1953 Pebble Beach Best of Show

[Healey 100]

Just stumbled across this: Look what took "Best of Show" at Pebble Beach in 1953! I guess the nature of the Concours has changed over the years, now the show features older restored cars...

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Is that Tom McCahill (with the highball in hand)?

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Is that Tom McCahill (with the highball in hand)?

https://blog.modernmechanix.com/mccahill-drives-the-austin-healey/

 

[HealeyRick]

" Marin has taken many a prize for elegant things. Weather, scenery, people, gardens, homes, art—you name it and Marin’s got it. But this weekend, Marin moved in to chalk up some elegance with a capital E at a place with a tradition of things chic, elite, social and classy. At the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance, in the dazzling, brilliant sunshine of a Saturday afternoon which shimmered the verdure of that great expanse of lawn which runs down from the terrace of Del Monte Lodge to the Pacific, Marin stole the show of what was probably the most spectacular exhibition of sleek foreign and American automobiles ever put on any place in the world. BEST IN SHOW Peter Clowes of Mill Valley took ‘best in show” with his 1953 Austin Healey; Gene Szemanski of Fairfax took the first of two honorable mentions with his 1949 MG-TC; Earl B. Fenston of Sausalito took first in the two-seater sports car over $4,500 with his 1952 Aston-Martin and Frank C. Cox of San Rafael took a first in the pre-war American and foreign cars category with his 1935 Rolls-Royce. The Clowes entry also took the blue ribbon in the two-seater sports cars $2,500 to $4,500 class with his Austin-Healey and the Szemanski entry took the blue ribbon in the two-seater sports cars under $2,500. Marin swept the field in & display of more than 100 cars which ran the gamut from Austins to Zephyrs with Jaguars virtually a dime a dozen and Bentleys and Rolls Royces and Ferraris standing solidly patrician with their $15,000 and up price tags not quite showing. It was elegance which an esti mated 15,000 people travelled through the closed-gate confines of the 17-mile drive to enjoy. The display was part of the fourth annual Pebble Beach Sports Car road races sponsored by the San Francisco region of the Sports Car Club of America, than which there’s nothing classier in the realm of fine automobiles. Yes, there were American cars of elegance galore, the super deluxe models of General Motors, Chrysler corporation, Studebaker and of course Mr. Ford’s Lincoln. But the truly spectacular elegance was that of the foreign models, most of them with special design. It’s no happenstance that Marin sports car fans swept the field. Fine automobiles—foreign and domestic— abound in our county. And there are thriving auto salesrooms which specialize in the foreign make bug* gies. And please, sports cars aren’t hot rods or racing cars. And you don’t, even have to own a sports car to be an enthusiast about them. Beautiful body lines and fine motors are part of the American way of life on our highways. The best American auto makers have already started to turn out sports cars with that continental touch and flair. Next month there'll be a Concours d’Elegance in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and there’ll be a road race through the park which will make highway 101 on a Sunday morning seem like a baby-buggy parade. All we need now is to bring the sports car events, array of elegance and races, right into Marin county. We’ll admit it would take some doing to beat Cypress Point course, said by experts to be one of the finest road race layouts in the world. Even in yesterday’s rain, nearly 30,000 spectators lined both sides of the 2.1 miles triangular course,
April 20, 1953[h=1]Daily Independent Journal from San Rafael, California[/h]

 

[HealeyRick]

Is that Tom McCahill (with the highball in hand)?

Too much hair and not enough stomach

 

[Editor_Reid]

I've long enjoyed that photo of "Uncle Tom" sliding around a corner on a gravel road, with his left arm resting on the door top, his left hand apparently grasping the cockpit trim rail, and leaning back and to the left as if mugging for the camera. Personally, I keep both hands on the wheel when sliding, and I never look around for cameras.

 

[Keoke]

I keep both hands on the wheel when sliding, and I never look around for cameras.

When one of my BJ8's is sliding i got a puncture.----:highly_amused: