New England Concours Had Connecticut-Made Cars And More

FARMINGTON, CT – A concours d’elegance is unlike the routine weekend car shows that fill fields and parking lots across the state from April into November. The entries are rarer, often more prestigious, and always exceedingly pristine. The inaugural New England Concours d’Elegance staged Sunday at the Farmington Polo Club fulfilled the definition with exquisite models and displays not seen anywhere else.

Rare cars such as a bright red 1958 BMW 503 grand touring convertible from Germany, a stunning blue 1965 Alvis TE 21 drophead coupé and a maroon 1967 Sunbeam Tiger Mark I roadster, both from England, stood out among the outside entries. But there were many more, old and new, including from builders such as Packard, REO and Bugatti.

Inside a huge white tent was a display of cars from the early 1900s that were all manufactured in Connecticut; models with names such as Corbin, Locomobile, Pope-Hartford, Kelsey and Columbia. Before Detroit became known as the “Motor City,” this state was the focal point of car building in the country.

“It’s a little known fact but the car industry was actually in the state of Connecticut at the turn of the last century,” said Mark Johnson, vice president emeritus of the Klingberg Family Centers and founder of the Klingberg Pre-War Concours d’Elegance.

“There were over 160 patents applied for at the beginning of the 1900s for cars and about 25 of those companies actually made at least one car.”

The rarest model in the display of Connecticut-made cars was likely a three-wheeled 1912 Kelsey Motorette owned by Wayne Carini. It was made in Hartford and designed by company owner Carl Kelsey.  

“He decided he was going to try to compete with Henry Ford’s Model T. Henry Ford’s goal was to make a car inexpensive so the common person could buy it. Kelsey decided he was going to try to make it even cheaper so he dropped a wheel. He made a three-wheel car,” said Johnson.

“At the time, most three wheel cars were very unstable. They had the single wheel as the steering wheel, but he devised a plan to have the two front wheels steer, and it made it very stable.”

 It’s probably safe to surmise that every car at the New England Concours d’Elegance had a story. My Ride only managed to do background checks on a modest number of them.

Alan McCord of Lakeville brought his dark green 1962 Jaguar Mark II luxury sports saloon to show off. It has the same 3.8-liter engine that was found in the brand’s E-type sports car, making the Mark II a stealth model. 

“It was considered like a hot car in its day. It got a nickname as a gangster car because the gangsters drove them ’cause they could beat the police,” said McCord of the car that he’s owned for a year and a half. “I’ve always liked the idea of having sort of a sleeper car. It’s not a bling kind of a car.”

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The Mark II was restored in California prior to McCord’s purchase of it. “Every conceivable thing was done to it,” he said, and the efforts shows.

McCord found the entries in the concours to be to his liking. “I think pretty much every one of these cars is quite special. A lot of times you go to these car shows and it’s just a ton of cars. This, I think, is more serious.”

Sal Rossitto of Prospect showed off his blue 1968 Pontiac “Royal Bobcat” GTO. “I always wanted a ’68 again because I had one when I was 19 years old, and I sold it because I got married and had kids. That’s what happens,” he said.

Rossitto has owned the GTO for three years. He was also pleased by the execution of the concours. “It’s well run. Beautiful cars here. Great show going on. No two ways about it.”

Steve Honeycomb of Glastonbury said he’d only owned his his 1967 Sunbeam Tiger Mark I two-seat sports car for five days before bringing it to Farmington. 

“I sold a McLaren and I’ve wanted a Sunbeam Tiger since I was 16 years old. Couldn’t afford it back then. Been looking for the past three years and found this one that was totally restored,” he said. 

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Sunbeam built fewer than 7,000 Tiger models between 1964 and 1967. The Tiger is powered by a 260-cubic-inch Ford V8 engine. “The sound of it is amazing and it’s a really smooth car to drive,” said Honeycomb, who had already put a couple hundred miles on the car.

“Some people call it the poor man’s Cobra, but it’s still a pretty amazing car,” he said.

The same could be said for the New England Concours d’Elegance as nearly every car was amazing in its own way.

Here’s a YouTube video of the show from RIDE-CT…