PLYMOUTH, Mich. - The 2012 Concours d'Élégance of America at St. John's played under bright sunshine on Sunday, which served well to showcase several hundred gleaming classic and specialty automobiles on display. The event, formerly held at Meadow Brook Hall, was relocated to the Inn at St. John's in 2011.
I have always found that automotive exhibitions of this caliber - entrants included half a dozen Duesenbergs, nine classic Packards and 17 prewar European automobiles - put me in subjective mode. Most of the cars at St. John's were near perfect, but wandering the vast grounds, I was drawn to certain automobiles. Some evoked memories of machines owned or coveted; others were inextricably tied to days long gone and tugged at my emotions.
Of course, the judges viewed the show objectively, and they ultimately decided which machines were best. All manner of awards were bestowed, but there were also the best of the best . Here, perhaps to avoid an international incident, the judges named a best European, a 1933 Delage D8S, and a top dog American, a 1933 Chrysler Imperial Phaeton with body by LeBaron. I saw both cars, and they were gorgeous machines, but neither stopped me in my tracks.
The beat-up remains of a racecar did. It was an aluminum-body 1965 McLaren M1B, and, according to the owner, Therese Antonelli, the prototype for that maker's highly successful Can Am racer. And, more importantly, at least to me, the great Bruce McLaren had driven it.
Ms. Antonelli said her father, Tony Antonelli, had bought the car after seeing it offered in a Detroit newspaper classified ad 40 years ago.
The second stopper was Lori Porter's 1962 Oldsmobile Starfire. The Starfire was a General Motors study in excess, and as a teenager, I wanted one very much. My dad had an ordinary Oldsmobile that I beat up on weekends, but the Starfire, with stainless steel trim on its flanks, was the Olds mobile of Oldsmobiles, a star of a car.
“They weren't shy about the exterior or interior,†said Tony Swan, one of the judges, as he critiqued the car.
Then there was the car that came dressed in plaid: Al Gidding's 1929 Willys-Knight Model 66-B Plaidside Roadster. The car was notable for its Knight engine, with sleeve valves, rather than poppet valves, controlling intake and exhaust. But what stopped me was its plaid paint job, a factory option meant to help move the automobile off the showroom floor and a look reminiscent of some slacks I owned in the 1970s. Mr. Gidding's car is one of only nine known to exist, so it can be assumed that plaid didn't help.
Along the way, there many more: a 1983 Jaguar XJR-5 GTP racecar that I had photographed at a Connecticut racetrack almost 30 years ago; Joe Moch's 1963 Ferrari SWB California Spyder, in red, of course; and Jim Moore's 1969 Porsche 911T racecar, which was still warm after having competed in a vintage r oad race the day before.
But perhaps most fascinating was the 1911 Mercedes Model 50 Maythorne five-passenger touring car of Pamela and Scott Isquick. Mr. Isquick bought the car 57 years ago in England after participating in the Silver Jubilee Rally of the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain. He and his wife have driven the car 65,000 miles since then. Among the first of Daimler's cars to wear both the three-pointed star and the Mercedes name, the Model 50 was a milestone for the marque.
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