Luxury autos featured at Geneva's Concours D'Elegance

Despite roaring engines and high speed sports cars, an atmosphere of delicate elegance and luxury pervades Geneva's Concours D'Elegance.

The 11th annual classic car show will return to downtown Geneva on Sunday, Aug. 23, and bring a bourgeois twist to the typical car show.

“Visitors are going to see a much higher level of cars,” said John Barrett, the organizing committee's president. “Most car shows and cruise nights show muscle cars or hot rods, which are much more modern.”

Each year the festival chooses five featured categories. This year those categories are race cars built before 1955, Jaguars, emergency vehicles, cars featuring small block engines, and cars orphaned by their manufacturers going out of business.

The small-block engine was created by Chevrolet in 1955 and is a staple for top tier automobiles, Barrett said.

The cars featured were built before 1976. There will also be a small-block engine on display.

“Anybody who is into high performance cars knows that small block engines are a world beater. It has changed things a lot in high performance engines,” Barrett said.

Owners of the vehicles on display will be competing for a number of “Benz” awards. The award is named after Karl Benz, a German engineer who invented the first car powered by an internal combustion engine.

“(Our contest) is judged and it's a pretty complete and thorough judging,” Barrett said. “We'll judge 150 cars (and) give away about 50 awards.”

The competition has sustained a high-class image by maintaining high standards of quality and antiquity, organizers say. “Its not just a car show,” said Patt Barrett, an organizer and the wife of John Barrett. “It really has to do with a contest of elegance truly taking place.”

And without losing its central idea of automotive excellence, the festival maintains a family-friendly, community-oriented atmosphere. Thousands of visitors will convene on the city's shaded streets to view a wide array of top restored vehicles.

“We meet lots of wonderful people and we're always learning something about cars,” Barrett said. “Everybody will find something here. We're all into cars, whether we know it or not. We all drive them, whether we're old or young, and that's great.”

The event will also feature a Hagerty youth judging and will provide access to shops and restaurants in the downtown Geneva area.

Designed primarily for youth ages 8-14, the youth judging program brings the world of classics to a kid-friendly level. The young judges are guided through the show field as a group to preselected show cars and interact with owners, allowing the judges to learn details, history and fun facts about each. A simplified score card that highlights five basic categories and is rated on a scale of 1-to-5 is used.

Proceeds from Geneva's Concours d'Elegance will benefit the LivingWell Cancer Research Center.

The event is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23. For details, visit www.genevaconcours.net.

11th annual Geneva Concours d'Elegance classic car show

<b>When:</b> 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23

<b>Where:</b> Along South Third Street, Geneva

<b>Admission:</b> Free

<b>Details:</b> <a href="http://www.genevaconcours.net">www.genevaconcours.net</a>