Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance

2011 - Bobby Rahal

  • 2011 PosterIndy 500 winner and three-time CART Champion Bobby Rahal serves as the honoree for the 16th Annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance and the show again hosts a record crowd on the fairways of The Golf Club of Amelia Island at SummerBeach.
  • Duesenberg is the featured marque for 2011 and Allard and Kurtis cars are featured in special classes on the show field.The Duesenberg class is particularly impressive and numbers nearly 30 cars.Both Bests In Show are "Duseys”: a 1935 Duesenberg SJ Speedster, a.k.a. the "Mormon Meteor,” takes Best In Show Concours de Sport, and a 1933 Duesenberg SJN Arlington Torpedo Sedan, a.k.a. "The Twenty Grand,” takes home Best In ShowConcours d’Elegance.
  • Long-time sponsor Mercedes-Benz sends the Pope’s official limousine from its incredible Museum inStuttgart and it joins the limos of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti and Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner in a class on the show field.It was the papal vehicle’s first ever trip to the United States.The class is referred to as having, "A Saint, a Sinner, and a Singer.”
  • Seminars again fill the halls of The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island property.Three unique themes are featured: Hot Rod Lifestyle, Women of Racing, and The Cannonball Run Revisited.The Cannonball is particularly well-attended with its founder and former winner Brock Yates holding court with a host of former competitors including his co-winning driver Dan Gurney, "Father” Pete Brock, Bill Brodrick, William Jeanes, Jack May (another overall winner), Dick Gilmartin, and Judy Stropus.
  • The 13th annual RM Auction sets a record for one day sales at Amelia with $24.3 million in cars hammered.The top seller award goes to a 1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico Coupe at $4.29 million. Several other classics brush the million dollar mark proving that the collector car segment is as strong as ever.
  • For the second year in a row, Gooding & Company holds their auction at nearby Amelia Island Plantation, and hammers an impressive $17.8 million in vehicles.The top seller is a 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Cabriolet.Amelia and Pebble Beach are the only Concours today that have more than one auction.
  • Continuing the theme of cover cars started at the 2010 show, Amelia creates a class called "Cover Cars of Hot Rod Magazine.”One of the most popular cars in the class is the faithful recreation of "TV” Tommy Ivo’s outrageous four-engine dragster dubbed "Showboat.”