It was our first time ever actually participating in a concours, so I was pretty anxious about the whole thing. And I managed to misunderstand much of what was expected. The Cobble Beach Concours (like many others?) is actually run to benefit charity, so of course they hope you'll either donate yourself, or inspire others to donate. I probably shouldn't have signed us up for the big banquet, where it was all about raising money. But the car folks who maybe don't feel obliged to donate still hung out together on the field, which, in the case of Cobble Beach, is a lovely golf course on the shore of Georgian Bay. That's an offshoot of Lake Huron in the Great Lakes. The drive from London up there was about 220km, and I was pretty nervous about it, as it was the longest we've driven it since Dan finished putting her back together. But the Pagoda ran smoothly the whole way. And back on the Monday.
We were in Class 5, European Sports Cars before 1975. There were six entries in this category. The winner was a red 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale, and second place was a black 190SL. You can sort of see them in the photos here. As Doug has pointed out, it rained Saturday night. The organizers provided flimsy clear plastic covers to everyone, and I don't think our car suffered from being outside in the rain for the first time since it was rebuilt. There were many compliments, which made us feel pretty good, I must say. The photographer in the photo here said he was covering the event for the MB Club of Canada, so maybe a picture of our car will show up in their newsletter.
Hugh was there with his recent Ferrari acquisition, and he was busy trying to sort out which wheels belonged on the car. It looked amazing! And Dieter actually set up his Blue Tornado in a special area of the parking lot, not on the green field, at the invitation of one of the top organizer persons. I'm pretty sure we three were the only Pagoda owners there. It was a good experience overall and I'm glad we went, despite my anxieties.
