Huntington Beach Concours d'Elegance

By: Wally Clark

A beautiful say on the grass at Huntington Beach Central Park saw 180 vintage cars and motorcycles convene for the Eleveth Annual Huntington Beach Concours d?Elegance, which benefits the Children?s Library programs at the Huntington Beach Public Library. This year Rolls Royce/Bentley were the featured cars, and over 30 of them showed up!

The Ferrari contingent were well represneted from the 250 Testa Rossa of Check Betz and Fred Peters to the new cars brought by Ferrari of Beverly Hills (a 456 GT, a F355 Spyder and a F512M). The Italian Classics class was dominated by Ferraris and the winners were:

Class 12 Early Cars (street)
First Jeff Barney 1965 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2
Second Gerald Chapman 1973 Pantera
Third Mike Greico/FAI 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4

Class 12 Late cars (street)
First Tome White 1988 Ferrari 328
Second Steve Elworthy 1986 Ferrari 328 GTS

Class 12 All cars (Concours)
First Check Betz/Fred Peters 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
Second Bart and Diana McGrath 1972 Ferrari Dino 246GT Evoluzione
Third Vinny Mandzak 1979 Ferrari 308 GT4

Other class winners of note were Judd Goldfeder?s 1935 Bentley 3 ½ Sportsman Saloon which took First in class for pre-1939 Bentleys. Also, Southwest Region member Bill Hair took a second in class with his 1959 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud I. Judd also entered his Ferrari 365 GTC, but cars with flat tires in Concours events don?t win! Best of Show was taken by a non-Italian car, a spectacular 1938 MG TA "Tickford" owned by Gene Roth.

Many thanks to all the Ferrari Club members who served as judges and who supported the show. Next year the featured marque will be Mercedes Benz.

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