Shadows should bring smiles to those at Amelia Island

Our weekly roundup of car show news and notes

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UOP Shadow
Shadow cars such as this UOP-sponsored Can-Am racer will be featured at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance | Bill Warner photo

Don Nichols’ Shadows were among the most dramatically designed vehicles in American motorsports history, and a special grouping of the radical racers will be featured May 23 at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in northwest Florida.

The class will feature the 1974 Can-Am championship Shadow DN4 and the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix-winning Shadow DN5, as well as the original 1970 AVS Shadow Mk 1, a car which never was able to run a complete race.

Shadows should bring smiles to those at Amelia Island
Shadow F5000 racer | James Bartel photo

“Shadow belongs to an elite group of race car builders,” said Bill Warner, concours founder and chairman. “Shadow is the sole American Can-Am champion. And only the Shadow, McLaren and Porsche marques have won races in both the original unlimited Can-Am and a World Championship Formula 1 Grand Prix.

“At one end of America’s Grand Prix history there’s Duesenberg at Le Mans in 1921,” he continued. “At the other is Shadow, winner of the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix. We always remember Dan Gurney’s Spa-winning Eagle and the 1976 Austrian GP-winning Penske, and we should, but sometimes the Shadow gets overlooked.

“Brian Redman raced for Shadow and summed it up best when he said, ‘I think they should be remembered with considerable honor.’ And that’s what we’re going to do on May 23, 2021.”

95 cars, not candles, on this birthday cake

Concours of Elegance will feature 95 cars, one from each year of the British queen’s life | Concours photo

Britain’s Concours of Elegance, also known as the Royal Concours because of its rotation among various castle locations, will stage a special display September 3-5 at Hampton Court Palace of 95 vehicles to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 95th birthday. Hampton Court Palace was the home of King Henry VIII.

With one car from each year, vehicles will range from a 1926 Bentley 4 1/2-liter to a 2021 Lotus Evija. The featured 95 vehicles will be among nearly 1,000 vehicles taking part in the concours, organizers said.

The concours launched in 2012 as part of the celebration of the queen’s diamond jubilee and, organizers noted, “continues to run with kind permission of Her Majesty The Queen.”

E-type gets its own birthday party

Jaguar E-type celebrates its birthday | E-type Club photos
Birthday party will celebrate 1960s lifestyle | Eagle Photoshoot by A. Humphries

Jaguar E-type Club co-founder Philip Porter has announced June 12-13 as the date for the 60th anniversary celebration of the Jaguar E-type, the event to be held at the Shelsley Walsh hill climb venue.

“Effectively, we have the UK Government’s go-ahead,” he said of recent changes in policy regarding the pandemic. “So, nothing is stopping us now. It is max revs in each gear as we accelerate towards E-type 60 in June.
 
‘We are determined to have one hell of a celebration – we all deserve it,” he added.

The event at Shelsley Walsh will celebrate not only the 60th anniversary of the March 1961 launch of the original sports car at the Geneva Motor Show, but the 50th anniversary of the car being available with a V12 rather than inline 6-cylinder engine.

New British concours plans woman-owned showcase

Calling itself “a modern, new take on the traditional concours d’elegance,” the Auto Royale concours is planned for July 16-18 at Waddesdon Manor, former home of the Rothschild family. Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury, also was the site of the Louis Vuitton Classic car event.

Among other differences, Auto Royale says it will be the first British concours to present an award, the Dorothy Levitt Award, to recognize the achievements of women in the classic car field. The award will go to the best in class is a showcase of cars owned by female collectors. 

Levitt was Britain’s “original female racing driver,” Auto Royale organizers note, racing cars and boats from 1903-1908. In 1905 she beat male competitors in the Brighton Speed Trials and also set a women’s land speed record of 92 mph in a Napier.

AACA cancels national convention for 2021

Already postponed from February to mid-April, the Antique Automobile Club of America has canceled its 2021 national convention in Philadelphia.

“Over the last several weeks, it has become increasingly clear that getting any permission to have our event inside a building in Philadelphia was going to be a gamble of gigantic proportions — a gamble the club was unprepared to make,” the AACA said in its announcement.

The group also has rescheduled the Central Spring Nationals in Auburn, Indiana, to July 1-3, and the Special Winter Nationals in Phoenix to November 11-13 and the Western Divisional Tour of central Arizona to November 14-17.

Oklahoma Route 66 Road Fest postponed

The annual Route 66 Road Fest, scheduled for June 18 in Tulsa and for June 26 in Oklahoma City, has been canceled with new dates in 2022 to be announced, the Route 66 News website reports.

2021 car show and concours calendar

The following are dates currently set (but subject to change) for a variety of concours d’elegance, car shows and driving tours scheduled during 2021:

March

12-13 – Goodguys Lone Star Nationals, Fort Worth; 13-14 – Taste of Motorsports, Chandler, Arizona; 27-April 4 – Easter Jeep Safari, Moab, Utah

April

8-11, Charlotte AutoFair, North Carolina; 9-11, Goodguys at Scottsdale, Arizona; 19-22, AACA Southeastern Division Chain of Lakes Tour, Florida; 21-25 – Spring Carlisle, Pennsylvania; 23-25 – Goodguys North Carolina Nationals, Raleigh; Derbuy GT tour, Belgium; 24 — Caroline Cruise, Kannapolis to Concord, North Carolina; 25 – Simply Aston Martin, Beaulieu, UK; 30-May 1, Darryl Starbirds National Rod & Custom Show, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

May

1 – Big Displacement Showcase, Seal Cove, Maine; McPherson College CARS Club, Kansas; 9 – Simply Vauxhall, Beaulieu, UK; 14-15 – Carlisle Import & Performance Nationals, Pennsylvania; 15 – Vintage Travel Trailer Rally, Hickory Corners, Michigan; 15-16, Goodwood Members’ Meeting, UK: 16 – Simply Audi, Beaulieu, UK; 20-23 – Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, Amelia Island, Florida; AACA Founders Tour, Davis, West Virginia; 21-23 – Goodguys Salt Lake Nationals, Utah; 23 – Simply Electric, Beaulieu, UK; 28-30 – Goodguys Nashville Nationals, Tennessee

Have an event to add? Email details to journal@classiccars.com.

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