Many who love to celebrate the automobile equally love to attend the Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach every year in August. This year's event will be held on August 15, 2010.
"First conducted in 1950, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is often said to be the world’s premier celebration of the automobile. Only the most beautiful and rare automobiles are invited to appear on the famed eighteenth fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links each year, and connoisseurs of art and technology congregate to see them.'
'The annual affair, which has raised over $12 million for charity, includes a series of related events, such as the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance presented by Rolex, Pebble Beach RetroAuto, Pebble Beach Motoring Classic and the Pebble Beach Auction presented by Gooding & Company."
What makes a Concours car?
"A concours d’elegance is, quite literally, an automotive contest of elegance.'
'To contend in the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, an automobile must be a well preserved or accurately restored vehicle still quite capable of doing what it was meant to do—be driven. It will almost certainly have some historic value—perhaps in its day it served to debut new technology or new styling trends or it has an amazing racing record. And it will be rare—possibly a singular example of a special chassis bearing a respected coachbuilder’s art.'
'After these criteria have been met, a concours car must be one thing more. Above all, it must be elegant. And elegance is a matter of the eye and the heart."
Here are some famous quotes regarding the Concours d'Elegance:
“There is no such thing as a score sheet for elegance. It’s largely a matter of taste, recognition of design advantages, and knowledge of the performance and quality of the total architectural concept.” – Strother MacMinn, Renowned Automotive Designer and Former Chief Honorary Judge at Pebble Beach
“From a strictly personal point of view, my definition of an elegant car would be ‘the kind of car I would like to be buried in.’”– Ansel Adams, Photographer and former Honorary Judge at Pebble Beach
If you love your car and would like Robert's Auto Repair to detail it before the Concourse d'Elegance, call us at 831-373-1535 to schedule an appointment for an automotive "facial" or "spa treatment". We can't promise that your car will win an elegance contest, but we can make it beautiful, nonetheless.