The 20th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, scheduled for March 13-15, 2015, will honor Sir Stirling Moss, and feature the first mid-engined production Porsche, the 914, in all its variants. Moss is, of course, the celebrated British Grand Prix and Sports Car star who won races for Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Vanwall, Cooper and Lotus during the 1950s and early ’60s, but somehow never quite managed to win the F1 World Championship.
The prototype 914 appeared early in 1968, the fruit of a project directed by Porsche R&D chief Ferdinand Piech, Ferdinand Porsche’s grandson. It appeared almost simultaneously with the fearsome 917 Le Mans endurance racer. Porsche had no illusions about the technological and commercial realities of its new sports car, which started as a joint venture between Volkswagen and Porsche, because the latter needed an entry level replacement for its four-cylinder 912. With the economies of scale brought by a production liaison with Volkswagen, the 914 could be commercially viable. The lower price of the 914 drew a new clientele into Porsche showrooms, and the 914 quickly outsold the pricier 911.
“It was fashionable with some self-proclaimed Porsche purists to consider the 914 an ‘ugly duckling,’” offered Bill Warner, Founder and Chairman of the Amelia Concours d’Elegance. “That changed very quickly. Here in North Florida the Porsche 914 found a home and willing customers through the racing exploits of Peter Gregg, Hurley Haywood and Brumos Porsche who took the 914/6 GT to victory in the first IMSA GT race in history on the way to winning the first IMSA GT Championship in 1971.”
Also featured will be an eclectic mix of cars customized by America’s movie and TV cowboy stars as “Cars of the Cowboys.” It will be the first gathering of cowboy vehicles at a major international concours, and among the cars on display will be Leo Carillo’s 1948 Chrysler Town and Country “Steer Car,” Tom Mix’s death car, a 1938 Supercharged Cord convertible, Roy Rogers’ Pontiac by Nudie Cohn and Dale Robertson’s 1958 “Tales of Wells Fargo” Buick Limited convertible.
For complete information, please visit www.ameliaconcours.com
