The 59th annual Hillsborough Concours D'Elegance

Located at the ideal setting of a golf course and notably the last remaining Concours show in the Bay Area, the 59th annual Hillsborough Concours D’elegance was held July 19th at Crystal Springs Golf Course in Burlingame, CA. One would expect lots of road noise from the nearby I-280 expressway but that isn’t he case, nor is it what attendees heard.

Despite the hot weather, and thankful it wasn’t a pavement based show with heat reflecting off the asphalt, the commentary on the public address system by the ever-smooth John Joss was delightful. And so was the variety of automobiles, from pre-war luxury cars, newer exotics, racers, a small collection of motorcycles and basically everything that is cool whether old, new, slow or fast. Rolling
artwork and sculptures, as always.

Heavy on giving back, the Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Not-For-Profit Organization. There are numerous other sponsors and charities involved. One particularly special moment was the remembrance of friends of the show that had since passed on. Instead of a moment of silence, it was a rev-off. A superbly clever idea of revving the engines of the participating cars at the top of the pre-announced hour as a tribute to those no longer with us. A great and memorable idea.

Hopefully the show will continue its wonderful existence with its outstanding community support and sponsors as a premier event in the Bay Area while a preview of the Monterey Weekend at a fraction of the cost. Be sure to check out the website for more information, the class winners and the Best of Show, a stunning 1964 Ferrari 250LM.

Comments

The Ford Mustang GT350 and GT350R review

It’s the exhaust system. It’s an eye widening, amazing mechanical roar, both exotic and muscular at the same time. And that is in the Sport mode. In the standard mode, it’s a quiet cruiser and an excellent grand tourer. Comparisons to the BMW M4 are immediate and inevitable, it is that dialed in. Ford took the already very good Mustang platform and enhanced the suspension and drivetrain, and based on past drives of the current the model, the some interior bits as well. The 2016 Ford Mustang GT350 is Ford’s flat plane crankshaft V-8 answer to the Camaro Z/28 but is absolutely street friendly and less expensive. The non-R version has a starting MSRP $47,995. It features a 5.2 liter V-8 rated at 524hp at 7500 rpm and a healthy 429 lb-ft. torque at 4,750 rpm. The 8000rpm redline makes for a long, hard pull to redline. With the exhaust in the quiet mode, and 80mph cruise is as silent as the BMW 3-series. Styling takes the great lines of the current GT and adds more aggressive touches withou...

The Absurdity of Fastrak and the HOV lanes

The state of California continues with the ridiculous HOV or High Occupancy Vehicle lanes that are intended for Electric Vehicles, hybrids with limited issue permission stickers, motorcycles and multiple occupant vehicles. As you can guess, eventually these lanes won’t move any quicker than other full access lanes. That’s how stupid they are. They are so poorly thought out that there are multiple scenarios that the system can be foiled. Of course, not everyone can use these lanes which I covered in a previous article here: http://cartruthblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/abolish-wasteful-and-unfair-hov-lanes.html so they are patently unfair. Now in the infinite wisdom of CalTrans and others, the Fastrak was introduced in order to charge a fee for solo riders who want to use the lanes. This meant adding sensors to detect vehicles but still no cameras for reading license plates. Of course cameras came next along with a revised Fastrak that has a switch to indicate how many passengers are in the ...

Sixth generation Camaro V6 review

Chevrolet updated the chassis of the Camaro for 2016 with the new Alpha platform and by all accounts the approximately 250 to 300lb weight reduction was a huge improvement. Despite having a brilliant chassis and three powerful engine choices, the interior and outward visibility hardly improved at all. I wanted to like this car, I really did. It has some really good aspects but overall it’s only good for going in a straight line, not reverse or backing up out of any parking space, on public roads or modified into a track-only car. You decide if the interior justifies a $29,000 MSRP. The 2017 model is essentially the same. The 335hp V-6 is a great engine, responsive, sounds good and with the quick shifting 8 speed automatic, the car is capable of mid-high 13 second quarter mile ETs. It feels every bit as quick as the numbers suggest. It has no appreciable dead spots and has an excellent pull. The 8 speed auto is finicky on the highway though, downshifting at the slightest provocatio...

Review Your Cars

Search This Blog