Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance to honour Buick and Le Mans

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Very soon, spring will be here, and that means we can finally look forward to visiting outdoor car shows again after spending the last five or six months hiding from the winter weather. Back for its 28th year, Florida's Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance on Sunday 5th March will open the new season in style, with 250 historically important cars spread out across the sun-soaked lawns of the Golf Club of Amelia Island.

Since its founding in 1996, the event has grown more and more popular, and each of the 250 cars divided among the 32 classes of the concours deserves a close look.

Two major anniversaries are being celebrated this year and are sure to be highlights. We're already aware that the Le Mans 24-Hour Race turns 100 in June, and the organisers of Amelia Island will whet our appetites for the centenary by exhibiting a selection of historic Le Mans racers. There'll be Ferraris, naturally, and you can expect to see the odd C-type or D-type Jaguar, Ford GT40, Porsche 917, and maybe one or two surprising inclusions as well.

It also happens to be 120 years since the first Buicks went into production. Two experimental Buicks had been built in 1899 and 1900, while the company was mainly concerned with stationary and marine engines, but it was in 1903 that it made the leap to building automobiles for the buying public. In 1908, it became the first marque to come under the control of General Motors and thereafter was developed as an upmarket, luxurious brand. From the elegant Sedanets of the '40s to the stylistic excess of 1958 and the fondly-remembered GNX muscle car of 1987, Amelia Island will showcase the very best of Buick's output.

In addition to the main concours, the Cars & Caffeine event will take place on Saturday 4th, consisting of 350 cars specially curated by Sports Car Digest and, if you feel a slight pang of envy having to content yourself with just being an onlooker, you'll have the opportunity to buy a potential concours star at the official Amelia Island Sale by Broad Arrow on the Saturday. If you're taken by the anniversary displays, you'll be able to buy a 1955 Buick Roadmaster convertible ($125,000-150,000) or a 1969 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona ($600,000-650,000) modified to replicate the Competizione models, one of which finished fifth in the 1971 Le Mans.
 

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