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Had a chance to head over to the Forest Grove Concours d'Elegance this weekend. It was a great show with a wide variety of cars. I thought I'd throw a few photos and thoughts up for those of you that weren't able to make it.
At $20 bucks a head to get in it ain't cheap so leave those not interested in cars at home!
The event is held at the college in Forest Grove and it's a unique nice venue, well shaded from the July heat. Some of the old residence halls make nice backdrops for the classics.
Right in the gate I walked up on an MGA Coupe. Not an overly notable car except that I sold mine last week. It was a little bittersweet to see one in "concourse" condition but the reality is I don't have the time or patience to make a concourse car. I'll post a pic of my car below the concourse car and you'll see. 'nough said.
Behind the English sports cars sat the Germans, waiting to invade. When I sold my car I thought naively that I might try and find an old 911. It turns out these things are made of various parts of gold, silver. platinum and possibly some uranium that makes them of value to Iran. It is insane how much a clean old 911 costs. I need to plant some more money trees.
Jaguar had it's own station around the corner. I know most people love them but the E type looks a little too funky for me. Maybe it's just the coupe, but it doesn't seem like the front end goes with the cab. I prefer my car's body lines to look less like an upside down falic symbol.
Now the little XK, that I love. I still wouldn't drive it though, but dang my wife would look hot cruising it to our Imaginaryland Villa in Italy. I think I'd need to be an ex-theif or something (and if you catch that reference you're extremely good especially since that was a bad analogy because it wasn't a Jaguar).
Hey, I even make the same grumpy face as Cary when anyone other than me drives!
Being by myself it was fun to overhear some of the conversations. There's nothing like a car show to bring out the know-it-all in us. As we walked past the below car I heard someone say, "Look at the front end on this Ford!". Yeah, not a Ford. I don't remember what it was because I'd never heard of it before. Neat looking car though.
It was refreshing to see some things I don't normally see. I thought the design of this Lincoln Continental was very clean. I'd drive it... to work... maybe. Or the grocery store. It's not a track day car, but I'm sure I could find something to do with it looking that good.
Over in the Chevys there was a vintage police car model that looked pretty mean. I'm really surprised he hasn't thrown some gimmiky Barney Fife light on top, kudos!
I didn't take many photos of the American classics. I've been going to car shows probably since I was born. I still dream of a '57 Chevy as our family car. But the reality is, they just don't excite me much. I think it's context. For the older generation they represent Friday nights cruising, going to the "hop", and rockin' aroun' the clock. For me they represent slow hot days in fairground parks walking around men wearing polo shirts and straw hats, with the smell of polish heavy in the air. My context is different and it's not exciting.
But I caught a little Alpina BMW that I'd never see before. Talk about a little racer! This thing looks like it was ready to head out the track the day Alpina signed it over. What a cool car!
Just up the hill from the Alpina was a real, honest-to-goodness, slant nose Porsche racecar that had won many endurace races. I find racing heritage cool. I think it's because of my context again. I've seen race cars on race tracks and that looked, smelled and sounded like fun and I left thinking, "man I want to do that".
But I suppose if I owned a Lambo I too might be prone to lovingly polish it in the fairground park on a hot July day.
I found a sweet little period custom down in the customs section. I'm into googie buildings and signs and this would be the perfect car to roll up to a vintage googie coffee shop (too bad Ships isn't around) in. I'd feel like I stepped into the late 50's in sunny car crazy Southern CA, a place I think I would have enjoyed very much.
And everytime I see a 914 I think, "man that'd be a fun little car." To me they say, "Hey, I'm not that different than that old go-kart you had as a kid". They're so low and small they have to be fun. You probably feel like you're doing 100 at 40.
And speaking of cars that say something, it's so hard to look at a true AC and realize it's not a Cobra. They are great looking cars in their own right. I bet most people think Shelby designed the look of the Cobra. I'd say he re-envisioned, but I wouldn't give him credit for the bodystyle.
One of the cooler things I saw was some of the luxury car owners were letting kids sit in their cars. It was probably safe to do though because the fee to get through the gates weeded out any dirty ones. The kids had big old smiles on their faces.
But there weren't many kids. Or even young adults.
Which got me thinking, who in my generation is going to own all these classics in 30-40 years? I love cars but my desire to own a large piece of American town car isn't that high. And for most of my generation, they don't give a rip about old cars. The lyrics of the recently departed George Jones come to mind.
"Who's gonna fill their shoes
Who's gonna stand that tall
Who's gonna play the Opry
And the Wabash Cannonball?"
Well, I'm not much into operas, but George, I'd love to do a Cannonball run!
Anyways, pondering the fate of many a classic as the classic loving generation ages, I wandered back to my car daydreaming that maybe, by default, I will own a concourse car when I'm old because no one else will want it or know how to work on it.
I'll leave you with some pictures of the parking lot wildflowers.
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