2008 marks the 13th year the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance has graced the fairways of the Golf Club of Amelia Island in Florida. The concours, which has become known for its relaxed atmosphere, will host upward of 20,000 guests when it returns March 7-9. This year, the concours will honor the career of racing legend Parnelli Jones and the Thomas Flyer automobile, the car that won the New York-to-Paris "Great Race" in 1908.
Another highlight of this year's show will be the seminar with Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, George Follmer, Sam Posey, and John Morton, who will describe what it was like to race in Trans-Am. The seminar is sponsored by General Motors, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. For more on this gathering of Trans-Am drivers, CLICK HERE.
Automotive Fine Arts Society member Charles Maher will display his series of paintings that capture the action of Trans-Am racing, including Parnelli Jones' 1970 Boss 302 Ford Mustang, Dan Gurney in his AAR 'Cuda, and Jim Hall in the Chaparral Camaro.
Like GM, the Ford Model T also hits the century mark this year, and the Amelia Concours will have a "Field of Dreams" class of Model Ts to celebrate. Ford will continue its year-long recognition of the Model T at the T Party 2008 at Richmond, Indiana, in July, drawing close to 1000 Model Ts, according to Ford.
About eight months before the first Model T was built for sale on October 1, 1908, the New York-to-Paris race began in Times Square. Three teams from France, one from Italy, and one from Germany competed with the four-cylinder, 4000-pound (fully loaded) Thomas Flyer that won the race by covering 22,000 miles -- across the United States and touching points in Alaska, Japan, Siberia, and Berlin -- in 169 days, a full 26 days ahead of the second-place German team. The record still stands today. A seminar will feature Jeff Mahl, the grandson of George Schuster, the only Thomas Flyer driver to stay with the car for all 22,000 miles.