2023 Ellerslie Concours D'Eleganza Highlights - 30/04/23
Over the weekend was the annual Concours show held in Ellerslie! I had been going consecutively for the past few years, but because of COVID, it was cancelled during the last 2 years. Some hope finally returned when I heard that it would be happening during February just past. I was also incredibly excited that the MR2 club wanted me to be in the show for display! However, at the time, i had planned to be in Japan, and so I would miss out on said event. Unfortunately, due to the severe cyclones during December and January, my trip ended up being cancelled. I was both devastated but happy that I could attend Concours with my MR-S. Then bad luck struck again, when another cyclone arrived the week Concours was to be held... I had just spent a fortune getting my car detailed, and it was to no use... Truly the worst series of events...
So when the organizers gave us the postponed rain date in April, I crossed my fingers and hoped it would really happen this time, and thank goodness it did! However, since it had been 2 months since i had the detailer come over and do my car, and I had gone on several road trips with it; it was time for another detail. Now, I am not a 'professional' per say, but I do know how to do basic detailing due to having worked as a detailer in the past for Porsche, Alfa Romeo and Maserati. So I took the car to my good friend Harrison's place to get it touched up! Now he and his dad were displaying 3 of their cars in Concours too (a black 997, a white DC2 Integra Type R, and an E30!) After spending a few hours at theirs doing the major body work, I then spent the next 4 and a half hours at my own garage buffing my headlights and taillights, hoping that on the day, it would look the cleanest it had ever been!
All those hours spent detailing proved worthy, as when I arrived at Concours, it turned the most heads out of the MR2 Club. I was not used to that feeling, as the AW11 and SW20 generations of the Toyota Midship range were way more popular; but I appreciated everyone's compliments! Our club display was quite cool, as we had Paul turn up in his immaculate blue Targa Top SW, Ivan in his 5S powered SW, Joel in his all-original two-tone AW and me! (Let's not talk about the horrible black AW in the corner though... the only let down that day...)
Anyways, having parked up at 8am, I decided to go for a walk around before the crowds arrived at 10am. This year's show wasn't too big this time due to it being held in a school holiday, and the people that forked out time for the original date couldn't get time off for this one, so there weren't as many cars.
The first highlight for me was this [1965 Honda S600]. It was originally from Japan, but exported to Australia, then 6 years ago, the present owner imported it here. The S600 was Honda's first mass-marketed car that was shipped to outside Japan. About 11,000 were made into Roadsters and 1,800 Coupes, which was quite the sum, as it was their first exported vehicle. The S600 was the 3rd sports car in Honda's S series, which gave us such awesome cars like the S2000 and the S660. But before the S600 existed the S500 and S350, and its rivals were the Daihatsu Compagno, Datsun Fairlady Sports and the Toyota Sports 800.
The second highlight was this beautiful [1971 Honda 1300 GL Coupe 7 (H1300C)] painted in an equally beautiful shade of Alluvial Gold Metallic! It's unusual appearance was due to Soichiro Honda owning a Pontiac Firebird, and hence the Coupe 7 had a very '67 Firebird-look about it! It came as both Coupe and Sedan and was developed to compete with the Datsun Bluebird, Mitsubishi Galant and Toyota Corona!
The third highlight displayed alongside the last two, was the [1978 Subaru Leone 1600 GFT (A33)] powered by a 1.6 litre EA71 Boxer-4! Its drivetrain was unheard of for the time, as it was 4wd. Normally 4wd cars were reserved for more expensive off-roaders and expensive GT cars like the Jensen FF, but Subaru broke that tradition by giving us this 4wd coupe. Now, Subaru's legacy (pun-intended) heavily involves its continued usage of 4wd in almost every car they make!
Two other cars that intrigued me were parked behind the 929. A [1987 Isuzu Piazza (JR120)] and a [1986 Mitsubishi Cordia Turbo GSR (CY7Z)]. Both are also very unassuming cars that you wouldn't bat an eye in public, but both quite special in their own rights. The Piazza was designed by legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro and had its handling done by Lotus, while the Cordia was an Australian made hot hatch that never made it into Japan!
Aston Martin was next, displaying a proper fleet of Q-approved V8's and V12's! Firstly was this [1977 Aston Martin V8 Vantage] that was featured in the James Bond film: The Living Daylights. It was designed by William Towns, who also created the Aston Martin DBS that was in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and the Aston Martin Lagonda that was featured in Miami Vice! It was heralded as Britain's first supercar, with a top speed of 270 km/h and an acceleration time beating the Ferrari Daytona! It also suspiciously looks like a Ford Mustang!
I didn't want to wander too long and I skipped most of the brands I wasn't so keen on, like Triumphs, Austin Healey's and Mini's; since Brit & Euro had just passed. However, on the North end of the showground, the Euro Car Club was displaying, and they had a [2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT] in Rosso Andromeda. The facelift VT had 529 hp, a 44hp boost from the pre-facelift and acquired headlights from the Nissan 300ZX. Usually the Lamborghini would have a carbon strip covering the Nissan badge, but this one missed out that small detail.
Every year, a car club will take charge and be the main organizers for Concours. This year was Porsche's turn and they turned up in a huge group! There were too many highlights, but I'll run through some of the more special ones:
A [2014 Porsche 911 50th Anniversary Edition (991.1)] in Geyser Grey. Only 1,963 were made, all based on the Carrera S and only came in 3 colours: this grey, Graphite Grey and Monochrome Black.
A [1978 Porsche 911 SC (L-Type)] in Talbot Yellow. The SC stands for Sport Carrera, and it was the second time Porsche had used it since the 356 SC.
A [2022 Porsche 911 GT3 (992)] in a PTS shade of Bahama Yellow, which were first featured on the 1966 911, which is the first 911.
A [2008 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (997.1)] in GT Silver with Orange accents.
A [2016 Porsche 911 R (991.1)] which was essentially a GT3 RS Touring. Only 991 were made.
A [2022 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring (992)] in Forest Green!
As always, Giltrap had an impressive lineup including the new Emira, Artura and Urus Performante, but what was really impressive was the Polestar 1! Now this car is still a concept car and was released back in 2016. I did see this car during the 2018 Guangzhou Intercontinental Motor Show and I still think it should've been put into production.
A [Citroen DS 21 Cabriolet d'Usine] which was an extremely expensive car and only 1,365 were made.
A [1990 Lancia Thema Turbo Series II] in Lapis Azure.
A [1974 Ferrari 365 GT4 BB] in Iron Grey with its 6 taillights and 6 exhaust pipes! This was the first 365 GT4 BB I have ever seen, and it has always been in my top 10 Ferrari's!
A [Maserati Tipo 151] with its lengthened chassis designed by Piero Drogo, who also designed the Ferrari 250 GTO SWB Breadvan! These cars were raced by the French Maserati team and the Briggs Cunningham team in the 1962 Le Mans experimental class.
A stanced [1983 Ferrari 512 BBi] in black.
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