Amelia Island 2010: Great Cars, Great Weather, and Great Friends.
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After taking 3 cars to Meadowbrook in 2009, I told Mary that I will never take that many cars to a Concours again. The preparation, logistics, and handling of all the vehicles is a major undertaking, so when my friend Bill Warner called I committed to take FOUR cars. (I kept my promise to Mary, I didn’t take 3…but I think the idea was to take less...)

Two weeks before the show the mad dash began; All the cars needed to be cleaned and detailed, Nick’s Packard still needed it's top made, and the Witort’s 31 Cadillac V12 Roadster (appropriately named Daisy) needed all it's final tuning to get it ready to run properly. I will spare you all the details but it was a TIGHT schedule.

Marv from Excellence Auto carriers arrived a day early and was in my lot Monday morning to prepare to load all the cars up on the tractor trailer and get on the road. Needless to say it was Tuesday night when he got out of here as we feverishly prepped each car to go one at a time. Bill Wheelers 07 Thomas Flyer arrived from Portland that Monday as well, so Marv’s partner Jim stayed to help him load up. It looked like a tractor-trailer convention in our lot. I want to thank the guys for there great work moving the cars. Everything went smooth and safe and all the babies are back home in there beds here now.

Friday in Florida greeted us with Rain, so we did not go on the Road Tour, but by the afternoon the weather was picture perfect. We started our day with a great homemade breakfast on the beach at the Witort’s condo. Then Marv and I spent some time prepping Daisy in the Florida sunshine since she was the last car on the truck. Friday night it was off to the Gooding Auction. Very strong prices on all the Classic cars, with over 16 million dollars sold in just 4 hours. I couldn’t resist a 1938 Cadillac V16 Touring Sedan with a custom bar in the back seat, so that is home and available for sale (a great CCCA tour car for the summer, see it here). Saturday we were off to the RM Auction, and a drive in a new RR convertible, with all the hoopla at the Ritz, there was plenty to do, and RM posted strong sales results as well. We had a full day wrapping up the evening with a nice dinner, with the Crea’s and the Stecker’s. From here on in pre show nerves and a wrestles night began.

5:00 AM the next morning, I was up before the alarm even rang. Mary and I were off to the lot that had probably 50 tractor trailers in it with show cars. When we arrived in the very cold and dark morning at 5:30am, Marv already had Daisy off the truck and the Duesenberg ready to come out. I hopped in the Dusy and guided her off, and we were ready to go with the first car. The field was set to open at 6:30, I believe (the morning was a bit of a blur), but I threw Mary in Daisy and she fired right up (I think Mary was freezing in about 5 layers of clothes). We took our first ride over to the Field, with those big Halogen lights blazing the way, and we were in line. I think we were the second car on that morning; they had to escort us with a golf course as it is a bit of a tight squeeze to get on the field especially when it is still dark out, but we got a perfect spot right by the center of the lake. I quickly ran back to get the Duesenberg, while Mary stayed with the Cadillac, to get her ready. I put the Duesenberg in line to go on the Field, flanked with a V16 roadster and a Porsche racecar, and we rolled onto the Field as the sun came up. Two more to go, by this time Marv was ready with the last 2 cars. Nick drove his Packard on while I took the Phantom II RR. We got the cars all set up by 9 and started cleaning and prepping for the judging.

Bill Warner puts on an incredible show, it was truly the battle of Million dollar plus cars. In every class you could walk down and the cars just keep escalating in price and beauty. Unfortunately we did not win, but the competition was fierce. I have to say that if there was an award for the most photographed car I think Daisy would have won. There were people taking photos of her all day. Nick did an interview with the Packard for TV, the Phantom II looked stunning in her class, and my Duesenberg was in tight competition with 7 other Duesenbergs. I'm sure you will enjoy the photos we took of the show, the attendance was unbelievable. It was a sea of people on the field that day and the weather was cool, but perfect. We ran into a lot of good friends that we only see in person a few times a year.

Steve Witort got his very first drive behind the wheel of Daisy after a very long and dedicated restoration. I think, judging by the smile on his face, he and Jan will have a lot of fun with her when the car goes out to Reno this spring. At the end of a long and exciting day we all drove the cars off together in our own personal parade. We capped off the night with a great dinner with the Witort’s, although I think the long day had worn me and Steve out.

It was a wonderful event, and Amelia’s reputation of being one of the top events in the US is very well deserved.

On behalf of Mary and myself I want to thank our customers and friends that we attended the show with and we look forward to our next adventure on the show field, with all of you.

Clark