 Concours LLS produced a home-grown Amelia Island “Coastal Motoring Tour,” on May 20, 2021. Launching from the legendary Brumos Collection, and running through some of the area’s most scenic highways and byways, the Coastal Motoring Tour will arrive just in time for the Hangar Night Film Festival.
The mid point of the trip featured an auto ferry ride across the St John's River. Then we continued on the final leg of the coastal drive to dinner and movies. The evening took flight at the Fernandina Municipal Airport with hors d'oeuvres, a special 'Floribbian' dinner, a cash bar, and most importantly, a beautiful display of our touring cars at the Amelia Aerodrome as the sun set at the airport. We where served dinner before the public arrived which gave our touring group plenty of time to take in the cars and ambiance. The evening culminated at the Amelia Aerodrome with a unique experience for automotive enthusiasts as we enjoyed the Grand Motoring Hanger Night Film Festival! The 2021 Tour Itinerary
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 Ralph & Doris Gilles discuss the early influences of automotive design from Formula 1 and Revell models to Ralph meeting Doris because of her Eagle Talon and "civilizing" their track days. I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with the team of Ralph and Doris Gilles during the 2021 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. Ralph Gilles is a Canadian-American automobile designer and executive. Gilles was the President and CEO of Chrysler's SRT brand and Senior Vice President of Design at Chrysler before being promoted to Head of Design for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in April 2015. Following FCA's merger into the Stellantis group in 2021, he became chief design officer for the newly merged company. Doris Gilles manages Ralph as he attests to in the video interview below. How it Started, How it's going Ralph Gilles, Head of Design at Stellantis and he's a car guy!! Growing up in the ugly 70's in Montreal Ralph Gilles was caught up in the car bug first by attending Formula One races, which led to building plastic models and then discovering that he had some talent for drawing cars. Ralph was auto-crossing Volkswagen Corrado's when he started his design career at Chrysler which is where he met his met his wife Doris as the result of an Eagle Talon. Doris and Ralph both started at Chrysler right out of college. Doris started going to auto events with Ralph, instead of being home alone on weekends, and found herself doing timing and scoring and then organizing and doing much of the planning for events. As was said above, Doris manages Ralph and they are very much a team. Doris and Ralph talk how they both have spent the last few decades around cars, racing and concours events, which should give you so nice insight and perspective into what has influenced the current head of design at Stellantis. Ralph talks about the "Passion points" of the new electric design including the opportunities of having so much room to design without the hinderance of an fuel powered engine taking up so much space. He goes into some detail about how sound is going to be so important at the advent of this new electric era. According to Ralph, "Every other time you to talk to a car guy they talk about the sound of the engine, the feeling, the guttural thing a car has. How do we bring some of that? We're employing sound designers and talking to agencies that work for the movie industry... So there are things we can do as designers to influence the experience. Driving an electric car without any of those things would be antiseptic. Then the whole relationship with you and car is over with, it's just a device. So how do we make an electric car touch your soul, tickle your heartstrings, make you smile when you drive it rear you with "wow I put effort into it" and the car speaks back to me" Ralph explains some of his design team influences and how he sends them out to Concours and Auto events to learn from the iconic designs of the past so they can integrate them into current design. "Lets look at cars 3 to 4 times our cost point. Let's look at the best vintage cars that tug our souls. That's what we did." ~ Ralph Gilles, Chief design Officer, Stellantis Check out the video below!  Hyman Family: Mark Hyman, Founder of Hyman Ltd., Brooke Hyman, Founder of Brooke Hyman Fine Jewelry, Erica Hyman, Founder of Hyer Media, being interviewed by Wayne Long, Founder Mid-Atlantic Sports Cars and Greenbrier Concours d'Elegance Mark Hyman sits down with Wayne Long to discuss his family's automotive history, how he became a collector. You also get to learn about how growing up in the automotive collector world influenced Mark's daughters professionally. Mark is the founder of Hyman Ltd. Hyman Ltd searches the world to seek out and acquire rare and unusual cars of exceptional quality. Their clientele consists of collectors, museums, and enthusiasts throughout the world who come to them for assistance in buying, selling, and in refining their automotive collections. Their extensive inventory – typically exceeding 200 vehicles — caters to many segments of the collector car industry. Whether your interest is in a Pebble Beach Concours winner, an automotive investment or a weekend driver, Hyman Ltd has become one of the premier automotive collectors and brokers in the world.  Erica Hyman, Mark's oldest daughter, founded Hyer Media, a digital marketing agency based in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2020. Hyer Media specializes in SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing. Erica has always had a flair for design starting from early childhood with her appreciation of automotive art deco. According to Erica "I've been extremely passionate about marketing, advertising, and social media for my whole life. I've been documenting my life since I was a kid. I knew I needed to turn my passion for marketing into a living. Now I not only advertise my life, but I also help the community and others. Days don't feel like work helping others bring their visions to life."  Brooke Hyman. Mark's youngest daughter, founded Brooke Hyman Fine Jewelry, a luxury jewelry brand in 2018. Infatuated by colorful gemstones, diamonds and playing “dress up”, Brooke pulls inspiration from her nostalgic memories, to curate and design custom one-of-a-kind everlasting treasures. From earrings to necklaces and pendants to rings, Brooke Hyman Fine Jewelry reflects a vibrant modern aesthetic and pristine craftsmanship paired with passion and playful sophistication.  A very special Thank you goes out to Justin Flagg for developing all of the art work for our 2021 Event! Give Justin a follow in his Instagram @jflagg! Our Inaugural Rock N Rad show was held on August 29, 2021. We chose Hartwood Acres in Pittsburgh, PA to launch this 80's & 90's Car Show. We chose the iconic DMC DeLorean as our poster car and focus for our first year of the event! Back in May 2021, the The Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) had announced the newest car to be acknowledged in its National Historic Vehicle Register, an inventory and collection of documentation of historically significant automobile, was the DeLorean DMC-12. And not just any DeLorean, but the DeLorean time machine car from the well-known sci-fi movie “Back to the Future”. Because of Covid, our inaugural event was delayed by more than a year, so all of these things: The HVA designation, the DeLorean "screaming" and 80's & 90s vibe and us getting "back the the future" is why we featured special DeLorean display smack dab in the center of Rock N Rad 2021! what's Rad and What Isn't?In creating this first time event we where asked what qualifies as a Rock N Rad era Car? Does it have to be built between January 1, 1980 and December 31 1999. Our Answer was "No". Emphatically, NO. From the outset our entire team agreed that certain vehicles that where iconic in the 80's actually had their roots in earlier years. And certain cars that became iconic after the year 2000 where created in the 1990's. So we knew we had to extend a bit backward and a bit forward in time.  1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am What we came up with was that If the vehicle model was sold in the 1980's or 1990's an didn't have significant design changes prior to or after that period, then we would welcome it to Rock N Rad. The Trans Am Gen 2 shown above was sold in the early 80's before the Gen 3 was introduced. The Gen 2 underwent several facelifts and that's where it gets a bit tricky. Ideally we wanted 80's and 90's cars in the show but if it's on the edge or the model has not have any significant changes from an earlier or later period, then it is welcome to be in the show. Pre-Registration Had its benefitsCreating a first year event is always tough because you don't know what you don't know so we really wanted to incentivize early registration and keep our costs under control. Folks who pre-registered online for by midnight Wednesday August 25th for the inaugural Rock N Rad event on Sunday August 29th got the VIP treatment! For starters, Gates opened at 11am for parking tor Pre- registered cars ONLY . Pre-Registered vehicles will got some of the prime parking locations for the show, the concert, AND exiting after the concert! Here's some other things that the early birds got:
All registrations, both pre-registered and on-site WILL get ONE Door prize ticket. We've got a lot of cool door prizes that will be awarded at the top of each hour! For anyone driving up for on-site registration, the gates will open at NOON for parking NON-Preregistered Show Cars for parking. That means that if you have not registered by Wednesday August 25th at midnight, you will not get a t-shirt The Music There had to be some Rock to go with all the Rad so the Rock N Rad Team in conjunction with Allegheny County Parks was excited to host Gen the Wearwolf who opens for Spin Doctors as the featured band the evening of August 29 after the Rock N Rad Car show.  Bernard Martin talking to Tom Bungay at the Brumos Collection entrance in front of the Large photo of the Ford Plant in Jacksonville, FL Tom Bungay talks about some local Jacksonville History and one of the original cars built at the Ford plant on display at The Brumos Collection Museum. Opened in 1924, Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant in Jacksonville Florida was designed by internationally recognized industrial architect Albert Kahn. The 165,000-sqaure foot assembly plant remained in operation until the late 1960's. It's was known for having a pair of 800' skylight panels that provide natural light into the industrial plant below. At one point, Ford employed over 800 workers who spent their time manufacturing 200 Model-T and Model A cars and trucks a day. The Brumos Collection Museum is building was designed to emulate the historic Model T plant. This very unique unrestored Model T was built in the Jacksonville plant and remained in the Jacksonville area it's entire life with the original owner family! Tom tells a great story about acquiring the car and it's very fast journey to grace the entrance of the Brumos Collection. It's truly a wonderful way to to be welcomed to the Brumos Collection.  A really unique 1970 Fiat 500K Giardiniera, hauling a very unique 1936 Le Carabe Erica Hyman interviews Jeff Lane and Christine O'Neill from the Lane Motor Museum about their 1970 Fiat Giannini Camioncino, based on the Fiat 500K Giardiniera (wagon), hauling a very unique 1936 Le Carabe. Jeff and Christine brought these to the Grand Motoring Hanger Night & Film Festival . In 2002, Jeff Lane established Lane Motor Museum. Jeff has been an automotive enthusiast since an early age. He began restoring his first car—a 1955 MG TF—when he was a teen. His personal collection was the donation that began the foundation. Lane Motor Museum unveiled its collection to the public in October of 2003. As director, Jeff Lane continues to search out cars for the collection that are technically significant or uniquely different. The goal of Lane Motor Museum is to share in the mission of collection and preserving automotive history for future generations. 1970 Fiat Giannini Camioncino Replica 1970 Fiat Giannini Camioncino, Photo courtesy Lane Motor Museum A testament to the adaptability of the Fiat 500 platform, this apparently homebuilt homage to coachbuilder Giannini’s Camioncino (translation: pickup truck) is itself based on the Fiat 500K Giardiniera (wagon). As in the Giardiniera, the rear mounted, air-cooled engine is laid down under the bed to allow for aflat load floor. Many of Giannini’s trucks were put into service as city service vehicles throughout Italy. Original Camioncinos had slatted sides surrounding the bed to maximize cargo capacity. Our replica has a snap-on cover to conceal the up to 400kg (880 pound) payload. 1936 Le Carabe Replica 1936 Le Carabe Replica - photo courtesy Lane Motor Museum Little is known about French inventor Hippolyte Delimal. But in 1936 he attempted to create the world's smallest car, which reached a speed of 24 mph and touted fuel economy of 118 mpg. He affectionately named it Le Carabe, or the “Ground Beetle”.
His vision and enthusiasm could be seen in a completely intact, hand-written, hand-drawn, 63 page manuscript he left behind. The found booklet details his trials and tribulations of building the car. Most remarkably, it contains detailed instructions, complete with dimensional schematics that rival anything out of Popular Mechanics from years past. This is fitting because, according to this arduous account, Delimal stated what he wanted most was for the everyday person to build and drive his Le Carabe. In neat penmanship, he wrote the vehicle was, “…designed specifically for amateur construction. No special tools or machines.” In materials alone, Le Crarabe could be built for around 450 Francs (about 4% the cost of a new car at the time). He repurposed a Motobécane 175cc single cylinder two-stroke engine of the time and coupled it with a light wooden body. “Plywood is the sheetmetal of the carpenter. The body should be light and very strong.” For steering, he fitted old bicycle handlebars and a telescopic fork. He also reused bicycle sprockets and rear hubs, motorcycle drum brakes, and he even suggests filling the empty space of the body sides with cotton to keep the feet warm during the cold winter.  Dan Panoz and Wayne Long at the Panoz Factory picking up the 2002 Panoz Esperante GTLM The First Annual Amelia Island Coastal Motoring Tour hosted several unique cars including this very special, 2002 Panoz Esperante GTLM Coupe that was custom built for Patrick Dempsey when he was just starting his racing career. Wayne Long talks to the new owner, Dr. Brad Warden, during the Coastal Motoring Tour final destination at the Grand Motoring Tour Hanger night. This Panoz Esperante was 1 of only 500 hand built the cars just north of Atlanta, Georgia at the Panoz factory. It has an Aluminum Chassis as well as aluminum body panels. The body panels are non-structural. The Chassis is modular, build in 5 sections. It is is a mid-engine, front engine car with almost a 50/50 weight distribution. It is powered by a 32 valve Ford SVT supercharged motor with a Tremec 56 6 speed transmission. by Bernard Martin What's our first video on "Through the Gears" all about? It's about artist Kelly Telfer. From an illegal drivers license and t-shirt design to the poster artist for the Werks Reunion and a special preview of his oil on canvas that he and Bill Warner presented to Lyn St. James at the 2021 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. Kelly talks about his love of racing, cars and his finely honed skills as an artist. You're going to enjoy this lively and candid discussion with Kelly Telfer about his start down the automotive art path and his success to date. About Kelly Telfer
Kelly Telfer is the Official Artist for the Porsche Club of America, Porsche Werks Reunion Amelia & Monterey. Kelly's art is available at the Petersen Automobile Museum, in Los Angeles, CA. ... Kelly was the official artist for the 2019 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Kelly Telfer was born in San Jose, California in 1955. About Through the Gears The "Through the Gears" video series captures the history and backstories of people and cars in the Concours, Car Show and Racing Communities and is produced by Concours LLC . Concours LLC provides a level professionalism and best practices to those people and organizations seeking to create a successful automotive event. We offer our clients a wide range of services from Strategy and Planning to complete marketing, design and management of the event for you. From a complete Conours multi-day event to a car show or road tour, Concours LLC has an expert we can tap into to add a level of professionalism to your automotive event. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: Bernard Martin MORGANTOWN, WV. - Concours LLC is excited to announce the launch of a new ongoing series of videos entitled "Through the Gears". The video series captures the history and backstories of people and cars in the Concours, Car Show and Racing Communities.
"Wayne's spot on," says Bernard Martin, "and then the idea evolved, Given what we do, we are often privy to some wonderful stories and anecdotes that later become the stuff of legend. Ferrari's adoption of the Cavallino Rampante is a great example: Many are familiar with the story of how Ferrari was given the emblem of the fighter ace but few know the connection it has to Porsche. In this series we're not going to just talk cars, we're going to take a page out of James Burke's "Connections" series from the 1970's." On "Through the Gears" your hosts will talk about the stuff that most others forget to ask or don't think it's important to talk about. How did you family become involved in the industry? What where your influences? How did this come about? Why did you do this? The series will also take a deep dive into some iconic collector cars and the people who own them. And , yes, of course we will still talk about cars!! Look for these up coming shows:
ABOUT CONCOURS LLC Concours LLC provides a level professionalism and best practices to those people and organizations seeking to create a successful automotive event. We offer our clients a wide range of services from Strategy and Planning to complete marketing, design and management of the event for you. From creating and managing every aspect of a Concours to developing a touring series, we have a product specialist at our disposal that brings years of experience to the effort. This is an interview conducted by the Hilton Head Concours d'Elegance.  Paul has been a car enthusiast since his early childhood. He is a retired engineer who spent more than 40 years in the automotive supplier industry and has degrees in engineering, mathematics and physics. And he has been involved with every facet of the Hilton HeadIsland Concours d'Elegance. He provided guidance to our founder, Dr. Paul Doerring, before the event opened, helped with the transition to the Port Royal Golf Club, regularly sources cars, and was the 2018 Honored Collector.
We had a chance to sit down with our long-time friend, Paul, to learn a little more about this year's Chief Judge. Q: What was your first car? A: A 1954 Chevrolet nine passenger station wagon (Woodie). It was a "hand me down" from my family. I used to pull into the filling station and say "check the gas and fill up the oil please." I thought that it was the ugliest car on the road, but it got me around at a time when other guys my age did not have a car. I always had lots of friends because we could "triple date" in it, and we went to lots of drive-in theaters. I actually think that it looks pretty nice now. Must be old age, right? My next car was a 1959 Renault Dauphine with a hopped up motor. But that's another story. Q: How would you describe your collection? What is it you look for when adding to your collection? A: My collection is very eclectic. I never met a car I didn't like, and I never bought a car because it was, or might become, valuable. I bought the car because it was a love affair. If the styling or the engineering or the ownership or its participation in an event appealed to me, a little bell inside my head told me to "buy that car." If I didn't like it I would often tell a friend about it so that they could buy it. And many times they did. So using this "love affair sense," I gradually built up my collection. I did not really give it much thought, but one day it occurred to me that all the cars in my collection were what I call "onesies or twosies." In other words, they were the only one known to exist, the only one built, one of only a few known to exist, and many of them had belonged to famous people or participated in events. So I am proud to tell people if you come to my house to see my cars, and you have seen another car like mine, I have failed you. I still look for styling, engineering and provenance when considering the purchase of a car. Q: What do you look for when judging a car? A: I like original cars. They can be original from the factory or be authentically restored. While I think that modified or custom cars are great and reflect the builders artistic abilities and taste, I still prefer them to be original. That said, I judge them using my engineering background. I spent over 40 years as an engineer in the automotive manufacturing environment and watched it evolve around me. So I learned the methods of workmanship and the materials available decade by decade. If you know and understand these you can pretty much judge any car. For example, if I am judging a car built in the early 1920s and I find a Phillips head screw somewhere, then that car scores less than normal because the Phillips head screw wasn't invented until around 1934. So it could not have possibly been available when the car in question was manufactured. This same logic can be applied to paints, welding, soldering, brazing, wiring, upholstery, tires, plating, etc. So I look to make sure that the material was available and the method of manufacturing is correct for the year of manufacture. But this is not the only thing I judge. Once I have judged the car "technically" I then judge it "culturally." Was the color or details like pin striping and monograms actually something that owners would have done when the car was new? Purple cars did not roll off the assembly lines. They were built on special order. So was the car a special order? As you might suspect, asking the right questions leads a judge to find out more about the car and its present owner's knowledge. Q: What's your favorite car from past Hilton Head Island Concours events? Why? A: There have been so many great cars exhibited at the Hilton Head Concours over the years. It is hard to pick a favorite. I tend to love Pre-War cars because of their history and early engineering. But I grew up in the 1960s during which it can arguably be said that some of the most exciting cars were designed and built. You might say I was on the sidelines watching. But these are not "old cars" to me because I grew up with them. Old cars are cars that I did not get to drive growing up. Hence, my preference for Pre-War cars. All this being said, I prefer the brass era cars and full classics as defined by the CCCA. Now that I have truly confused you, my favorite car shown at the HHI Concours is a 1915 Crane Simplex Roadster from the Jack Rich Collection. It satisfies the "brass era" HCCA definitions but looks for all the world like a late 1920s full classic roadster. It checks two boxes. And it has a huge engine! Q: What is your (or some of your) favorite thing(s) about the HHI Concours? A: The Hilton Head Concours is exciting to me. I love the fact that each year little things are different. I imagine that some people might even come to see what is different from one year to the next. The Concours has always been right on the cutting edge of enthusiast interest. It started showing production cars when that was a "no - no" at other Concours. It started showing trucks when that was just not done. Now it shows boats and airplanes too as well as motorcycles. You could say the HHI Concours is about transportation. It also has a performance element and racing when many other Concours don't have an interest or a facility to do so. Each year the tours are always good, varied and interesting. For the last several years the HHI Concours is multi-tasking events on Saturday with the club day two fairways and another show or display a third fairway. What is not to like? Finally, the weather is generally very good and still very pleasant compared to what's going on around the country with winter setting in. Oh, did I mention the "Southern Hospitality"? For more on this year's Chief Judge, Paul Ianuario, click here. Interested in showing a car in this year's Concours? Applications are currently being accepted. Click here to apply |
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