Tens of thousands of attendees flocked to Rodeo Drive for the 27th Concours d’Elegance on Father’s Day, June 19. The annual event showcases exotic and vintage cars in pristine condition and kicks off the summer season for Beverly Hills. According to the city’s Chief Communications Officer Keith Sterling, nearly 50,000 people turned out for the event.
Festivities began at 9:30 a.m. with a 50-car rally that made its way through the city before settling along Rodeo Drive with dozens of other rare automobiles. Many makes and models were on view, but the official featured class of car this year was Rolls-Royce. The Concours lasted until 4 p.m.
The “Best in Show” award went to the 1955 Ferrari 250 Europa GT owned by Ken and Dale Roth. The Mayor’s Award for “Most Elegant” went to the 1956 Alfa Romeo 1900 Zagato owned by David Sydorick. A full list of winners is available at
www.beverlyhillscourier.com.
Prior to the rally, Mayor Lili Bosse presented an official proclamation on behalf of the City Council honoring Concours d’Elegance co-founder Bruce Meyer, “a renowned collector of vintage automobiles, motorcycles and historic winning race cars from the 24 Hours of Le Mans to Indy to the Bonneville Salt Flats,” Bosse said.
The proclamation cited Meyer’s past role as the Founding Chairman of the Petersen Automotive Museum and the contributions made by his family to the community.
“Now, therefore, we, the City Council of the City of Beverly Hills, do hereby thank Bruce Meyer for his incredible contributions to the City of Beverly Hills,” Bosse read from the proclamation.
Many of the vehicles came courtesy of the event’s sponsors, such as Rolls-Royce and the Peterson Automotive Museum. Other cars belonged to collectors with a passion for restoring and maintaining vintage autos.
Matt Winter, a Beverly Hills resident and designer, is only the third owner of the resplendent red 1957 Porsche Speedster he showed at the Concours. When he bought the car in 2020 after 20 years of pining for one, he made “some minor tweaks” to restore the car to its period-correct state.
“I’ve been enjoying it ever since,” Winter told the Courier, himself wearing period-appropriate attire for a 1950s motorist.
Winter estimates that he has built and repaired 35 cars since he was 15, but says the Speedster is the “top of the collection.”
“The car is 100% original, it’s all numbers matching, it’s been a California car since the day it was shipped from New York,” he said. “I have all the paperwork from the day that it was purchased.”
While Winter would not disclose the amount he paid for the road machine, he estimates its current worth at $800,000.
Earl Rubenstein readily shared that he paid $1,200 for his custom 1935 Packard Super 8 Dual-Cowl Phaeton Dietrich, which was virtually every cent in his and his wife’s bank account in 1963 (save for $50). The original owners, Dorothy Boss and her late husband John, drove the car on their wedding day in 1935. While other prospective buyers had offered more than double what Rubenstein paid, Dorothy told the architect that she could “tell you’re going to do the right thing by this car.”
Six months later, Rubenstein returned to Dorothy’s house in the Palisades with the newly-restored Packard and offered her the keys.
“She says, ‘No, it’s your car, you drive me,'” he recounted to the Courier. “She got in the car, and she was so emotional, tears were coming down to see this engine like it was when she and her husband bought the car.”
But at its core, in addition to celebrating cars and luxury, the event celebrated fathers – and family, more broadly.
“It was great,” said Wes Thomas, who marked his seventh-or-so time going to the Concours with his teenage son, Cole. “It’s a nice way to spend a little bit of time.”
