For car aficionados, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is the granddaddy of classic car shows.
But the Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance, a charity fundraiser that started about 32 years after the Pebble Beach show, is considered one of the top 10 concours events,and you can wear flip-flops.
“It’s a very fun day,” said Rick Rawlins, who’s been attending the event since its inception.
Rawlins, owner of Santa Ana-based R & B; Wire Products Inc., invites family and friends. They picnic at the event, and Rawlins brings a car.
This year, he’ll be showing his 1919 Locomobile, a U.S.-made luxury car that escaped the World War II metal scrap pile, thanks to a collector who stashed it away in a dairy.
Garages and hangars all around Southern California will be rolling out some of the finest collectible autos for the concours on Sunday at Strawberry Farms Golf Club in Irvine. About 3,000 to 5,000 people attend. Prior to the concours, there will be a private collection tour on Friday and a gala on Saturday evening.
“Anybody who is anybody in the industry will be at the gala and the concours,” said public relations man Ralph Rodheim, who is the concours’ special events chairman.
You’d be surprised how many autos are stuffed in garages throughout Orange County, Rodheim said.
“It is way beyond your wildest imagination,” he said.
Gen. William Lyon, one of the largest collectors in Southern California and head of Newport Beach homebuilder William Lyon Homes, will be entering a car in the show. Autos are judged according to various classes.
Lyon’s collection at his Coto de Caza estate also will be part of a three-collection tour on Saturday before the concours.
“When would you get a chance to look at Gen. Lyon’s collection?” Rodheim said. “This is amazing even if you don’t like cars.”
The tour, also for charity, is $150.
The Pebble Beach show, which has a lot more international entries, costs $175 to get in. Newport’s show: $40 at the gate.
“Newport has gone from a local car show to a very respected car show,” said Jim Busby, a former Le Mans racecar winner. “It’s not snobby or snooty.”
Busby keeps his collection in Laguna Beach, where he has a hobby restoration shop. He has a 1926 Packard, which won its class in the concours a couple of years ago.
Busby won’t be attending this year’s show because he’s racing a customized 1932 Ford Roadster at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. But his car collection will be part of the private collectors’ tour on Friday.
Most car collectors are genuine car people,enthusiastic about the design and the mechanics of the cars.
“I’m not in it for the money,” Rawlins said.
Jack Croul, former owner of Behr Process Corp. and owner of restaurant The Cannery,Seafood of the Pacific, will be there with his Maserati and a recently restored Ferrari.
“It’s fun and it’s nearby,” he said. “We can all drive over there.”
Croul has been going to the show since the early 1990s when it was a tiny one held at University of Califor-nia, Irvine.
Croul’s first car was a British MG. He has about 50 cars now. His favorites are those from the 1950s.
His Maserati, which has been in rallies in Italy, is the “poster car” for the concours.
“It’s just a neat little roadster with voluptuous fenders,” he said.
Lest anyone needs to be reminded that car collecting is a rich man’s hobby, Croul said the cost to ship a couple of cars to Italy is about $12,000.
Hangars, where many store cars and other vehicles, can cost as much as $600.
Croul said he’s not collecting cars anymore. He’s moved on to planes, even though he’s not a pilot. He has a Lockheed P-38 Lightning and a North American Aviation P-51 Mustang. The P-38 will do a fly by over the show, he said.
More car collectors now are collecting planes. Northwest Airlines pilot and Newport Beach resident Jim Bergman will be showing his P-38 Lightning and his Lockheed Electra at the gala on Saturday. Both are extremely rare, according to Bergman.
Bergman keeps his cars, planes and motorcycles at a hangar in Chino, where he rides his latest purchase,a 1940 BMW motorcycle with a sidecar,and hangs out with his fellow enthusiasts.
A couple of times a month, they’ll display what’s in their hangars.
“Some of these hangars are like a treasure trove of antiques,” he said.
They roast hot dogs at their hangars and try to top one another with the most interesting ride.
“When I came up with this motorcycle, I kind of upped the ante,” Bergman said. “For a fleeting moment I led the pack.”
People who have a passion for cars and planes typically have an appreciation for mechanics, he said.
“We all like mechanical things,” Bergman said. “When I look at my computer, I’m like a dog watching TV. Mechanical things I can understand.”
The concours is an expensive and time consuming show to put on. None of the staff is paid. People do it because they’re passionate about cars and the charity, said Rodheim, who spends a considerable amount of time apart from his business, Rodheim Marketing Group in Costa Mesa, to plan and organize the event.
Rodheim came to cars later than most. A client of his invited him to look at his garage and Rodheim fell head over heels for a 1991 BMW 850 V-12.
“I’m hooked on cars now,” he said.
For the car owners, there will be a 25-mile “star drive” that will start at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine. Most of these cars are never driven, Rodheim said.
Saturday night’s Gala at the tarmac at John Wayne Airport’s Atlantic Aviation hangar, also a charity fundraiser, will show off old and new $30 million business jets.
The gala, which costs $250 a person, is just about sold out. Retired developer Bill Lusk will show his 1941 de Havilland Tiger Moth, an old 1930s plane.
A ride in a Boeing B-17 with Lyon will be a prize in the live auction at the gala.
Another auction item: Lunch with Henrik Fisker and a tour of his Fisker Coachbuild LLC in Newport Beach. Fisker, designer of the Aston Martin DB9, now designs and builds his own luxury autos.
The events raise money for the Assessment and Treatment Services Center, a Newport Beach-based nonprofit which offers a variety of free psychological and behavioral counseling for youth and families. Proceeds also go to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.
Last year, the event made $75,000. Some years are better than others, said founder Catherine Thyen, a Corona del Mar resident. One year, it made $100,000.
She started the event 25 years ago with little knowledge of cars as a way to raise money for the treatment center.
“I didn’t know anything about car shows,” she said.
But she knew plenty of people in the area who collected.
To her surprise, the event made money the first year: $22,000.
Today, Thyen still doesn’t know much about cars.
“I know how to pronounce the names of exotic Italian cars,” she said. “I’ve learned how to say ‘concours.’ My focus is on raising money.”
Concours, by the way, is pronounced without the “s,” as in “con cor.” It’s French for competition.
