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Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance

2008 - Parnelli Jones

American racing legend Parnelli Jones, Indy 500 winner, 1970 Trans-Am champion and multiple Baja 1000 winner, is the show honoree, and Amelia features a triple headliner: the 100th anniversary of General Motors; the 100th birthday of the venerable Ford Model T; and the 100th anniversary of the New York-to-Paris "Great Race" of 1908.

Amelia's eclectic nature is once again well represented with several unique classes such as "Cars You Never Knew Existed," "Iso/Bizzarrini," and "Rare Camaros."

The "Great Race"-winning 1907 Thomas Flyer automobile makes an extremely rare trip out of the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection) in Reno, Nevada, to be in a seminar recounting the grueling race. The seminar, titled "Recollections of the Winner," is conducted by Mr. Jeff Mahl, the great grandson of George Schuster, who was the only driver on the Thomas team to be in the car for the entire 22,000-mile journey. In addition to the regular seminar on Friday afternoon of show week, Mahl also conducts a special morning seminar for nearly 600 middle school students and receives a standing ovation at the conclusion.

An incredible 13 Thomas cars and one Thomas motor bike come to Amelia to make up a class devoted to the marque. The gathering is one of the largest of these rare vehicles since the factory closed its doors back in 1912.

Amelia continues its wildly successful seminar series with another home run - "The Legends of Trans-Am" sponsored by GM. A standing-room-only crowd watches Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, Sam Posey, George Follmer, Bud Moore, Bert Everett, Tony Adamowicz, Gib Hufstader, Horst Kwech, and Judy Stropus recount their experiences in this horsepower-hungry series of 1966-72.

The RM Auction, in its ninth Amelia appearance, records another respectable tally - $16 million - during its one-day auction. Several cars top seven figures in active bidding with a sale rate of nearly 100%.

Over 300 cars, a record number of vendors and sponsors, and another huge crowd come together on the 10th and 18th fairways of The Golf club of Amelia Island at Summer Beach on a crisp, clear spring day on the North Florida coast.

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