The Amelia Concours has become renowned as one of the nation’s top automotive events and is widely considered to be among the top three Concours in the U.S. It starts Thursday, March 7, and discounted online ticket sales run through this Sunday, Feb. 24.
Those who haven’t been to the Amelia Concours in a few years may be in for some sticker shock. Advance general admission online ticket sales for the Concours end Sunday at $100. The price rises to $125 at the gate.
Still, admission is significantly cheaper than at other shows of its caliber, like the Concours at Pebble Beach, which starts at $375 and rises to $450 at the gate.
Proceeds from the Amelia Concours benefit First Coast area charities including Community Hospice & Palliative Care.
“Our total giving up to this point has been $3.45 million that we've given back to the community, and it's very important to [Concours founder] Bill Warner that that money stays in the First Coast of Florida, that it stays here and it helps benefit those local charities," said Concours spokesman Chris Brewer.
Additional Information
A chance to see a one-of-a-kind Corvette
It’s an open secret among sports car fans that Chevrolet has been working on a new mid-engine Corvette, although GM hasn’t officially acknowledged whether it will come to market.
And this isn’t the first time Chevy has flirted with a mid-engine layout. Among the cars that will be at the 24th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance at the Ritz-Carlton this year will be a unique 1973 Chevrolet Corvette XP-897GT with a rotary engine between the seats and rear hatch.
“It was a one of two mid-engine Corvette prototypes developed by General Motors styling division, and a lot of it was to promote the Wankel rotary engine,” said Brewer.
Back in the early 1970s GM looked at whether a rotary engine might be the engine of the future but ultimately discarded the idea because of poorer gas mileage, emissions and using more oil than conventional engines.
Mazda did move forward with a rotary engine, with its most famous example being the Wankel-powered RX-7 sports car.
At the time, automakers were attracted to the engine design because of its simplicity and high horsepower displacement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=josJhz8VS8A">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=josJhz8VS8A
Cars & Coffee
If the Amelia Concours is a little too rich for your blood, a free Cars & Coffee event will be held Saturday.
"A lot of really great stuff [will be at Cars & Coffee]. We've got a Viper club that's coming in with quite a few cars. The Porsche group is always extensive, there's always plenty of BMWs. And that's just to name a few,” said Brewer.
More than 400 cars are expected on the show fields at Cars & Coffee on Saturday, March 9. It will be held directly across the street from the main entrance of the Ritz-Carlton as well as on the main show field.
And one final note: for those curious about Chevy's current mid-engine Corvette project, here's a video of it in camouflage.
Watch the mid-engine Chevy Corvette launch at a track: https://t.co/xq6CeHVgvS pic.twitter.com/6OMZUQ4fK6
— Autoblog (@therealautoblog) August 31, 2018
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
