Words and Photos | eGarage
Every year, the waterfront suburb just across the lake from Seattle plays host to the Kirkland Concours dElegance at Carillon Point Marina just outside of downtown Kirkland.
This is not your ordinary roadster show – we’re talking Delahaye, Auburn, and Pierce Arrow – Automotive royalty. These magnificent beasts roamed the road back in the days when owning a car was not for 99% of the population but for a minority; before highways joined cities and people were concerned about mileage per gallon or passing emissions tests.
The first chapter of Automotive history was pre-assembly line when the car was not a commuter’s tool but a luxurious yet functional piece of craft. Few could afford one then and even fewer examples remain now.
These types of vehicles can easily escape the boundaries of the imagination due to their size, shape, ornate design, and museum-like details. Cars with this much character can make your current daily driver look like cardboard and taste like stale white bread.
In fact, most of these “super” cars are owned by museums and other magnates of collecting and unfortunately are rarely seen outside of shows or tours anymore.
Fortunately, this Concours d’Elegance is similar to Pebble Beach in that they both have a preceding tour, allowing some of these works of art to burn some carbon calories. The Vin d’Elegance takes place the day prior to the Concours and a group of select vehicles spend the day meandering through winery country just outside of Seattle.
Traditionally, vehicle judging at a Concours d’Elegance is much more demanding than that of a neighborhood or general automobile show.
Trained judges examine the vehicle thoroughly and in its entirety. They rate each and every component. Only those vehicles that are judged perfect (or very nearly so) in every way, are considered eligible for trophy class.
The Kirkland Concours doesn’t just attract these gorgeous antique gems, but since it’s an invite only show, it attracts the best in breed across many vintages of Automotive. This year, eGarage sponsor Northwest Auto Salon got to prep two vintage Lamborghinis that participated in this year’s winery tour. What a treat that must’ve been!
Vintage jaw-dropping Jags, more gorgeous wooden boats than you could possibly absorb in an afternoon, and a 1 of 2 Aston Martin; the sole remaining original ‘007’ DB5s as featured on screen with Sean Connery behind the wheel in the enormously popular Goldfinger and Thunderball movies.
Please do yourself a favor, pay the $25 next year and go visit Kirkland to look at the best of the best that Vintage Northwest Automotive culture has to offer.
For the complete gallery on this beautiful show, check out the eGarage Flickr page!
