The Greenwich Concours d’Elegance is more than just the cars; it’s the people, of course: fellow car owners, judges, spectators, and really anyone who wants to chat about interesting cars. Below are capsule summaries of a few of my encounters.

 

Ed Welburn

I had seen in the program that an honorary judge for the event was Ed Welburn, who recently retired as GM’s Vice President of Global Design (a position previously held by a couple of gents named Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell). As I strolled among the show cars, there was Ed, walking along by himself, so I stopped and asked “are you Ed Welburn?” When he replied in the affirmative, I shook his hand and told him it was an honor to meet him. You can read about his professional life here.

 

Fellow AROC members

It was nice to catch up with several AROC (Alfa Romeo Owners Club) members, especially those from the NJ Chapter whom I recently met on a Zoom call and had never met in person. Thanks for stopping by, Lambert and Vic!

 

Ian Kelleher from Broad Arrow Auctions

In 2013, when I finally decided to go with RM/Sotheby’s Auctions to sell my Isetta, I still had a bit of trepidation about the particular arrangements. My RM ‘rep’ was a fellow named Ian Kelleher, and I have not forgotten about his patience and graciousness as he walked me through the particulars. Ian now works for Broad Arrow Auctions (owned by Hagerty), and when I saw him on Sunday, I took advantage of the opportunity to again thank him for his help. BTW, Bonhams Auctions used to be the in-house auction company at Greenwich, but since Hagerty bought Greenwich, they won’t allow an ‘outside’ auction company to operate there. The same thing happened at Ameilia Island, as RM was told “you’re out” and Broad Arrow was told “you’re in”. So it goes….

 

Richard with the Riviera

I’ve seen this same green ’64 Buick Riviera so often that I’ve gotten to know the owner. Rich drives his car up and down the East Coast attending car shows. I featured him and his car in this blog post about the 2021 AACA Nationals in Saratoga Springs NY.

 Erich from the Boca Raton Concours

The gentleman patiently stood there waiting while I finished up speaking to a spectator. He quickly introduced himself and handed me his business card. He said, “I see that this Alfa is all original. Because it has been so well kept, I want to formally invite you to enter your car in the Preservation Class at next year’s Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance, in February 2024. Besides, it’s a nice time of year to be in Florida!” I thanked him for the invite and told him I was honored that he would consider my car for it. Of course, getting the car there and back is on me, which makes it very unlikely, but it was still very nice to be recognized in this way.

 

Rich Taylor

On occasion, I will pull random copies of old Car & Driver magazines from my library and leaf through them. About two weeks ago, the July ’73 issue ended up in my hands, and lo and behold, the cover told me that there was a review of the “new” Alfa Romeo GTV. I sat down to read it, and as I turned the page to the full-page photo, I immediately said to myself, “that guy looks familiar”. I scanned the page, printed out an 8×10 glossy, put a Post-It note on the pic which said “guess who?” and at the show on Sunday, placed the photo on top of the Alfa’s dash.

When judging started, who came around to judge my car (actually, the entire class of Alfas) but Rich Taylor himself. After we exchanged pleasantries, I directed him to check out the photo. He grabbed it and said “let me pose like this again!”. I got into the shot holding up the glossy (which he signed for me). Anything for a chance to have a little fun with that “famous automotive journalist Rich Taylor”.

BRITISH & ITALIAN CARS

Below is a sampling of the European cars which I found to be photo-worthy.

 

 

 

 

All photographs copyright © 2023 Richard A. Reina. Photos may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.