THE CONCOURS LUNCHEON

The Concours Luncheon is an afternoon in early June on a lawn at Bridgehampton for eighteen members: cars brought out and set on the grass, and lunch laid alongside them.

It exists so that a car worth looking at is seen at close quarters, with its owner beside it and nobody keeping score.

The Concours

A concours d’élégance is, in French, a competition of elegance. Those who hold them trace the idea to the carriages paraded in the parks of Paris in the seventeenth century.

The first for motor cars in France, and very likely the first anywhere, was held at Dinard, on the coast of Brittany, on 4 September 1921.

Paris followed, in the Bois de Boulogne and at the Parc des Princes. By the 1930s the concours had spread to the resorts, to Cannes, Nice and Biarritz, and society made the rounds of them.

A car was shown as a tableau. The coachbuilder, Saoutchik or Figoni et Falaschi, brought his newest body, and beside it stood a model or a woman of society in clothes made for the occasion by Lanvin, Chanel, Schiaparelli or Maggy Rouff.

In June 1935 Josephine Baker showed her Delage in the Bois de Boulogne, in a jacket whose collar of rooster feathers took up the colours of the car.

In America the concours grew stricter. At Pebble Beach, which began in 1950, the judges look for authenticity, and mark a car down for being over-restored as they would for being wrong.

The luncheon keeps the lawn and the lunch, and leaves out the judges.

The Afternoon

Eighteen places, and the cars on the grass before anyone sits down.

The cars are brought by members, and by owners the Court knows. Owners are asked to leave the bonnets open and the conversation running, and few need asking.

There is no judging and there are no trophies.

Lunch is laid at a long table under a marquee at the edge of the lawn, within sight of the cars.

After lunch, an owner who is asked will start the engine.

The afternoon ends as it began, with the cars driven off the grass one at a time, and most members stay to watch.

What Is Asked

A lounge suit, in something light, and shoes that will do on grass.

Hands behind the back until an owner opens a door.

Watches, rings and belt buckles are kept clear of the paintwork.

Glasses stay on the table, away from the cars.

Ask the owners anything. Most have been waiting all year to be asked.

A member with a car worth showing may bring it, and says so when replying.

The Places

Eighteen. It is one long table, and few enough for every car to be talked about.

Members are written to in March.

The sum is stated in the invitation and covers the lawn, the marquee and lunch.

The cars come out again in September, for The Bridge Concours and The Classic Car Outing.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.