Every year the Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d'Elegance gets better and is a "must do" item for me. It is also a great time to be on Hilton Head Island as the weather is great, as long as there are no hurricanes, and the crowds are gone. There is an abundance of timeshares so getting one at a good price is likely.
http://www.hhiconcours.com/
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We go to Concours d'Elegance at Amelia Island FL every year. We started attending because my old gang of high school friends who stayed in touch ever since our school days felt the need for a reunion, so we could get together in person. One of the guys was on the board of directors of Amelia Concours. He suggested we all show up for that as our reunion event. He was a big wheel with the organization, so he comped us into the show
el freebo -- even fixed us up with goody bags of shirts & hats, etc., like the ones VIPs & official entrants were given. He & his spouse were pretty much tied up with preparations leading up to the event, as well as the event itself on show day, so we stayed over 1 day so they could be part of our reunion in Jacksonville FL.
Our old crew of high school pals is dwindling -- not exactly a surprise in that we're all hard-core old folks now. Half of us are gone, including our friend who was on the Amelia Concours Amelia board. His widow left Jacksonville & moved to Georgia (closer to her grandchildren). The survivors keep up the Amelia Concours d'Elegance tradition every year, paying our own way now. The good reason is the fancypants car show. The real reason is just to spend a few days together again while we survivors are still breathing air, still on the top side of the turf, & still able to travel. I am sorry my old friends are gone, but I am glad I am still here. We remember those who passed on, with fondness & gratitude, every time we get together.
Semi-Interesting Factoid: Of the 8 guys in our high school crew, 5 became career U.S. armed forces officers -- 1 each in the army, navy, marines, air force & coast guard. (I'm not sure any of them would have stepped forward if the draft board had not been breathing down their necks in the early & mid-1960s, but it was & they did.) Two of the others each served 1 enlisted hitch -- me in the army, the other guy in the air force. The air force guy's brother, who got drafted into the army (2-year hitch), lived in Jacksonville FL & was a race car enthusiast, so he became an honorary crew member & reunion participant. Of that bunch, only 1 guy was a civilian his whole life. As it happened, he was the 1st of that bunch whose life came to an end (prematurely, pancreatic cancer). Ironically, he was the strongest & best looking. So it goes.
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
