Hilton Head Concours d’Elegance 2022 Special Display Cars
This year’s Hilton Head Concours d’Elegance included several displays with historically significant automobiles. This included a group of previous Best in Show winners, rare cars from featured collectors, one-off GM styling cars built for Bill Mitchell and Harley Earl, and Brass Era Race Cars, including a racer that competed in the inaugural 1911 Indy 500. Any one of these vehicles would make a prized museum piece, and all were available for Concours attendees to admire on the manicured fairways of the show field.
Featured Collectors
Anne Brockinton Lee of Sparks, Nevada brought several historically significant cars to the show. The 1937 Horch 853 is arguably one of the most successful show cars of all time, having won awards at several car shows, including the Pebble Beach and Amelia Island Concours. Other special cars from this collection include the 1948 Ferrari 166MM (the first Ferrari to be shipped to America), the 1953 Lancia Aurelia (a one-off Pinin Farina show car), and the 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 (twin straight six engines).
Previous Best of Shows
Here are several of the past Hilton Head Best of Show winners. All are exceptional cars, especially the 1928 Isotta Fraschini, which was one of the most expensive cars of its day. Check out the ostrich skin interior in this car.
GM Special Builds
Here are three cars specially prepared by the GM Styling Center:
- The 1963 Corvette convertible, which was a gift to Harley Earl, has many unique features such as the radical side exhaust and additional instrumentation such as an altimeter.
- The 1956 Buick X has more than 200 special modifications, including a four-carburetor setup.
- The 1964 Corvette coupe with many Ferrari-inspired modifications was customized by GM head of Design, Bill Mitchell, Harley Earl’s successor.
Both Harley and Bill used these cars for several years as daily drivers.
Brass Era Race Cars
There was a special display of eight brass-era racers on the show field. The 1911 National Indy Race car (#20) ran in the first Indianapolis 500 and finished 3rd. No doubt the drivers of these machines were fearless to pilot a vehicle with such a high center of gravity, rudimentary mechanics, and lack of any safety features.
