One of the Car Shows You Need to See Before DyingConcours of EleganceTo me, fair friend, you never can be old,For as you were when first your eye I eyed,Such seems your beauty still.Shakespeare was probably talking about a girl in Sonnet 104, but if he were still around, and at Hampton Court Palace September 4-6 in London, he could easily have been talking about beautiful old cars at the Concours of Elegance.The Concours of Elegance is one of the world's truly great car shows. It is one of the events selected when the Best of the Best draws on concours winners from around the world, and it is one of perhaps a dozen events that you have to attend before you, like Shakespeare, shuffle off this mortal coil.Concours of EleganceThe Concours of Elegance has been held at many of England and the UK's most beautiful sites. It began at Windsor Castle in 2012, moved to St. James's Palace in 2013, then to Hampton Court Palace in 2014, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh (His Majesty the King's official residence in Scotland) in 2015, then came back to Windsor Castle in 2016 and Hampton Court Palace in 2017. So it's been around.AdvertisementAdvertisementHampton Court Palace is easy to get to (there's a tube stop right there), easy to get around in, and held at one of the loveliest places in England, which is saying a lot.It's also relatively small, so you won't wear out what's left of your anterior cruciate ligaments seeing everything. This year the Concours will once again limit the field to a selection of 80 of "the rarest cars from around the world"—many of which have never been seen in the UK before.Many of the Concours cars will also take part in a two-day driving tour in the days running up to the main Concours event. And when it's all done, uniquely, the Concours of Elegance winner isn't selected by a panel of judges but by the owners of the cars themselves. Each participant is asked to vote on the other models on display to decide which car is considered 'Best of Show.'Concours of EleganceIn addition to the Concours of Elegance's 80 cars, there will be displays of hundreds of other fine motor cars, organizers promise, including entrants to the Club Trophy. Now in its 12th year, the Club Trophy sees some of the UK's most prestigious car clubs offering up their finest examples to an independent panel of judges. The winning Club Trophy car will secure a place in the following year's main Concours of Elegance event.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe concours starts on Friday September 4 with Owners' & VIP Day, wherein around 70 of the 80 featured cars drive one by one over the ramp and are introduced to the crowd.Saturday is a parade of the Club Trophy entrants, featuring the best of various car clubs from across the UK, from Aston Martin to Zagato.Sunday is a parade of 30 Under 30 cars; like the Audrain, they are trying to enlist new generations into the car collecting hobby. That's followed by presentation of specialist cars, and the Best in Show from Friday's entries.Google "Cheap flights to London," then take the Tube, you know, The Underground from Heathrow and see this event. Any of the three days will do. Sounds like Friday might be the most fun, but any of them will offere something worth seeing.John keeble - Getty ImagesFriday tickets are $150, Saturday and Sunday tickets are $100 ($70 for just the afternoons).AdvertisementAdvertisementThe one unfortunate thing is that organizers of this and the competing Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace have scheduled their events for the same days. Why can't these people discuss this? Is Salon trying to overpower Concours? Is there bad (blue) blood between the two?"Unfortunately, it does take place at the same time as Salon Privé," said a spokeschap for the Concours. "For at least the last three years, the Concours of Elegance has been held on the first weekend in September, and this year Salon Privé chose to host their event on that same weekend. It is a shame all around."Can't they talk it out?"Regarding settling on separate dates, I don't believe there is much by way of a relationship between the two given the competing nature of the two events. It would be nice if that could be the case in future," said the Concours of Elegance spokesgentleman.AdvertisementAdvertisementWe have reached out to Salon Privé about this but have not heard back. If you think about it, there are maybe 12 truly great car events we all must see before we die, and you're telling me two of them have to on the same dates?!? Come on, man! It's like Pebble and Woodward!List of the top 12 great concours you must see: Pebble, Chantilly, Salon Privé, Concours of Elegance, Amelia Island, Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este (Lake Como, Italy), Retromobile (Paris and now New York), Goodwood FoS and Revival, Audrain (Newport, Rhode Island), Eyes on Design (Detroit), The Quail, Concours d'LeMons (OMG!).
