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Pronunciation:
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\(ˌ)kōⁿ-ˌku̇r-ˌdā-lā-ˈgäⁿs\
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Etymology:
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French concours
d'élégance, literally,
competition of elegance: a
show or contest of vehicles and accessories in which the entries
are judged chiefly on excellence of appearance and turnout.
"Concours d'Elegance", sounds
snooty doesn't it? While a Concours
d'Elegance can be snooty that's not always the case. A Concours
d'Elegance is basically a car show with prizes given for the
best appearing vehicles in one of several classes, these may be
limited to a specific make, model or era of vehicle. Some
famous Concours d'Elegances include; Pebble Beach, Amelia
Island, Hilton Head, Mid Ohio Car Club Concours d'Elegance and Glenmoor
Gathering of Significant Automobiles held each year in Canton,
Ohio.
While the events at Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, Hilton Head fit
the "snooty" description, the Glenmoor and Mid-Ohio events do
not. You could also ad in the thousands of local street rod
gatherings to this list of non-snooty Concours d'Elegance
events. What all of these events are is a chance for car owners
to "Show & Shine" their vehicle, entrants often spend millions
of dollars and years of restoration time on their entires to the
famous snooty events such as the Pebble Beach, but Miata owners
need only break out the car wax and register for events like
the Mid Ohio Car Club Concours d'Elegance.
Many of our Northcoast Miata Club
Miatas have been selected as finalists in the Mid Ohio Car Club
Concours d'Elegance over the years, it's always fun to have one
of "our" cars in the running but it's just as much fun to be
able to wander through the field of cars competing for honors.
The Mid-Ohio event is biased towards sports and racing vehicles
but the other local Concours d'Elegance, the Glenmoor
Gathering of Significant Automobiles, offers a wider variety of
classic, race and modified automobiles for viewing.
Traditionally held at venues such as parking lots, golf
courses, Dairy Queens, or even
farmers fields these events give attendees a great opportunity
to drool over many very well prepared automobiles and talk with
their owners about their cars.
Beware though, while talking
to the owners about their car is interesting once you get an
enthusiastic owner talking about his or her car you may not be
able to easily get away again.