A group of 16 GT40s and 22 Millers were among the spectacular special classes at the Amelia Island Concours in Florida on the 10 March.
Judges deliberated long and hard to select the best of show prizes for competition and road cars, but ultimately one of the most historic GT40, chassis P/1075, received the loudest applause from the 30,000-person crowd as it rumbled up to the presentation stage.
The two-times Le Mans winner (in 1968 and 1969) is one of only two cars to achieve the feat at the French 24 hour endurance classic. The famous Gulf-liveried car was entered by the Rocky Mountain Collection.
Other famous Gulf/JWA team GT40s present included the ex-Grady Davis chassis 1049, the former Solar Productions Chassis 1074, which sold last year at RM Auctions for a record $11million, and chassis 1076 which finished third at Le Mans in ’68.
The road car Best of Show went to the 1936 Duesenberg SJN Roadster of Jack and Helen Nethercutt, the second time their famous Californian collection has won the event after its ’33 SJN Arlington Torpedo Sedan took top honours 2011.
Highlight for many was the largest ever gathering of Millers. Rear-drive 122s lined up with a front-drive Packard Cable Special and the spectacular 1932 Four Wheel Drive which led the ’34 Indianapolis 500 before acquisition by the late Bill Milliken.
Honoured guest Sam Posey was blown away by the impressive group of his former race cars, while other special tribute groups celebrated 50 years of the Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray, Porsche’s 911 and Lamborghini.
