The Amelia Concours d’Elegance in Florida has crowned its two Best of Show winners after a highly successful event that puts the event back at the top table of US concours.
The Best of Show Concours d’Elegance went to the 1931 Duesenberg Model J ‘Tapertail’ Speedster by Weymann belonging to the William Lyon Family of Coto de Caza, California.
The Best of Show Concours de Sport was awarded to the 1969 McLaren M8B of Mouse Motors, Chicago, Illinois. The two winners couldn’t have been more different, validating the event’s long history of awarding the two separate Best of Show awards.
The 1969 McLaren M8B chassis no. 2 was the defining car of the 1969 Can-Am ‘Bruce and Denny Show’, as it was referred to at the time. Bruce McLaren drove this chassis to dominate the 1969 season and secure the driver’s Can-Am championship with victories at Watkins Glen, Mosport Park, Mid-Ohio, Road America, Michigan and Laguna Seca. With team mate Denny Hulme, the duo won all 11 races of the 1969 season. The McLaren remains one of the all-time greats of the Can-Am era, with its 7.0-litre Chevy V8 producing more than 630bhp.
“Our goal was to bring awareness to this car’s story,” said Mike Marzano, caretaker of the winning McLaren. “It hasn’t been out there much over the years, so we were thrilled to share it at The Amelia Concours. The event is great for collectors and enthusiasts alike.”
The Lyons Family’s Duesenberg Model J carries a one-of-a-kind ‘Tapertail’ speedster body on a short-wheelbase chassis (no. 2450). The body was designed by Gordon Buehrig, who also designed the final Auburn Speedster and the revolutionary Cord 810/812. It was fabricated by Weymann America Co. and installed by the Duesenberg factory.
It was built to order for its first owner, Walter Varney, a businessman and pilot from San Francisco whose air mail operation later became United Airlines. It’s a true speedster, doing without exterior door handles and roll-up windows, and it’s also notable for its single-person rumble seat and elegant pontoon fenders, as well as its lack of running boards or steps.
“I haven’t been to The Amelia Concours in 12 years, but the Hagerty team welcomed us with great hospitality,” said Bill H. Lyon, caretaker of the winning Duesenberg. “It’s been a fantastic visit. The weather has been great, the experience was great and winning the show, obviously, was icing on the cake.”
This was undoubtedly the best running of the event since being taken over by Hagerty and being renamed The Amelia Concours (from Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance), and the vibrant feel of the show was helped by blues skies and sunshine throughout the day, along with successful sales from on-site auction house Broad Arrow and Gooding Christie’s a few minutes down the road at Omni Plantation.
We’ll share concours results and full sales listings when they’re available, but it’s worth noting that Broad Arrow achieved the highest ever sale in the Amelia Island car event’s 31-year history, selling a total of over $107 million before post-sale activities and official results – which also makes it Broad Arrow’s highest ever sale.
Its top lot was a 2003 Ferrari Enzo at $15,185,000, continuing the recent success of relatively modern hypercars, but it also a achieved a record $6,605,000 for a highly original 1972 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV that had spent more than half a century with a single American private collector. That surpasses the previous record for any Miura at auction by more than $1,700,000.
