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Louisville Concours d'Elegance

"Benefiting Kosair Children's Hospital"

Louisville, Kentucky

The 5th Annual Louisville Concours d'Elegance was again held on the grounds of Historic Churchill Downs. "Horses and Horsepower" has been used to described this gathering of rare and historically significant automobiles. All are here to compete for the "Best in Class" awards, "People's Choice" and the coveted "Best in Show" Award.

One of this years featured Marquee's is Cadillac. Cadillac is one of the oldest automobile company's in the world. It has been in continuous production since October 1902. The 1st Cadillac's (1903 models) were offered  to the public in January 1903 at the New York Auto Show. The Cadillac Motorcar Company was an immediate success. Cadillac would later earn the reputation as "The Standard of the World" due to it's technical innovation and advanced styling

As if owning a 1957 Eldorado Biarritz, like the Beautiful Silver one above (belonging to IndiGo Classic Cars), was not exclusive or expensive enough in it's day then the "Eldorado Brougham" (shown below) was available for the Who's Who among Cadillac buyers. The Brougham was produced in even more limited numbers. For 1957 model year a mere 400 cars were produced and only 304 cars for 1958. These guys sold for $14,000 each, that was about $5000 more than a Rolls Royce. There were no options available on the new Brougham because they were fully equipped to start with. They received dual four barrel carburetion with adjustable ride control air bags on all four corners. The Eldorado Brougham buyer could select from 43 different interiors. All Broughams were four door hardtops with front and rear opening doors and a very unique stainless steel top. The Eldorado Brougham was offered through the 1960 model year. Only 904 Eldorado Broughams were built from 1957 - 1960. Rick Payton brought his 1958 Eldorado Brougham (shown below) to this years Concours event from Austin, Texas. Rick's Brougham is an Original, Unrestored example of some of Cadillac's best work

The Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Class was definitely one of the highlights of the Louisville show for me. The cars that were selected to compete this year were some of the Best that I have seen at any event, including Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Club events.

The "One of One" Folding Hardtop 1933 Silver Auburn shown below, with it's Chrome top, is part of The Patterson Collection from Louisville. Earlier this year I had chance to see a copy of the invention patent drawing. It stated that the inventor was "Conrad Jobst". The patent application was filed on August 30, 1937. I have seen this unique Auburn one other time when it was competing at the Ault Park 2009 Concours d'Elegance.

The Cigarette Cream 1935 Auburn Speedster, owned by Clem and Mary Lang, is a Rare Right Hand Drive Car built for export. It is 1 of 6 produced if I remember correctly. Their Auburn competed earlier this year at the Keeneland Concours d'Elegance. Many of the other ACD Car's I recognized from past Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Club Reunions