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The Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival, one of the nation’s signature automobile events, will be featured on the 14th season of My Classic Car with Dennis Gage on the SPEED Channel, reaching more than 79 million households and nearly 1 million viewers every week. The episode is scheduled to premiere on Sunday, July 25 at 10:00PM ET. The segment, which celebrates unique cars and their owners, was filmed on location at the 2009 Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival’s Speed Classic event on Savannah, GA’s Hutchinson Island. For a final schedule, visit www.speedtv.com

“We’re honored to be featured for a second time on such a prestigious show devoted to classic cars and unique automobiles,” said Carolyn Vanagel, Executive Director of the Motoring Festival. “Our event has grown exponentially since its inception in 2002 and it’s because of the Festival’s diversity, offering a variety of events, that we are able to be showcased again on this beloved program.”

This year, the Festival will again feature its four glorious events. The signature pieces include the Savannah/Hilton Head Speed Classic managed by Historic Sportscar Racing, Ltd. (HSR), October 29 – 31 on Savannah’s Hutchinson Island, the Car Club Jamboree, November 6, the Motoring Midway, November 6 & 7 and the Concours d’Elegance, the centerpiece of the Festival, November 7, all at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn on Hilton Head Island, SC. Other highlights of the 2010 Festival which will feature Chevrolet as its Honored Marque include: the return of Road to the Future, a display of the latest technological advancements in the automotive industry; a feature of Italian marques in the Car Club Jamboree; anniversary classes for both Alfa Romeo (100th) and Jaguar E-Type “XKE” (50th), and, for the first time, the Life on the Farm exhibit showcasing vintage farm vehicles and implements highlighting the history of the agricultural industry in the United States.

 

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The Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival is now positioned as one of the last Concours in the national annual show circuit. The HHI Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival has quickly climbed the ranks among national Concours events. In just eight short years, Hilton Head Island is already considered by many as being among those elite USA events such as Pebble Beach, Meadow Brook and Amelia Island. The ninth annual Festival will be held October 29 – November 7, 2010 at both The Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa on Hutchinson Island (Savannah, GA) and at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn (Hilton Head Island, SC).

 

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Believed to be the first time such an exhibit is to be included at a Concours event, the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival introduces a special display sourced by Harvey Geiger, a member of the Automotive Advisory Board, for the 2009 event. ‘Life on the Road,’ an interactive display, will exhibit over 30 vehicles in the Motoring Midway show field Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1. The display will depict a century of camping and living along the highway in RV’s, trailers, motor homes and off-road vehicles.

Auto camping was all the rage in the early years of the 20th Century. By the 1920’s millions of Americans had experienced traveling as “tin can tourists” and “auto hobos.” By the 30’s folding trailers had evolved into stand up “shoe box” camping units and few are more unique than those built under license from the Aerocar Corporation. Aviation pioneer Glen Curtis built his first “motor bungalow” in 1919 and later invented the “fifth wheel” coupling hitch. In 1927 he established his Curtis Aerocar Company which utilized airplane structural engineering concepts.

“We are thrilled to have such a unique exhibit as a part of our eighth annual event. Harvey has done a tremendous job sourcing such authentic and exciting vehicles to make this a thorough and dynamic depiction of ‘life on the road,’” said Carolyn Vanagel, the Festival’s Executive Director.

Multiple trailers from the post War period will be on exhibit along with several contemporary and antique motor homes including a 1927 Auto Kamp Trailer which unfolds into a tent-like structure and is complete with a display of vintage camping gear including cooking devices, folding furniture and a portable gramophone for camp site entertainment, a 1936 Curtis Aero trailer being pulled by the fifth wheel attached to a ultra streamlined custom 1938 International truck, a vintage 1962 Airstream with its 1955 GMC tow vehicle, the amphibious TerraWind coach and a 1929 Studebaker RV. The exhibit will also include off-road “safari” and military vehicles.

 

My Classic Car, A Top Rated SPEED Program, Will Cover the Eighth Annual Motoring Festival. Dennis Gage, host of nationally televised My Classic Car on the SPEED Channel, will return to the eighth annual Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival, October 30 – November 1, 2009, to film his weekly TV show. The show will air on SPEED during the course of the 2010 season.

My Classic Car, one of the top rated programs on SPEED, takes viewers on the road with Dennis Gage to visit the most prestigious car shows and events in North America. Covering a wide variety of collections, from the quirky cars at the Lane Motor Museum to Jay Leno’s Honda S600 and Fiat Millecento, My Classic Car offers “something for everyone.”

“We are thrilled to have Dennis returning to our event this year. It is not common that he covers an event more than once, but it is the multiple facets and locations to the Motoring Festival that offers My Classic Car a new angle to feature on their show,” said Carolyn Vanagel, Executive Director for the Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival. “He is among the most respected car aficionados in the United States and attends only a select few events each year. This is an incredible honor for our event and will offer tremendous exposure for Hilton Head Island & Savannah.”

While attending the weekend-long event, Gage will focus his show primarily on the Savannah/Hilton Head Historics, the Motoring Festival’s vintage racing event on Hutchinson Island, Savannah, GA as well as Sunday’s Concours d’Elegance at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn on Hilton Head Island, SC. However, Dennis and his crew will appear at all facets of the event and will be able to be seen filming throughout the entire weekend around the various Motoring Festival locations. Gage has also agreed to participate in Saturday’s Car Club Jamboree event at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn by selecting a ‘Dennis Gage Pick’ from the 150 plus exhibited vehicles.

A passionate automotive collector himself, Gage has a collection that currently contains 10 cars including a 1956 Lincoln Premier, 1963 Studebaker GT Hawk, three Thunderbirds all from different years, 1973 Opel GT, 1991 Lincoln Mark VII and Taurus SHO, 1995 Taurus SHO and an 2005 Hemi Magnum.

 

Every year the first Sunday of November serves as the Concours d’Elegance of the Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival. One Hundred and Fifty vintage vehicles line the fields of Honey Horn, a historic Southern plantation, under the spreading oaks and flowing Spanish moss characteristic of the South Carolina Lowcountry to compete for the coveted title of 'Best of Show.'

Classes for this year’s Concours d’Elegance include everything from the standards that appear from year to year (Brass Era Cars, Classics, Production 1916-1948 and Modern, English and International Sports Cars, Modifieds) to unique classes to the 2009 event including a class for Mercedes-Benz, the 2009 Honored Marque, special highlights of both Mercer and Hudson to celebrate their 100-year anniversaries, micro cars, motorcycles and a unique, specifically selected group of Corvettes marking the significant milestones in its history. For a complete 2009 class listing, go to http://www.hhiconcours.com/media/pdf/2009_Proposed_Class_Listing_2.pdf.

“Each year we continue to raise the bar for the quality and diversity of cars that show at our event and we set quite a high standard in 2008,” said Dr. Paul Doerring, Event Chairman. “We are confident we can continue to raise the level of cars seen at the Hilton Head Island Concours and already have some amazing examples schedule to attend such as a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, a 1923 Locomobile 48 Sportif, a 1968 American Motors AMX and a 1972 Ferrari 246 Dino Spyder. It should be a great show.”

Classes with room still available include Mercedes-Benz, Hudsons and Mercers, micro cars, motorcycles, especially those with side cars, and brass cars. Cars that register are reviewed by the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance Selection Committee. Registration, which is available online at http://www.hhiconcours.com/index.php?page=concours-registration, is open for 2009 application submission through the middle of June.

The 2009 Concours d’Elegance will feature Michael Spezia, Head Curator and President of the prestigious Gilmore Car Museum, a complex of automobile museums located in Hickory Corners, Michigan, as the Honorary Chairman as well as John Carlson, President and Chief Judge of the National Association of Antique Automobile Clubs of Canada Corporation (NAAACC), as the Chief Judge.