Keenland Concours July 2011

[Concours.John]

The Keenland Concours is considered to be one of the top events in the country. Every detail of this event is planned out for the next year as soon as the preceeding event is over. There are three judges per class and only judge so many classes. They take over a month to learn about each vehicle they will judge. The criteria is followed to the letter for each vehicle. The three spend 20 minutes examining everything. This is considered a "white glove" concours.

The vehicles we took.

1972 Maserati Ghibli SS Spyder
1 of 25 4.9 Spyders made.



1961 Alfa Romeo Giulieta Sprint Zagato Coda Tronca

This car was raced in the 3 hour Daytona in 1962 and won its class for team Martini & Rossi. The team colors were painted over in 1963. The car has never been apart nor painted since. It is driven regularly and still competes in events. There are only 15 known to exist and only a few team cars were made this is one.
I was fortunate to do the 3 hour drive to the show and back.



1958 Alfa Romeo Spyder Veloce



The reason these were taken at the side of the highway is the Ghibli suffered a break down due to bad gas when we filled it up. The others were done at a different time. We figured out later from another person the station had run its tanks dry. I must have just missed the tanker. We never fill up when we see one. We weren`t the only ones. The Ghibili was sent by trailer back home.


The placement field for the 61 SZ



Ted Hersey tending to a 1931 Alfa Romeo 6C Gran Sport Zagato.
Ted is a master of his craft and a great guy too. He prepared multiple cars here and at events all over the nation.



Todd Cooperider was in attendance at the Sonax booth. I`ve seen his work in person at events and crossed paths but never had a chance to stop and talk. He answered many of my questions about these products. It`s always nice talking to someone else passionate about what they do.

The judging of the operations of the vehicle. Everything must work and the operator knows how to work them. The vehicle is in the process of the start up test.



There is a panel of kids that are trained and taken around by a master judge. These kids look at every car being judged. Its hot and a long day for them. They then pick one car for a special one off award. I`ve won this once to me it`s just as good as Best of Show but harder to impress this type of judge. The owner and I always pull away to take time with them. Everyone of them who wants to sit in any car we bring can. Right now I`m going over how everything works and letting him know the history he`s sitting in. He even got to be put in the original 5 point harness.



The judging of the 58 Alfa. Pointing out correct replacements on this restoration. The judges also lay on a towel and look at the undersides with an LED flashlight.





The vintage drag racing class. The blue 37 Willys Coupe (2nd pic) is Drag Racing Hall of Fame, Barbara Hamilton`s car. The reason I mentioned this is she still owns it. She was there displaying it. They did a special fire up of all the cars in this class at the same time. She hopped right in and after a breif warm up everybody revved them up.
Let`s say it was awesome and loud.





I`ll let the sign tell the story







A precise remake of a famous Porsche racer and an Alfa BAT 11 prototype. These are a few of the display vehicles.





There are several people who dressed period of their vehicle. This guy had to be a little warm.



Some of the other side of the show field. This place is huge. Its held at the Keenland Horse Track. There are way too many pictures to show. There was even a class for vintage military vehicles and motorcycles.



The clsss awards. The kids choice is the statue one.



There were 16 classes plus space given for the 2011 Alfa nationals, club gatherings for Mercedes, BMW, Miata, British Sterling, Viper, Cobras, Porsche, Corvette, Mustang, Audi, and Corvair. This is just some the Porsche club.




Thanks for looking wish I could show more. This is and always has been an event worth going to. There is something for everyone.

[C. Charles Hahn]

That looks like an amazing event, John... thanks for the pics!

[Concours.John]

Charlie Thank you. The pictures don`t show how big this event is. All of the proceeds go to the Kentucky Children`s Hospital. Being a Kentucky Colonel this is something I`m passionate about. There are things a child should never go through.

[Rocket]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like an amazing event. Pretty cool that some dress for the period of their vehicle

[smitty5150]

Wow. I could walk around for days and not get bored there. Thanks for sharing!

[Garry Dean]

Ok, Now I better understand the text you sent me the other day. I did not realize you were actually on the side of the road, lol.

What a pleasure it must be to take care of those awesome autos.

[wallyStang]

All amazing cars!!!! Thanks for sharing .

[Concours.John]

The show is great. It`s usually very hot. There is also a black tie gala the day before. They have a road tour that you drive all the back roads past all the old breweries and massive horse farms. The tour is the day after. These events are an additional expense.

Garry, I was a little bored this was the third time stopping. We were in this spot for an hour. There were two other stops with fixes till we figured out it was bad gas.
It did make for a few good shots of the cars. lol

[Todd@RUPES]

Maserati for the win. Great pics!