What is it about automobiles that we love so much? Why will an exhaust note cause us to reel around like a gunfighter in a spaghetti western and instantly recognize what kind of car made that glorious, symphonic noise before we even see it? Why will we spend countless hours cleaning, polishing, waxing and detailing our cars to simply stand and stare at them.  Grabbing a cold one, ( from our little garage frig) our favorite garage stool, our drool bowl and gleaming at the work we had just done as if it were the first time we saw….well-you know. Why on God’s green earth would we get up at 4:30 in the morning to watch a car race?

Perhaps it’s a mechanical thing. Maybe we just love the intricacy of a great car, rather like that of a fine watch. Perhaps, to us, it is art; rolling art. For crying out loud, you cannot drive a Monet! Great artist, yes, but compared to Pininfarina, Bertone, Dietrich, Darrin, and Earl……..puleeeeaze!

Perhaps it is simply something that we are born with, a sixth sense if you will, for all things with four wheels and glorious bodywork. If you are a car guy, (yes ladies that includes you as well) chances are you have been since you can remember; right? We called out the names of cars to our bewildered parents, we knew the models, the engines they had, how much horsepower. We read car magazines, not comics. We drew cars, we had car posters, played with car models and even mimicked the appropriate exhaust tones. THEY WERE DIFFERENT DAMN IT! How many of us still have those toys? How many of us can still emulate the exhaust note of a Healy? Steve, can you still do a 240Z? ;>)

Then there is racing. Some of us having the good fortune to do it, or having done it. The ability to dance with a 3000 lb. partner in a well choreographed waltz and when done well, all played in slow motion; MAGIC! Even if we don’t or haven’t raced, watching the best drivers in the world at their craft is breathtaking to car people.  Simply knowing and understanding that driver and car have somehow become one, a relationship between the human and the mechanical, communication between two opposites if you will;  fantastic!

What draws us can also be as simple as dawn or dusk reflecting from the sculpted fender of an E-Type or the bonnet of….hell almost anything.

Cars are something that we just become lost in and wonderfully so. On occasion we have the good fortune to own some of these incredible machines, on others it is good enough just to see some of our favorites; and dream.

Happy dreams,

O.C.C.E

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On Saturday March 1st 2008 the first inaugural Palm Springs Desert Classic Concours D’ Elegance was held at the beautiful O’Connell Golf Club. What a show!

First and foremost, a huge round of applause must go out to Paul and Holly Merrigan. The Merrigans’ and their staff pulled off a miracle; organizing an extraordinarily well run event in just two months time! Listen carefully and you will hear the applause! BRAVO!!!!!!!

There is so much to write about that it is difficult, at best, to put all of our thoughts into some kind of reasonable order. Significant cars were displayed, the list almost endless and if we miss some here, sorry! Ferrari number 01C; quite possibly the very first Ferrari ever built. A very rare Minerva- a true one-off convertible built by a little known Belgian Manufacturer. A Jaguar D-Type, a Porsche 904, a Zagato bodied Maserati A6G, 2 nearly perfect Ferrari Superfasts,
A 1949 Maserati A6-1500, a 1930 Franklin 147 Speedster; Tony Adamowiczs’ championship winning Dan Gurney Eagle FA car; In fact Tony was re-united with, and climbed into the office of, his championship winning Eagle after nearly 40 years. WOW!!!! A terrific BMW Isetta, a stunning and ultimately show winning Delahaye, the list goes on and on.

Orange County was well represented too. Crevier Classic Car Co. was presented with 3 awards for two of their cars. Their 1932 Lincoln KB9 Waterhouse Victoria took home best in class honors for Class 4 “American Classics” and their ’36 Packard 120 Le Baron Victoria was presented with the second place award in the same class. The Packard was also awarded “Best American Coach”

One of the greatest treats of the weekend was that four great American racecar drivers were present to judge the racecar class; Tony Adamowicz, Davey Jordon, Scooter Patrick and Rick Knoop. Who else to better judge a racecar class than bunch of “seasoned” (read, old) racecar drivers? Tony’s resume has already been written about on this site and worth another look. Scooter was a factory Porsche driver who competed in Porsche 904’s and 906’s. He also won the very last unlimited Can-Am race in 1974 at Elkhart Lake Wisconsin; driving a Mclaren M20. Rick is probably best known for his work with Jim Busby in the C2 championship winning Mazda Prototypes of 1984 and winning their class at Le Mans the same year. Rick also drove Porsche 962’s and currently campaigns a vintage Tyrell F1 car….wonder if he wants to adopt a son? Dad, I work and everything! Davey drove with other greats like Jerry Titus, Scooter, Briggs Cunningham, John Fitch etc, etc, etc! Davey also won the 1967 SCCA National championship, driving a Porsche 911s. The list of cars that Davey drove throughout his amazing career is mind boggling. It was great to have all four of them there and…. on Friday night…. being able to spend time with all of them at once during dinner was……..simply amazing. Thanks guys! A night, we will never forget!

What a great show! Paul and Holly are already working on next year’s event. If they keep this up, Pebble Beach could be in serious trouble.

O.C.C.E

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