Concours d'Elegance (Photo by Nathan Shubert)
Classic and modern cars are set to descend on Owen Sound and Cobble Beach this weekend for the 11th annual Concours d’Elegance.
Founder and Show Chair Rob McLeese says he is very excited about the annual car show running from Sept. 12 to the 14.
“It’s going to be a great year. We have got some just incredible cars coming, it’s going to make everybody happy I think,” says McLeese.
The annual car show will begin on Friday with the Tour d’Elegance from Cobble Beach.
On Saturday, Owen Sound’s River District will be lined with cars for the free Cars and Coffee event along 2nd Avenue East and the Concours d’Lemons on 1st Avenue West.
“For those who have been there before, if you don’t smile when you see those cars, then you are probably not alive because it makes people laugh when they see these cars,” says McLeese. “It’s people still passionate about their vehicles, but they are the opposite of what one would see at a Concours usually, so it is really fun to have those cars.”
Later that afternoon, there will be two seminars at the Roxy Theatre, the first featuring the eras of the F1 and the other presenting the new Porsche Experience Centre in Toronto.
Then on Sunday, the Cobble Beach golf course featuring cars from the early 1900s to present will be available to all ticket holders with the award presentations to follow that afternoon.
The judging classes include Canadian Build or assembled pre 1985, post war luxury pre 1980, and modern supercars.
There are also several special awards including people’s choice and best of show.
McLeese says they are also introducing a new class titled 30 under 30 which is for vehicle owner 30 years old and younger with a vehicle 25 years or older and have spend $30,000 on cost and restoration.
He adds there are many unique cars set to attend this year’s event.
“We have got the Bill Gates 959 Porsche Komfort car that was held by US customs for 13 years,” says McLeese. “We have three styles of Ford GT. A lot of people think Ford GTs are built by Ford in Detroit, no they are not, they are built by Multimatic in Markham, Ontario. So we have a 2006 Ford GT, a 2020 Ford GT Carbon Series and then we finally have Multimatic themselves are sending us a special car, it’s a 2025 Ford GT Mark 4 with a mytichrome paint. Mytichrome is a very unique paint that has little chunks in it that depending on how the light is hitting the car, it will refract to different colours.”
The event also operates as a fundraiser to support both the Brightshores Owen Sound Hospital Foundation and Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation, and McLeese says this year aims to raise over $30,000 for the Owen Sound Hospital.
More details on the ticketed even can be found on the Concours d’Elegance website here.