I’d never been to Arizona before in my entire life, so to say that I went in with an open mind would be a bit of an understatement. It’s an absolutely stunning straight shot from Los Angeles, about 5 hours by car, tackled by our Director of Marketing Andrew Poole and I in his E39 M5. I can confidently say that every minute of the ride out there in that car was thoroughly enjoyable. But the scene upon our arrival at the Biltmore was out of this world.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a few of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings in person, but the chance to actually stay in one was above and beyond for the son of an architect, which is to say nothing of the car show assembling outside my bedroom door.
The concours, in its fourth year has really hit its stride in what is an increasingly crowded event space. As I’m sure most of you can appreciate, there are only so many variations on straw hats scrutinizing classics on green lawns. The Frank Lloyd Wright backdrop and the eclectic curation of cars this year set it apart in my mind from the rest of the events we’ll be attending.
Pebble beach is downright stifling in its pomp and circumstance. Amelia Island is a hike. When it comes to this stuff as an LA native, a desert drive followed by some heavy metal on the lawn is exactly what the doctor ordered. Standouts for me included a whole range of Bugattis piloted by women like Hellé Nice, a feature in our Legendary Ladies of Motorsport series. CJ Wilson had his absolutely mental P1 present, Peter Mullin snuck his Atlantic out of the Petersen Museum, and a few spectacular machines we’ve featured in films (most notably The Admiral’s Ferrari) were in attendance. For me however, the blue Osca MT4 by Vignale stole the show. Such a special little car.
Two more cars that are slated for their film debut are in the photo selection below, if you were at the dinner on Saturday night you’ll have caught the premiere, but if you weren’t I’d be curious to see if you can guess…
