A 1937 BMW 328 that raced at the Nürburgring and the Le Mans 24 Hours, before disappearing during WW2, scooped Best of Show at the 10th annual Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d’Elegance from 28 October to 6 November.
The roadster – one of just 18 painted black – was campaigned by Baron Fritz Huschke von Hanstein before resurfacing in 1953, when it was bought by a returning GI who owned it for 40 years.
Also boasting long-term ownership at the Savannah, South Carolina event was the recipient of the show’s People’s Choice award: a 1936 Auburn 852 Boat Tail Speedster (below, second left) that’s been in Charles Mistele’s family for the past 49 years.
The 2007 Best of Show winner – Peter Boyle’s 1928 Isotta Fraschini Type 8A55 Boat-tail Speedster (above, third left) – went home with more silverware after being voted the Most Outstanding Car, while the post-1948 equivalent went to Michael Stickney’s 1967 Shelby GT-500 (above, far right). The decision to split the category split was taken to up the quality of the 500 entries, according to concours founding member Dr Paul Doerring,
He said: “Because of the depth of vehicles participating over the past few years, we have added additional top honours to better showcase the breadth and quality of vehicle Hilton Head Island is now attracting. We’re proud that selecting a single Outstanding Car has becoming nearly impossible.”
Star of the car club turnout was Geoff Wheatley’s 1954 MG TF, which took the People’s Award for the Car Club Jamboree display, while the show’s BMW focus generated a strong marque line-up, with Wayne Long’s 1976 2002 picking up Best BMW award and Avery Wise’s 1970 BMW 2800CS taking the BMW Car Club of America’s Honorary Chairman’s award.
Next year’s concours (26 October to 4 November) will honour Ford’s Model T.
See: Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d’Elegance for more.
