Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

The Pebble Beach Concours d?Elegance is an automotive charitable event held each year on the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. A Concours d?Elegance (French, literally "a gathering of elegance.") is an event open to classic and vintage cars in which they are judged for originality, function and presentation. Classes are commonly broken down by type, marque (manufacturer), coachbuilder, country of origin, or time period. Traditionally a car is selected a as "The Best of Show" from among the various class winners. Class judges are usually experts on a particular category or manufacturer. Each year a number of honorary judges, generally individuals who have made significant contributions to the automotive industry or motorsports, participate as well.

Related Topics:
Pebble Beach Golf Links - Pebble Beach, California - French - Coachbuilder

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Largely due the extreme cost of purchasing, restoring, and maintaining fine classic cars, such events are largely the realm of the very wealthy and those individuals and businesses that cater to their interests and are largely viewed as much as social gatherings as they are purely special interest events. The Pebble Beach Concours d?Elegance is no exception. From classic Ferraris to historic Bentleys, the Concours assembles a stylish mix of automobiles, while highlighting a few automotive marques each year. Entrants in the concours are by invitation only, and many collectors spend years and hundreds of thousands of dollars purchasing and restoring a car in hopes of being chosen. Many of the entrant's cars are valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, with some at one or two million dollars or more. For this reason, along with its remarkable settling and amenities, the Pebble Beach Concours is considered the premier concours in North America, and is the centerpiece of over 50 related events spanning over a week, including vintage racing cars running at the Laguna Seca Historics and a handful of classic car auctions conducted by Christie's and others.

Related Topics:
Ferraris - Bentleys - North America - Laguna Seca - Christie's

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The Pebble Beach Concours d?Elegance was founded in 1950 and has been held continuously at The Lodge at Pebble Beach (formerly the Del Monte Lodge) since the event?s inception. It is generally conducted each year on the third Sunday in August. The first Pebble Beach Concours d?Elegance consisted of 30 cars were on display. The 2005 event saw 227 cars lining the 18th green and hole of Pebble Beach Golf Links with 27 judged classes, with cars brought to Pebble Beach from 26 states and 15 countries (including the U.S.). The event describes itself as "Exhibiting prewar and postwar automobiles along with the latest in concept car designs, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is the premiere concours in the world." 50 of the 227 cars in the field come from outside the U.S, representing Italy, England, France, Switzerland, Australia, Hong Kong, Argentina, Holland, Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Germany, Mexico and Monaco. The total estimated cost of the vehicles spread across the 18th fairway at the 2005 event was $300 million dollars.

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Each year?s Pebble Beach Concours honors a featured marque (manufacturer), coachbuilder, or type. The 2005 event honored Italian automotive manufacturer Alfa Romeo; the Italian coachbuider (carrozzeria) Pinin Farina; and the former French manufacturer Delage.

Related Topics:
Coachbuilder - Italian - Alfa Romeo - Coachbuider - Delage

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The proceeds of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance have supported the United Way of Monterey County and the Pebble Beach Company Foundation for a combination of 52 years. It also supports a number other local and national organizations. The 2005 event raised over $500,000, and the Concours has given more than $8 million to charities through the years.

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