HRC 60th ANNIVERSARY CAR SHOW WITH CONCOURS dE PROVENANCE September 11, 2010

The HRC 60th Car Show with Concours De Provenance was held Saturday afternoon on the front lawn of the Osthoff Resort overlooking beautiful Elkhart Lake. The featured marquee was “Revered Cars of the 50’s” and nearly half the field that covered the lawn was made up of 1950 era cars. The event was divided into two parts; Cars for display only and cars to be judged in the Concours De provenance. Staging, scheduled to be complete by noon was delayed due to the morning rain, but by 2PM the field was full with sports cars and racing cars arranged by group covering the lawn. The quality of the field was exceptional and in keeping with the 60th Anniversary theme, eight cars that actually participated in the original 1950-52 Elkhart Lake Races were displayed. All were in running order.

The exotic looking 1958 Tojeiri Aston Martin entered in the display event by John Constable, Shown in the “Revered Cars of the 1950’s” group
The C-type Jaguar entered by Gary Bartlett originally raced to victory by Phil Hill in the 1952 Sheldon Cup race entered in the Concours De Provenance.

Cars were shown in a wide variety of classes based on history and type ranging from cars of the type that actually competed in the original 1950-52 Elkhart Lake races to contemporary exotic sports cars. A wide variety of marquees graced the field including cars from Jaguar, Allard, Aston martin, MG, Austin Healy, Elva, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Porsche to name just a few. The crowd loved seeing them and the proud owners happily answered myriads of questions from admiring fans.

The 1952 Allard K2 belonging to Roy Stump entered in the “Cars of a type that competed in the 1950-52 Elkhart Lake Races” Group of the display only event
The 1949 Jaguar XK120 entered by Ian Furness and a pristine 1952 MG-TD belonging to Mike Marini both entered in the “Cars of a type that competed in the 1950-52 Elkhart Lake Races”.

Fourteen cars were entered in the judged Concours De Provenance event. A Concours De Provenance, unlike a Concours d’Elegance, puts the judging emphasis on four factors: (1) Racing Provenance in period, (2) Racing Provenance in more recent “vintage” racing, (3) Originality and (4) Presentation (appearance & mechanical). Cars were judged in three categories: Group 1 – Cars that had competed in the original Elkhart Lake open road races in 1950, 51 or52, Group 2 – Production based race cars and Group 3 – Purpose built race cars.

The 1951 Ferrari 212 Export entered by Peter McCoy that was driven by Phil Walters to second place in the 1952 Sheldon Cup race.
The 1951 Cunningham C2R entered by the Mittler family in which John Fitch finished first in the 1951 Main Event.

The beautiful C Type Jag of Gary Bartlett in which Phil Hill won the 1952 Sheldon Cup Race was a real crowd pleaser as was the stunning Ferrari 212 Export of Peter McCoy just arrived from winning its’ class at Pebble Beach. Peter’s Ferrari driven by Phil Walters gave Phil Hill a real challenge during the 1952 Sheldon Cup race and ultimately finished in second place. A real sentimental favorite was the Tom Mittler’s C2R Cunningham in which John Fitch won the main event in 1951. Tom passed away suddenly a few months before the event but his family graciously honored his earlier commitment to enter this important car.

The 1948 MG-TC entered by Gwen Brady that was raced in the very first Elkhart Lake open road race in 1950. A photo of the event appears in front of the car.

1948 MG-TC entered by Gwen Brady and the 1951 Cadillac-Allard J2 entered Paul Brownell shared honors for patina and length of ownership.

The Grady MG-TC was originally driven by A.J. “Bud” Stahel of Minneapolis in the 1950 novice race for cars under 1500cc. The car has been owned and cared for by Gwen Grady and her late husband Jim since 1951 and has had only two owners in its lifetime.

The Cadillac-Allard J2 of Paul Brownell had an even greater claim to fame as it was originally owned by Fred Wacker Jr. and was raced in the 1952 Main Event (The Last Race). Fred completed thirteen laps before mechanical failure forced him out of the race while running in ninth place. Racing with the number “8”, the car was one of several “Eight Ball” cars owned and raced by Fred.

Sports cars of every description were on the field including a rare 1964 Corvair Fitch Sprint owned by Tom and Connie Seversin. The Corvair Fitch Sprints were the creation of John Fitch in an effort to turn the mundane Chevrolet Corvair into an American Porsche. The effort was short lived when Ralph Nader published his book “Unsafe At Any Speed”.

Honored guest John Fitch showing remarkable energy for his age, was on the field most of the afternoon enjoying the cars, talking to their owners and signing autographs.

John Fitch (left) with HRC Store Manager, Julie Morter (center) and John’s friend and business associate Don Klein (right) at the HRC Store autograph table.
Tom Hollfelder 1971 Ferrari 512F ex LeMan’s car, unable to meet local sound restrictions was towed onto the field by Tom Grunnah’s 1955 Porsche Tractor (a first for Porsche?).
Judges Scott Callen (center) and Dave Dahlin (right) inspect the Healey Silverstone of Bob Seymour (left).

At 4:00 PM the premium lead crystal trophies on display at the awards table were awarded in each of three classes. The judges, Scott Callen, Dave Camarano, Dave Dahlin and Don Klein, struggled mightily in an effort to be fair, consistent and accurate. Deliberating for over three hours, it proved to be no easy task. All entries were of such high quality that there was little to separate them. In the end provenance in period became the single most determining factor. Winners are listed below within judging group but there were simply no losers.

 

HRC60th At Elkhart Lake, Concours De Provenance Entries
Year Make/Model S/N Current Owner Orig. Owner/Driver Place
ORIGINAL ELKHART LAKE RACES CARS
1948 MG-TC TC4897 Gwen Grady A.J. “Bud” Stahel  
1949 Healey Silverstone D19 Bob Seymour Jim Kimberly / Fred Wacker 2
1949 Jaguar XK120 Alloy 670047 Roger Morrison Brooks Stevens  
1951 Cunningham C2R 5102 Mittler Family Briggs Cunningham / John Fitch 1
1951 Allard J2 2086 Paul Brownell Fred Wacker, Jr.  
1951 Ferrari 212E Coupe, Vignali 0092E Peter McCoy Ed Guiberson / Phil Walters  
1952 Jaguer C-Type XKC007 Gary Bartlett Charles Hornberg / Phil Hill 3
1952 Allard J2X 3058 Tom & Susan Porter Eddie Jones  
PRODUCTION BASED RACE CARS    
1949 Jaguar XK120 Alloy 670026 Mike & Deb Korneli Carlos Lostalo  
1950 Jaguar XK120 Alloy 670124 James Beck Charles Hornburg 2
1952 Allard K2 91K1983 Roy Stumpf    
1953 Ferrari 166M Spyder, Vignali 0290/M Jim Fuchs Piotti/Franchini 1
PURPOSE BUILT RACE CARS    
1952 Comet Special NA D. Shoff & D. Rex Glen Glendening 1
1961 Cooper Y56, F-Jr 1961-10 Dick Eisenmann   2
1962 Chaparral One 002 Tom Hollfelder Harry Heuer  
1971 Ferrari 512M/F 1048 Tom Hollfelder Geo. Filipinetti / Mike Parks  

A Special Thank You to

GOODING & COMPANY

Sponsor of the 2010 Elkhart Lake Concours de Provenance

David Gooding
1517 20th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Tel #310.899.1960
Fax #310.899.0930
E-mail: David@GoodingCo.com