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Our History
The Concours was initially conceived by Bill Scheffler, John Shuck and Dan Long as a way of celebrating the best examples of automotive and motorcycle design and engineering excellence. The vehicles have been sourced by
Consultant Director Miles Morris, former Senior Vice President for International Motor Car Sales at Christie’s, and
an avid collector and enthusiast himself. He is joined on the Advisory Committee:
- Kent Bain
- Rupert Banner
- John H. Boccardo
- Dave Brownell
- Wayne Carini
- David Kinney
- Buzz Kanter
- Christopher Sanger
- Rob Sass
- John Shuck
- Richard Taylor
and our other Consultant Director Donald Osborne.
Together they have created a Concours which has rapidly evolved into both a showcase for excellence and a forum for the education of its guests. For the years 2004-2006, the event was held on the Veteran’s Green in Westport, CT. In 2007, it moved to its new and much larger home – the Fairfield County Hunt Club, also in Westport.
Education is a core feature of the Concours. For example, the 2005 Concours showcased “3 XK’s”. These were three examples of the Jaguar XK-120, one a non-running project car, one a driving-condition car and one a show-ready car, with descriptions of the work required to bring each vehicle to the next stage. The 2006 show celebrated the MG, “the Sports Car America Loved First” by showing cars from 1932 to 1980. A 1948 Tucker, complete with showroom style banners, was also on display. In addition, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Lancia Marque.
2009 saw the Concours expand to two full days of on-field activities wiht Saturday featuring seminars and our Car Club Celebration
Day. More than 175 cars from seven regional car clubs attended the day. Each held their own judging and the winning vehicles from Saturday
were featured in a special exhibit on Sunday. Sunday's Concous continued our growth story wit more than 7,500 people attending
the show on another crystal clear, blue fall New England day. Our featured
artist was Timothy White with his photos of several of Nicola Bulgari's
Packards on the cover of the program. For more about 2009, see 2009 in Review.
Our 2008 event was our most ambitious and successful ever. More than 5,000 visitors attended the Sunday Concours on a spectacular fall New England day. We welcomed our new Presenting Sponsor, Porsche Cars of North America and several new sponsors. Our charity was also new – the Autism programs of AIND/Giant Steps School and Hall-Brooke Behavioral Health Services. Noted artist Chuck Queener was our featured artist in the Art & Automobilia exhibits.
Saturday’s Nutmeg Tour for Autism featured more than 50 vehicles on a 50+ mile tour of Southern Fairfield County (CT) with a stop at The Highcroft Racing Gallery. The tour returned to the grounds of Hall-Brooke for a brief reception.
Our celebrity guest speaker at Saturday’s d’Elegance Reception and Dinner was Frank Deford – noted sports commentator and author. We presented the “Share the Passion” award to Malcolm Pray and Wayne Carini for their use of their passion for rare and antique vehicle collecting to benefit others.
Sunday’s Concours featured exhibits of Winners from Amelia Island, 60 years of Racing at Watkins Glen, and Artful Dodgers (replicas of rare autos). Our Special Judging Classes were Ferrari, Cars of ’58, Preservation Vehicles and Classic Car Club of America eligible vehicles.
The 2007 show included the usual extraordinary selection of antique cars, sports cars, racing and touring cars, muscle cars, vintage American and European cars, and rare motorcycles. Highlighted in 2007 were Japanese collectible cars (including a Toyota 2000GT, Datsun 240Z, Mazda Rotaries). There was a “Best of the Best” exhibit with former winners of the Pebble Beach Concours, and an exhibit celebrating 50 years of racing in Connecticut.
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