The Cincinnati Concours at Ault Park celebrated its 46th year in a grand style. The casual, yet still elegant, atmosphere makes this concours one of the hidden jewels of the entire U.S. concours calendar and really sets it apart from other events.
Like many concours event weekends, there is a Hangar Party on the Saturday before the main event. Unlike many of these events, the one in Cincinnati somehow mixes exclusivity with accessibility, making for what has to be the single most enjoyable pre-concours event on the entire calendar. Exhibitors at the Cincinnati Hangar Party, held at the amazingly retro styled historic Lunken Airport, can bring a multi-million dollar Ferrari or the world’s nicest Cadillac Cimarron and either car will be welcome there. My personal favorite cars on display were the set of BMW M3s from every generation presented by Enthusiast Auto Group. Combine that with the great food, wine, and beer and you have a truly fun event, which often has to kick people out at its end as the conversations linger long after the music stops.
This year’s Cincinnati Concours main event, the Concours d’Elegance, had the nicest selection of cars I have seen in the 5 years I have been attending as a judge and media representative. An extremely rare Duesenbergs, amazing GTP era racing car, and a truly spectacular selection of Ferrari road cars (including a NART Spyder) were among the almost 200 cars on display. This year’s event literally had something for everyone to see including this Saab 93 and even a crazy rare Gilburn, the only car ever built in Wales.
One extremely well curated section was the Mustang display. This class featured rare Mustangs from almost every single era of its history, with my favorite being the 1979 Fox body Mustang concept car.
Every single car on the field was a winner just by being invited to show at this event, but like every concours there are those who win the Best of Show awards. The two cars were the winner of the William K. Victor Best of Show Concours d’Elegance award, a 1928 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A SS Boat-tail Convertible Coupe owned by noted collector Peter T. Boyle, and the Roy O. Sweeney Best of Show Esprit de Sport award that was won by the 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ “Mormon Meteor” owned by The Auto Place.
If you have not yet attended the Cincinnati Concours you should seriously consider adding it to your 2025 calendar and if your feel your car may make the grade consider entering it in 2025 and if you do0n’t make the cut for Sunday then drive it to the Saturday hangar party and share it with the people there. You will definitely make some new friends either way.
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