Concours: Featured Collection – Gilmore Car Museum
Photos Provided by Gilmore Car Museum
If each car tells a story, the eight cars from the Gilmore Car Museum could be considered a book.
It’s only fitting that the Concours’ largest featured collection comes from North America’s largest car museum, hiding in plain sight over 90 acres near Kalamazoo, Michigan.
“We’ve made the choice of which cars to bring, and it wasn’t easy,” said Michael Spezia, executive director and frequent judge at Hilton Head. “I think they tell the best stories.”
To show the rapid evolution of automobiles, the museum is sending both a 1903 and 1913 Michigan, a car made in Kalamazoo.
Also on display will be:
- 1906 Columbia from the brass era. “Its presence is really something,” Spezia said.
- 1908 Packard
- 1932 V16 Marmon
- 1929 J111 Duesenberg. “You don’t see many of those.”
- 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, made to celebrate the nation’s new interstate expressways.
- 1916 Packard race car
“We have 480 cars on our site,” Spezia said. “We’re a history museum. We show how American society has been affected by cars. We help people understand how we got to where we are today, and we evoke memories from the ‘40s and ‘50s. We’re storytellers. The automobile is part of just about everyone’s history.”
Spezia said he’s looking forward to visiting Hilton Head for the show. “When Hilton Head started out, it was a boutique event. It was mostly regional cars at the time. The quality of the cars has grown tremendously. Now it’s one of the best Concours in the country.”
