Join Shelby Forums Today

Dana Point concours--is mixing modern replicas in with '60s cars fair to viewers?

Discussion in 'Shelby Cobra' started by bitzman, Jun 30, 2012.

  1. bitzman

    bitzman Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    796
    Likes Received:
    2
    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2005
    i went to the Dana Point concours and it's a nice show, fabulous hotel (though it seemed all the dining establishmens there were EXPENSIVE), the show is on a nice golf course, near the ocean though you can't see the ocean; but what bummed me out was when I saw a CSX4000 series Cobra mixed in with some CSX2000 and CSX3000 series cars. The CSX4000 series owner was not trying to hide that his car was a replica, he even had his SN on his license plate, but I just thought, whatever it cost to go to that show, say $30 entrance fee for spectators, you thought you were going to see original era cars, not cars that could have been made in 2009 or thereabouts. What does it matter? Let's say you are building a replica yourself or even amodel car and want to photograph authentic Sixties Cobras to guide an "original" look. Well,you photograph a replica that's off here and there (one owner of ten original Cobras told me the hood (bonnet) supports are his first tipoff) and your home project is then thrown off the original looking trail. to top it off there was supposed to be a tribute to LeMans cars and one Anaheim based reporter quoted President of the Dana Point concours d'Elegance Jeff Spellens saying "I see history, I see passion, I see people keeping the integrity of the cars".

    Well, to me there's a lack of integrity when you mix in replicas with the real stuff.

    Not that I object to replicas in a show but I would like to see them
    over in another section with their brethern, a section labeled: "Replicas, Re-creations, homage cars, what-you-call-it."

    Maybe I've been to Pebble Beach too many times but I don't recall seeing replicas parked among the authentic vintage cars there (or if they did have a replica, it was by mistake such as the time a competitor faked up an Aston Martin race car only to have the family of the guy that was killed in the car take exception to his charade).

    Or the thinking of the organizers could have been something like "well, this CSX4000 Shelby car is still a Shelby built Cobra so we'll park it with the real Cobras." That doesn't jive with me, because for example, I say a P52D built the day after V-J day is no longer a WWII fighter plane it is a WWII-era fighter plane.

    Maybe I'm being too purist on this? Anybody feel the same?
     
  2. mrmustang

    mrmustang Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    512
    Likes Received:
    16
    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2004
    Location:
    Greenville, SC
    Wally,

    As with each automobile group (like your old Ferrari haunts :doh: ) there are true enthusiasts, and then their are elitists like yourself. The difference being that one enjoys the car(s) for what they are, while the other feels that anything but "a concourse quality original" (heaven forbid you drive your car in the rain) lessens the vehicles in question. Thankfully, these days, we find less of an elitist attitude among owners (we do see more of an elitist attitude from non owners, which we find comical at best), at least in the Shelby circles where the cars are more geared towards their enthusiastic owners.


    Just my two cents worth as a past and present multiple Shelby owner (real and replica alike).


    Bill S.
     
  3. bitzman

    bitzman Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    796
    Likes Received:
    2
    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2005
    I didn't think asking for authenticity would brand me as elitist

    OK I concede that in general open-to-all-comers events like Cars "n Coffee
    in Irvine,the Santa Monica pier show, the corral for Shelbys at Laguna Seca, the Agoura Sunday morning "supercar sunday" events, car club meetings, car club shows etc. etc. there is no need for dividing the "authentic in-period" cars from the replicas. But I am coming at the subject of car shows as a reviewer, not just as a regular spectator. I am curious as to which show--the Dana Point show or the Palos Verdes show-- will become prestigious enough to be the "Pebble Beach" of the south. I haven't looked at the entries list car-by-car but I am inclined to lean toward conferring my opinion as to which is the more professional concours based on whiche concours has some rules and sticks by them, at least in so far as where cars are displayed (replicas in another section) . Maybe it's that I've been to Pebble Beach over 25 times--they are the ultimate concours as far as I am concerned not only because of the setting but because they don't allow replicas if they can help it (as I say they've been fooled at least once that I know of). I have not been to Amelia Island but the fact it is already recognized as "the Pebble Beach of the south" shows me that they probably are sticklers in this same regard. I wasn't there at the last show, which had a lot of Cobras, so I don't know if they mixed in replicas with the CSX2000 and CSX3000 cars, but I know they had many historically significant Cobras as it was an honored marque. I don't know what the cover charge for admission was, but let's say $40 each, so my wuestion is "Do you think Cobra fans would have been disappointed if all, or some of the Cobras on display were made in 2005, 2006, 2007, etc. instead of in the Sixties by Shelby American?" Maybe this is a far-fetched comparison but one time in Beverly Hills I met a Marilyn Monroe look alike. It was fun to chat with her for a few minutes but I'd rather have one minute with the real Marilyn than half an hour with a clone. (I did meet the real Jayne Mansfield decades earlier but that's another story.).

    But thanks for airing your opinion, it helps me see what car owners expect when they go to regular car shows vs. the fancier concours. I just feel when you are paying heavy bread to get in, and they have judges of some renoun, I am hoping for a more discerning display than what you see at a free "cars & coffee."
     

Share This Page