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Cars of Briggs Cunningham to headline 23rd annual Greenwich Concours d’Elegance

by | Jan 22, 2018

Original Cunningham race and street cars, cars of John Fitch, Jaguar SS Cars and Competition Motorcycles to be featured

From the Greenwich Concours team 

GREENWICH, Conn. (Jan. 17, 2018) – Recognized as one of the most prestigious classic car shows in the United States, the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance will celebrate its 23rd year of showcasing significant cars, motorcycles and one-off automotive creations on June 1-3, 2018. Production and race cars created in the 1950s by the iconic Briggs Cunningham will headline the entire weekend.

The Concours continues its tradition of holding two unique Concours back-to-back, with American cars and motorcycles on Saturday, and foreign marques on Sunday. The event takes place at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park overlooking the Greenwich, Conn., harbor on Long Island Sound.

Miles Collier, one of America’s premier car collectors, and founder of The Revs Institute, has been named the Grand Marshal for this year’s event. The Revs Institute in Naples, Fla., includes the Collier Collection, with 115 automobiles of special historic and technological importance. Many were acquired from the collection of the late Briggs Cunningham, a family friend. The Institute, which fosters deeper understanding of the transformative role of the automobile, also includes the Revs Digital Library of about 500,000 automotive photographs, with emphasis on racing scenes, and a research library with over 20,000 book titles and complete runs of automotive periodicals in English, French, Italian and German. (https://revsinstitute.org)

The display of Cunningham cars from around the country is being organized by “Barn Find Hunter” Tom Cotter of Charlotte, N.C., and Cunningham collector and historian Charles Schoendorf, of Rowayton, Conn. Lined up along the waterfront both days will be the 1952 C-4R Le Mans roadster from the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, and most of the 25 Vignale-bodied C-3 coupes and cabriolets.

“This will be the most comprehensive collection of Cunningham race cars, touring cars and team cars assembled at one time and place, ever, including at the factory,” says Schoendorf. “A turnout of cars like this will not happen anytime soon again, if ever.”

Cunningham, who died in 2003 at the age of 96, is best known as an America’s Cup skipper, race-car builder, driver and team owner. He made the Greens Farms section of Westport, Conn., his home from the ’20s through the ’60s. He fielded his early race cars for Sam and Cowles “Miles” Collier out of his carriage house and later kept his car collection there before moving it out of state. The Cunningham family remained at the Greens Farms compound until the death of his daughter Lucie Cunningham McKinney in 2014.

On Saturday, cars from one of Cunningham’s most notable race-car drivers, the late John Fitch, of Lime Rock, Conn., will also be on display. A highly-respected driver of the ’50s and ’60s, Fitch was also a safety pioneer and a World War II fighter pilot. The 1966 Fitch Phoenix, owned by Charles Mallory, of Greenwich, Conn., will be part of the display, along with the 1952 Fitch-Whitmore Le Mans Special.

Sunday’s Concours will host a special display of Jaguars, with a focus on the rare pre-war SS Cars. The SS 100, SS 90, SS 1 Tourer and SS 1 Coupe are all scheduled to be shown.

The weekend will also feature the presentation of A Century of Competition Motorcycles by American Iron Magazine publisher Buzz Kanter, of New Canaan, Conn., which will showcase race bikes of various styles from the early 1900s to the present. “I’ve heard motorcycle racing started when the first motorcycle rider came across another on the road. And it’s been full throttle ever since,” Kanter says.

“This year’s Concours promises to be one of the best displays of cars and motorcycles ever,” says Concours Chairman Mary Wennerstrom. “We have collectors coming from all over North America, including Canada, nearly half of the 50 states and, of course, Connecticut. It is very exciting to have so many people in the collector car world gathering in Greenwich! And we are honored to have Miles Collier serve as our Grand Marshal.”

The beneficiary of the Greenwich Concours for the 23rd year is Americares, a health-focused relief and development organization that responds to people affected by poverty or disaster with life-changing health programs, medicine, and medical supplies. The Stamford, Conn.-based organization is the world’s leading nonprofit provider of donated medicine and medical supplies.

VIP tickets are available on a limited basis. VIP Tickets include early entry at 8 a.m., breakfast, and lunch with the car collectors and judges, entrance to the Bonhams cocktail party on Friday night, poster, lapel pin, program and VIP lanyard.

• Gates open at 10 a.m. for general admission, 8 a.m. for VIP ticket holders

• Advance tickets for both days are available at $30 per day or $50 for both days

1952 Cunningham C-4R Roadster of the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum

Photo credit: Bearded Mug Media