton Head, Mercedes-Benz USA, Beaufort Memorial
Hospital, Hargray, the Hilton Head Island/Bluffton Chamber of
Commerce, the Savannah Convention & Visitors Bureau, The Westin
Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa, Adventure Radio, Savannah
Morning News, Celebration Events, Classic Party Rentals and
Historic Sportscar Racing, Ltd.
The 2010 event is already generating excitement amongst its
organizers. The dates have been set for November 5-7, 2010. More
information for the 2010 event will follow.
© pictures by Rob Kaufman of Kaufman
Photography
