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Truly Epic Machinery at the Amelia Island Concours

Edward LohWords and Photos

The threat of rain brought a premature end to the 21st Annual Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, but those risked foul weather were rewarded with only the lightest of sprinkles and some truly epic machinery. Racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck was this year's honored racing driver and the lawn on Sunday was littered with more than a dozen of his winning race cars. Unlike other concours events, Amelia Island awards two best in show winners - Concours d'Elegance and Concours de Sport. Keep reading for some the wild and wonderful rides from the 2016 field - and the top two winners.

1948 Tucker Sedan

If you've seen the movie "Tucker: The Man and His Dream," you'll recognize this three-eyed beauty as the legendary Tucker 48 (aka Tucker Torpedo aka Tin Goose). Preston Tucker hoped to bring innovation to a country hungry for it after World War II. His first prototype featured such advances as a 9.6-liter, high-torque, low-rpm flat-six engine mounted in the back and powering the rear wheels, fully independent suspension that used rubber torsion tubes instead of springs, and safety innovations including a perimeter frame, padded dashboards, collapsible steering columns, a pop-out windshield, and that centrally mounted swiveling head lamp. This is chassis No. 51, which means it is not one of the original 51 cars built by the Tucker Car Corporation (one prototype plus 50 production vehicles, with a handful more built after the factory closed) before it failed in January of 1950 after a months-long legal battle.

1964 Shelby Cobra 289 Mk II

The stories behind the cars are often more interesting than the cars themselves. To paraphrase this 1964 Shelby Cobra's placard: This car was involved in criminal activity in the late '60s and subsequently impounded and essentially forgotten for a decade. It was sold at a police auction in the 1970s to a local speed shop owner who refurbished the car and resold it out of fear that the convict owner would come for it someday.

Wouldn't you love to know the details about the criminal activity?

1951 Studebaker Manta Ray

Recognize this car? You should. It was the Motor Trend cover car from July 1953! Creators Glenn Hire and Vernon Antoine clearly took inspiration from their jobs in the jet aircraft division of the North American Aviation Company and applied it to the Manta Ray. This one-off started life as a 1951 Studebaker Commando and retains its running gear. The stunning 14-piece body is all hand-laid fiberglass and took 4,000 hours to complete.

1973 Mohs Safarikar

In a field of wild and wonderful cars, it takes a lot to stand out. This giant Safarikar certainly did, if out of sheer awkwardness and ungainliness. It's one of three prototypes built for cruising the Serengeti by Mohs Seaplane of Madison, Wisconsin. Three Baja-racer-style seats up front are mounted so that they can pivot to absorb impacts of rough terrain. The rear bench seats fold down, creating an area large enough for two adults and two children to sleep. The aluminum body has a retractable roof that allows occupants to shoot (with guns or cameras) wild game, and most of the body is covered in 40 yards of Naugahyde vinyl stretched over polyurethane foam padding. Why? In case of charging rhinos and elephants, of course!

1974 Fascination Sedan

This retro-futuristic vehicle was designed by Paul M. Miller, who got his start (surprise!) in the aircraft industry. The original concept was propeller-powered before a more reliable solution was found in the form of a rear-mounted Renault four-cylinder engine. It has room for four, and although it looks like a tricycle, the Fascination has two wheels mounted on a short axle up front. Only five were ever built.

1968 Chevrolet Penske Camaro

Behold, the sneakiest and winningest Trans-Am car ever, the Penske-Donohue Z/28 Camaro that won 10 of 11 Trans-Am races in the 1968 season. This rolling SCCA rule-breaker featured an acid-dipped body that took its weight down nearly 400 pounds over stock. A welded, NASCAR-style rollcage, one of the first in sports car racing, added back structural rigidity lost to the acid.

1967 Mercury Cougar

Built by NASCAR legend Bud Moore for the 1967 Trans-Am racing series, this Cougar was more a modified production car than an all-out racer. Powered by a 480-horspower, 289-cubic-inch V-8, the Cougar still retained its padded dashboard, door panels, and functioning glass. It was one of two cars on Moore's team that included racing legends Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, and Ed Leslie.

1962 Porsche Covington Tiburon

This is the last of six vehicles built by St. Petersburg, Florida's Henry Covington and the only one that was built on a Porsche 356 chassis. The "Shark" was a rolling test bed of the aerodynamic theories of August Raspet of Mississippi State University and featured such advances as a full belly pan under its streamlined fiberglass body.

1934 Hispano-Suiza K6 Chauffeur Limousine

This elegant limo was one of two commissioned by Anthony Gustav and Yvonne de Rothschild of the powerful British banking family. The Spanish luxury carmaker Hispano-Suiza engineered the car, but the gorgeous coachwork was by Fernandez & Darin of Paris, France. It is powered by a 5.2-liter six-cylinder engine that makes 120 horsepower and propels the K6 to a top speed of 88 mph. Its 146.5-inch wheelbase is only about 7.5 inches shorter than the length of a new MX-5 Miata.

1938 Phantom Corsair

This sinister-looking elephant-beetle of a car was actually designed by Rust Heinz, of the H.J. Heinz family (ketchup empire), and featured all sorts of groundbreaking technology for the era, including front-wheel drive, an electric gearshift, four forward speeds, and a Cord Lycoming V-8 that supposedly could push the Corsair to 115 mph. It seats six with four passengers on the front bench seat and two passengers in the rear, facing the back.

1988 Audi 200 Quattro Trans-Am

Audi's first factory-built race car for an American racing series really showed us Yanks what all-wheel drive and turbo power could do. Quattro all-wheel drive; a 510-horsepower, turbocharged inline-five cylinder; and the driving skills of one Hurley Haywood helped the Audi 200 win eight of 13 races and take both manufacturer and driver's championship in 1988 Trans-Am series. Audi was essentially banned from the series in 1989, as Trans-Am outlawed all-wheel drive and foreign-built engines.

2001 BMW M3 GTR

Behold, the first BMW M3 in history powered by a V-8! The P60 4.0-liter was the first V-8 designed and built by BMW Motorsport as a race engine. It has a flat-plane crank and makes more than 444 horsepower. With Bill Auberlen, Boris Said, and Hans Stuck behind the wheel, the stars and stripes M3 GTR won the Petit Le Mans in 2001 and the hearts of a nation grieving after 9/11.

1914 Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix

So dominant was Mercedes-Benz's No. 28 Grand Prix racer that it won the 1914 French Grand Prix, the 1915 Indianapolis 500, and 1922 Targa Florio and raced for a total of 15 years in largely the same condition. Its 4.5-liter, single overhead cam inline-four cylinder engine made 115 horsepower and could rev to 3,200 rpm, which was unheard of for its day. Top speed was an equally impressive 115 mph. Not bad for a race car with no front brakes!

1952 Pegaso Z-102

Unlike other concours events, Amelia Island presents two "Best in Show" winners. Winner of the Concours de Sport for 2016 is this amazing 1952 Pegaso Z-102. There are almost too many wild features to take in on this Spanish-bred beauty, from the unique "cupula" rear hatch to the red-wall tires, flip-up side windows, and fantastic aluminum bodywork. Unlike other luxury cars of the day, Pegaso built nearly every part of the car in house at its factory in Barcelona, from the front, longitudinally mounted 2.5-liter DOHC V-8 to the body (by in-house coachbuilder ENASA, though later models would use foreign coachworks). As odd as it may look, Z-102 coupes raced, thanks to a five-speed non-synchromesh transaxle, de Dion suspension, and horsepower that ranged from 170 to 360 horsepower. For a time, a Pegaso Z-102 held the title of world's fastest car, with a top speed of 155 mph.


1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Sedanca de Ville

Amelia Island's 2016 Concours d'Elegance winner is a 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II that would make Jay Gatsby green with envy. If we had to pinpoint what sets this Phantom II apart from the other luxurious stunners on the fairway, we'd point to details such as the delicate rattan work along the passenger compartment and the elegantly raked V-shaped windshield. Proof again that the best cars also have the best stories, this Phantom II was once owned by 1930s Hollywood starlet Constance Bennett and even had a small part in the 1937 film "The King and the Chorus Girl." Bennett owned the Phantom II until 1940, when her French nobleman (and film director) husband gambled it away in a poker game. She divorced him soon after.