The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance is among the top automotive events in the world and is always held the second full weekend in March. The “Amelia” draws nearly 250 rare vehicles to the Florida coast from collections around the world in the hopes to receive an award or even a nod at this prestigious celebration of the automobile.
Out of the sixteen years “The Amelia” has been judging the best of the best collector cars in the world, RM Auctions has been there for thirteen of them, and Gooding and Company for two years, both bringing classic car enthusiast the opportunity to buy and sell high quality and rare automobiles.
This year there will be some very special cars coming to each event.
At the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, Chevrolet will celebrate its centennial an appearance of the 1955 Biscayne which is considered to be one of Harley Earl’s most intriguing designs. The concept vehicle will be on hand courtesy of Joe Bortz of the Bortz Auto Collection in Highland Park, Illinois.
Described by GM as “An Exploration In Elegance,” the Biscayne was a four-passenger tour de force by Earl and his styling team. This car was designed as a pillar-less hard top design complete with suicide doors, indented side panels, and “Stratospheric” windshield. The car was also used as the display platform for the then new production 1955 Chevrolet V-8, a 265 c.i., 215 h.p. powerplant. Unique swivel front seats allowed the front passengers easy exit from the low-slung car.
Combining styling that would later show up in GM’s Corvair and Corvette production models, the Biscayne was produced for the popular Motorama shows of the 50s, which were sponsored coast-to-coast by the automotive manufacturer and designed to promote its forward-thinking approach to automotive styling and production. All of the Motorama cars were built by hand and most had no engine, electrics or interiors. The car escaped the fate of many of the concept cars, which were ordered destroyed by GM after their use as styling exercises had ended.
After a painstaking search, the Biscayne was found in 1988 by Joe Bortz in the Warhoop Junkyard in Sterling Heights, MI. It had been cut into eight pieces and was scheduled for the crusher. Fate intervened again as the salvage yard owner Harry Warholak hid the pieces along with three other GM Motorama cars and ended up selling them all to Bortz. He began the car’s restoration slowly in 1990 using files found in a file cabinet at GM’s famed Tech Center, which enabled Bortz to fully recreate the Biscayne’s chassis and running gear to original specifications. The Biscayne was returned to its former glory and debuted at the 2010 Concours d’Elegance of America at Meadow Brook.
RM Auctions have announced that a 1908 Oldsmobile Limited Prototype will be offered At Amelia Island
The Oldsmobile Limited is among the most important of the big, brass-era cars, and it’s far rarer today than its contemporaries, the 6/70 Thomas Flyer or Model 66 Pierce-Arrow. No other brass era car is as large or impressive as the Limited, and yet they are so well built that surviving examples effortlessly complete 1,000-mile tours, easily reaching speeds of 70 mph or more.
Today, only 13 Limiteds are known to survive – two 1910s, ten 1911s, one 1912 and the 1908 Oldsmobile Limited Prototype that will cross the block at their 13th annual Amelia Island auction held at the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, on March 12, 2011.
RM Auctions will also be auctioning a pair of remarkable Ferraris; a rare and highly original 1953 Ferrari 212 Inter Coupé by Vignale which surfaced from a Mid-Western garage last week over 25 years after it was first parked, and one of the three 1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico Berlinettas which is considered one of the most original examples in existence. Both will be offered from the same owner, and the upcoming auction represents the first time each has come to market in over three decades.
Gooding & Company, will be presenting an outstanding array of Italian collector cars at its Amelia Island Auction on March 11.Hand-selected by Gooding & Company's specialists as superb examples of their respective marques, highlights include the 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV Prototype, a 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Cabriolet, a 1953 Siata 208 CS Berlinetta, a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4, a 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, and a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona.
You can view all the cars coming to Gooding & Company's Amelia Island auction on the company's website.
