Throttle-Back Thursday: Rain couldn't stop the inaugural Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance

It seems simple enough to start a concours, at least in theory: Find a suitably green patch of lawn, round up all your buddies with cool cars, call in a few favors to line up celebrity judges, combine them all on a Sunday morning. And there are plenty of organizers who have given it a go — and consequently plenty of very nice shows that happen across the country every year. They tend to come and go.

But the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance started strong in 1996 and has only gotten better in every year that followed. In fact, it wasn’t all that long before The Amelia, as the Florida show has come to be known, was recognized as one of the world’s top events — the East Coast’s answer to Pebble Beach.

This didn’t happen by accident; the event owes much of its success to the vision and drive of its organizer, Bill Warner. From the very start, he made sure to appeal to both the classic car world and the word of racing; the 1996 event honored Stirling Moss, and the likes of Moss, Hurley Haywood and Brian Redman served as judges alongside Peter Brock and Larry Shinoda.

Further, since 2005, the Amelia has recognized winners in both concours d’elegance and concours de sport categories — a significant, forward-looking move that allowed the prewar classics that have traditionally dominated the concours scene to coexist happily atop the poduim alongside vintage sports cars. In 1996, a 1938 Talbot-Lago 150SS by Figoni & Falaschi took best of show; last year, a 1929 Duesenberg J/SJ Convertible shared honors with a 1963 Ferrari 250/275P. Something for everyone!

And Warner never let a little bit of rain hold things back, whether that was a manageable shower in ’96 or a storm that forced most of the concours entrants to scramble into the Amelia Ritz-Carlton ballroom for an impromptu indoor show in 2003. (These days, the show keeps Saturday and has actually moved the show forward a day for two years running; this year, Sunday is still a go.)

This year’s event, honoring Jacky Ickx, takes place this weekend. It’s no longer just a Sunday morning show: It’s a whole cluster of auctions, drives, meetups, seminars and fancy cocktail parties and ancillary events. To look back on how it all started, read on below.

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