I love going to this event every year. This is the one show that I find I can't wait to see who will have what car there this year. The 2008 winner was John Shirley, who also won the Pebble Beach Concours.
The honourary host/MC of the Kirkland Concours every year is actor Edward Herman. Seems one of his hobbies is restoration of vintage cars. I can't be sure but I'm sure that the last car he was working on is a 1930's era Rolls Royce.
When the FIL and I started going there was a new catagory for vintage wooden hull boats such as Chris Craft and the likes. It was cool to see these boats, but it was getting a bit repetative. Well this year I was glad to see that the sponsors and promotors changed things up a bit. There were no wooden boat entries this year, but instead there were the vintage hydro boats. The big boys of thunder, the piston boats. Every hour two piston boats were started and run. That was a nice little treat. Those boats were just bloody loud. From 50 yards those boats create such noise that you can't hear anyone around you.
For the 2nd year in a row the local chapter of the PCA (Porsche Club of America) has had their own corral with member cars on display. I like to see the different member cars. Most are 911's as expected. A large portion are from the 1970's and 1980's. The newer Porsches on display are the Boxster and the Cayman. There are a growing number of 914's there. Last year saw one and this year brought three.
Last year there were no 944's and this year had one. I'm hoping that next year I will have my 944 in the PCA chapter corral. I'd like to see more 944's there and I would like to say that I've had a car at the Kirkland Concours show. That would be one hell of a story later on since I've only had two cars in local shows previously..........and gotten a trophy for each one. Not bad for a novice that doesnt do this on a regular basis. Those were easy catches anyhow.This year the weather was great and there was also a new category. I cant recall the precise name but the premise is vintage cars that are original and un-restored. The conditions are it must run/drive and be street legal to do so.
This year also saw another new class: the mini cars. There were of course the Cooper/Austin mini's and there were Messerschmidts and there were two BMW Isetta's on display and a few of the small Fiat country wagons.
There were steam powered carriages on display and with those came owners dressed in period clothing. Also in attendance (although I didn't find them as I'm fairly new to their group) were members of the Seattle Steamrats, our local steampunk group. They were there to cheer on the steam cars on display.
One of the biggest sponsors of this show is Phil Smart Mercedes. This is the larges local Mercedes dealerships in western Washington. There was a whole row of Mercedes 300 SL Gullwings on display.There were the usual displays as well: Woodie Row and the Museum pieces brought by the LeMay Museum. The Tucker Torpedo was the hit from them on this day.
I did see a few repeats from previous shows. They are still great to look at though.
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