ELEVEN fantastic of Years Concours at Cobble Beach!…
Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance ‘IS’ Canada’s premiere automotive event, full stop.
Another year of; “how will Rob McLeese, his family, staff, and team of dedicated volunteers ‘top themselves’ from the previous year(s)?” – well here we are once again to say; “you’ve gone and done it: AGAIN!”. Mustard Report does not know the sorcery behind how they do it, but will never question the magic of this great weekend.
2025 brought immaculate weather that matched perfectly with the immaculate collection of four and two wheel’d vehicles displayed proudly on the Back-9 of the exquisite Cobble Beach Golf Course in Owen Sound Ontario Canada.
Every year, it’s always curious to see what car will get the coveted #1 feature spot as you cross the stone bridge and hit the links. This year, the #1 spot was occupied by a stunning (and ultra rare) 1938 Steyr 220 Roadster out of Oil City, Pennsylvania. One of only three known to exist on the planet earth, talk about “setting a tone” for this great day.
Getting a decent shot of the ’38 Steyr was beyond difficult throughout the day, it drew people to it like it had some sort of a weird, cosmic gravitational pull, and the attention it garnered was well deserved. Great call having this car in the #1 spot. Respect.
Let’s let the day begin…
The day is still fresh, the morning dew on the grass has only a few fresh footprints on it at 8am, and there’s plenty to see before the throngs of general public swarm the links for this year’s Concours!
With classical music serenading from the P.A. system, and many enthusiastic vehicle owners dressed in their period correct attire, all the elements are set for a grande Concours at Cobble Beach…
Turbine Car! …
It wasn’t too far down the Fairway, that (Mustard’s pic for “People’s Choice”) sat proudly… the 1963 Chrysler Turbine car! What a treat. It was brought up to Cobble Beach by the Detroit Historical Museum – Detroit MI. (BIG thank you to them for that effort, especially these days!)
The Chrysler Turbine Car was another example of Chrysler’s willingness to “try anything”. In the early ’60’s, this was ‘very ambitious technology’ to say the least (and WAY ahead of it’s time). Technology not withstanding, this car beams with stunning design – front bumper to back bumper.
There were 50 ‘hand made’ Turbine concept cars built and sent out for proving, the car itself was a success, but production (at that time) was not feasible. By 1966, (due to lack of interest to continue with this very expensive concept) the Turbine Cars were all gathered up and sent to the crusher… all but NINE that is… lucky for us.
The only one that remains in private hands, is the one owned by Jay Leno, the remaining eight Turbine Cars (including this one) are secured and cared for within museum collections throughout the United States.
The reason Mustard Report chose the 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car as it’s “People’s Choice” was the overall attention to detail when it came to design. Not only was this car technologically advanced for the day, the designers did not miss a single detail when it came to it’s “Turbine theme”.
Everywhere on this car, you could see cool little design details, from the magnificently sculpted rear end, to the turbine styled headlight bezels, and everything in-between, the hubcaps, the radio and climate control knobs, driveshaft tunnel, cigarette lighter, dash cluster… even the little rear-view mirror stem was turbine’d! No opportunity to reinforce the turbine theme was missed, a true masterpiece of automotive design.
OK, still so much more to see…
…although Concept Cars are Mustard Report’s favourite Class (as mentioned in previous Cobble Beach Concours Reports over the years), being a 1967 Plymouth Barracuda owner, the “American Performance – Post War” Class is a comfortable category, and seeing the [above], pristine, sublime green, 3rd Gen ‘Cuda, resting on those stylish Goodyear Polyglas tires, right beside a killer, neon orange, 1971 442 drop-top [below], resting on a set of just as stylish Firestone Wide Ovals… well, Mustard simply had to take a moment.
the Crowds and the judges….
It’s that time of the morning when the public, and the Judges are now swarming vehicles – and that’s when the real fun begins (for the spectators at least).
The best part of the day is observing the Judges ‘fine-tooth-combing’ all the vehicles up for Awards, catching the little imperfections that normal humans would never catch… occasionally to the dismay of the owners’ that may not be used to such scrutiny, but that’s the excitement of Concours!
The Show goes on…
Without a rigid plan for coverage this year, Mustard took the opportunity to more-so “enjoy the show haphazardly” with no structured plan in place, simply checking out cars and bikes, watching the people, observing the judging, speaking with owners (and handlers) and learning more about the everyone’s amazing rides and how they got to the Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance show field.
This year, Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance introduced a new category; “30 under 30” – open to “Pre” year 2000 cars, Owners under 30 years of age, with vehicles Valued under $30,000USD.
Among the cars in this Class, there was a ’66 Mustang, no biggy right?, not rare in the collector world, but, upon closer inspection, Mustard spotted something a little atypical, this Mustang had what appeared to be, “factory side trim”, huh? Knowing a little something about trim, how hard (and expensive) it is to get for these old cars, it prompted a closer inspection, which led to a conversation with the ‘under 30’ owner…
Turns out it was a SUPER rare option, “not” from factory, but available from your local Ford Lincoln Mercury dealership at the time of purchase (not an option that was ticked too often on a Mustang). Mustard was willing to wager that this “original factory side trim” might be worth more than the Mustang it was screwed to.
Also of note, this car was originally purchased in 1965 by the Geisel family (Theodor “Seuss” Geisel, yes, author of the beloved Dr. Seuss series) in California, and remained in their family for generations (until 2019) when it found it’s way up to Canada, where it was purchased by this “under 30” Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance participant.
So, an unassuming Mustang, with a tremendous backstory – this is what you get at Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance!
Opportunities for everyone
Cobble Beach Concour brings out all kinds of enthusiasts, many photographers and even the occasional “artist” artist… like this young man, who brought a stool, sketch pad and a set of pens – and created art …from art, super cool…
It’s time…
It’s time to spend a little time with the CERV cars.
The “Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle” CERV is a series of Chevrolet concept/experimental vehicles.
The first CERV car “CERV I” was built in 1959 to test limits of design in the budding world of Super Cars. As technology advanced, “CERV II” was conceived, then built in 1963, and launched a year later. Many years after that (1985 to be precise), Chevrolet engineers discussed creating a new CERV car; and that discussion would turn into “CERV III”, unveiled 5 years later, debuting at the 1990 Detroit International Auto Show.
It’s an astonishing collection – and to see them all together in one display on the Cobble Beach Concours show field… was a trip!
In honour of CERV III, here’s a fun look back at what was what in 1990..
The crowds…
Mid day and it’s shaping up to be one of, if not the best attended Cobble Beach Concours to date. (or at least that’s the way it felt as continued)
All alone…
In the back corner of the fairway sat a very cool piece of F1 race history, the 1983 Williams FW08C Formula 1 race car, this was one of a small handful of cool race cars at the show this year.
So, a few more individual cars of note before we get into a photo dump, then on to the Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance Awards ceremony.
One car that was very unassuming, yet unbelievably cool was the tuxedo black Lester B. Pearson limousine! It was a custom order 1963 Buick LeSabre that now resides in the Canadian Automotive Museum, Oshawa, Ontario Canada.
Canada’s 14th Prime Minister’s limousine is preserved and immaculately kept, inside & out, with it’s ‘fully functional’ sliding glass partition, that would separate driver and dignitary. This car, just by looking at it, will transport you back to a pivotal time in history. Very “Mad Men-esque”.
Not everything at Cobble is shiny…
…case in point, this barn fresh 1957 Corvette Fuelie. Originally from California, discovered left to rot under a tarp in Michigan (after a stint of Detroit drag racing sometime in it’s not too distant past), now resides in Erin ON of all places, and is being preserved in it’s original form… sweaty.
1957 Corvette’s with the “fuel injection option” are considered “very rare” in the collector world, there were only 1,040 ever produced by GM with the ‘very expensive’ fuel injection option, so this is a “find and 1/2”!
Head turning? …or head spinning!
OK, Mustard openly admits, this was a new one to feast the peepers on, and it was lust at first sight!
At one time a “work van”, used by the current owner’s own grandfather back in Italy, this little truck was rescued by the family and shipped from Italy to Canada (by sea) in 2022, where it’s been meticulously restored. “Bellissimo”
…this little 6 seat (once work truck – now people hauler) was on the Mustard Report shortlist for “Car of the Show”.
Everything…
Everything about Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance is nothing short of awe inspiring. To cover this Event ‘vehicle by vehicle’ in the Show’s entirety, would be a near impossible task, the advice Mustard Report gives ‘year after year, after year’ is simple: take the day and just come visit, and if you’re so inclined, why not spend the weekend?, there are activities happening Friday and Saturday as well. (One day Mustard Report will do that, for the complete “Cobble Beach experience”, and report back)
Awards time 2025!…
It’s time for the chosen vehicles (and owners) to accept their due, and grab some of that coveted Cobble Beach Concours crystal and glass.
After both National Anthems, the Judges & honoured guests gather to be formally recognized before the cars and bikes are called up, one-by-one, (by that mysterious voice behind Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance) to receive their awards, pose for photos, take a bow and continue proudly through the winners podium, around the judge’s corral and past the spectator’s gallery on the surrounding hills in behind.
As the vehicles continue to cross the Winner’s Platform, everyone is reminded of just how special this day is for the vehicle owners, the organizers, volunteers (who are still hard at work coordinating this portion of the event) and enthusiasts alike, there are smiles for miles.
Cobble Beach Concours’ conclusion…
This year, the Cobble Beach Concour d’Elegance culminated with the unveiling of this $1.75M +/- Gunther Werks ‘bright orange’ Porsche 911 with specified, Rothsport Racing built 4.0-liter twin-turbos – and more!
It’s at this point in the day that Mustard Report is a little woozy (6 hours wandering the grounds, in the hot sun, carrying camera gear and chatting with people can really take it out of you) but seeing the cover get yanked off this bad boy was like a shot of much needed adrenaline.
Gunther Werks has become one of the most prestigious resto-mod company’s in the world, and the list of “mods” that made up this Porsche is daunting – too daunting to completely list here, but for the Porsche enthusiast that read Mustard Report (and we know there are plenty), here’s your shortlist:
- Engine: Twin-turbo air-cooled 4.0L flat-6
- Transmission: 6-speed manual
- Horsepower/torque: 513 hp / 458 lb.-ft. (Comfort), 650 hp / 518 lb.-ft. (Sport), 840 hp / 594 lb.-ft. (Track)
- Max boost: 1.3 bar (18.9 psi)
- Track width: 60.75”
- Wheelbase: 90”
- Weight: 2,790 lbs.
- Price: $1.75 million +/-
You can find out everything else an their official site; Gunther Werks.
Adieu Cobble Beach 2025
Mustard Report needs to once again thank Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Rob McLeese, his wife & family, staff and team of amazing organizers and friendly volunteers, for once again having Mustard Report up for another GREAT day in Cobble Beach Ontario! Always a complete thrill just to be there, let alone to be considered “VIP Media”, it’s a true honour.
Mustard will say it again (and again): from top to bottom, front to back, this is one first-class event that all car enthusiasts, historians, photographers and just about anyone, of any age, should come out and witness for themselves. What you see here in this Report is just a small slice of the actual event …come see for yourself, you will not regret it.
To Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Mustard Report is forever grateful for the invitation to cover your AMAZING event and is looking forward to seeing you again next fall, Sept. 18, 19 & 20, 2026 (if not before, maybe CIAS 2026?).
