Tom arrived at the Concours d"Elegance at 6 AM. When I spoke with him a little bit later on in the morning I could tell he was having fun, almost breathless! Tonight he is already in edit mode. Please enjoy.
There were several Delages entered and they were among my favorites. They all featured Custom Coachwork which means this chassis was delivered bare to a coach builder in 1936 for a one-of-a-kind body. The body on this Delage was designed and built in Paris by the highy regarded shop of Figoni y Falaschi. Simple elegance is the key here…..right down to the door handles!
A rear view.
Tom included the following in his email with the image below. "I asked the owners of several of my favorite cars if they thought they had a chance for winning Best of Show. Each one insisted they didn’t have a chance and even gave reasons why they would not. Interestingly, one of them said, “That Rolls Royce Silver Ghost has a chance.”. It was over-the-top perfect, just not necessarily my style. . . and in the one below this one shows her driving the car on the tour Thursday (is her passenger hanging on for dear life?).
The green ribbons indicate the car participated in the tour on Thursday.
The crowd. The would look out of place at the Concours d'LeMons!
Opening the hood for a judge.
Tom wrote, "The Duesenberg was the largest and most expensive auto ever produced in America. Probably the origin of the slang phrase, “It’s a Doosy!”. Note the stylized bird radiator emblem."
These people were perfectly in sync with the cars….most were a little over the top, but still elegant.
I appreciate the smaller detail photos. When we shoot a car show together I am more interested in the small details. That is because I don't know my cars the way Tom does, and he really does know a good car. I suspect I could shoot the bigger items in this Concours as the cars are all excellent. But, I still like detail such as in the image below. Dang that is a good shot!
I just love this.
Detail of hand made door handle by Figoni y Falaschi. With running board reflection.
Jay Leno was surrounded by a crowd and the press, but I was able to be there in time to get a decent spot. He was in the middle of negotiating to buy one of the show motorcycles, but he appeared to by quite generous with his fans!
The car below sports the Italian flag indicating its heritage. The chassis is by Alfa Romeo and the coachwork is by Pininfarina. In case you don't recognize Pininfarina (I certainly didn't), Tom provided us with his research. It is an independent car designer in Cambiano, Italy and was founded in 1930. The company designs cars, high-speed trains, buses, trams, yachts, airplanes and more. It works with many different companies around the world, including Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, GM, Maserati, and even emerging markets such as China.
Fiat
The Testa Rossa Ferrari, a featured marque at this year’s show. There were 12-15 there, of the 34 which were produced. The red “Testarossa” which we saw at Mc Donald’s and followed on the way to Flagstaff was a street car produced in large quanities by Ferrari in the late 90’s….this is the real deal here!
This photo is for Anden!!
She is working the Bentley Booth.
Nuff for tonight! It is past midnight. Tom is still editing with several thousand photos to explore. More blog entries on this event to follow. We hope you survived the storms in Greater Phoenix this evening. Stay cool!