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1937 Delahaye 135M (center) are judged by experts in each class. Delahayes were the talk of the show this year. By Bob Carney Golf Digest Index Winter 2006-'07 At 6 a.m. on Sunday behind Pebble's 18th green, about 1,000 people have gathered, some in straw volunteer hats and blue blazers, a few in period costumes, many in bright-red baseball caps distributed by one of the sponsors, and the rest in windbreakers or sweaters, hunching over cups of coffee. The cars arrive and zag around the green toward their pre-ordained spot on the fairway, gurgling, sputtering, sometimes belching white smoke. I meet Tom Watling, an affable Californian and former restorer who is happy to provide the commentary. "That's a one-off Ferrari," he says. "Wow, look at that waterfall grill on that Bugatti ... that green one's a 1907 Auburn, very rare ... that's a 1908 Thomas Flyer Tourabout ... hmmm, that black Mercedes 540 K, very special ... That was Edsel Ford's Ferrari that just went by... oh, a Packard Boattail! They made only three or four." An incredible black 1931 Daimler Coupe gets Watling's vote for Best of Show. "The standards here are the strictest, pickiest anywhere," he says. "This is Mecca. This is a week when you sleep fast and take lots of vitamins." By 9 o'clock the cars are arranged in their classes: Antique through 1915; American Classic Open, 1932-'41; Rolls-Royce Prewar; Postwar Custom Coachwork Touring; and so on. Clusters of judges carrying clipboards circulate among the 175 entries. Judges ask the owners to start the cars, turn on the lights, lift the hood, open and close the doors. There are colors that you don't see on cars anymore: butterscotch, indigo, champagne, a dozen tans and taupes and olives and creams, many in two-tone. The exteriors wrap around their chassis as elegantly as evening gowns. Every detail is perfect: hood ornaments, door latches, insignias, mirrors, control knobs, built-in leather luggage, radios. As I wander into the Prewar Preservation class, I hear a familiar nasal voice. "It's faaaabulous," says Jay Leno, leaning over the six-cylinder, 40-horsepower engine of a 1906 Ford Model K. "You can't get much rarer than that. Beautiful, beautiful! Don't restore it!" The Model K was Ford's first venture into luxury cars. Someone asks Leno about a previous night's auction. "I don't know if I'd go $5 million for a Ferrari," he says squinting. "It's amazing the way they value them. A Ferrari with eight miles is worth less than a Ferrari with seven miles? C'maaahn." And he's off. Drawn to the Delahayes, which are parked right up the cliff from the spot where Tiger Woods hooked his drive in the 2000 U.S. Open, I run into Alan Kaye, an appraiser from Chicago. His job, as he puts it, is to keep rich people from buying cars at prices that are off the charts. Because Kaye attends every show and auction in the country (and a few around the world), he knows everyone and is eager to introduce them. I'm taken with a dark blue 1947 Delahaye that looks nothing like the red 1947 Delahaye I fell in love with on Friday, and Kaye says, "Here, I'll introduce you to the owners. Meet Ed and Judy Schoenthaler." The Schoenthalers, from Oak Brook, Ill., are avid golfers. "It's my favorite thing to do," says Judy, dressed in a striking '40s-era tan suit. "I hated to leave Chicago during the PGA." Judy, Ed is proud to tell you, has won four club championships. "I'm not much of a player; I'm a 23," he says. "Too much time with the cars." Kaye has more introductions and more news: A friend has sold Mussolini's Alfa Romeo. Tricky: It took a while to get rid of Hitler's old car. A photographer drops his camera on a blue-and-cream Delahaye; hubbub ensues. Kaye has just seen Hastert and wants to introduce him to me. Can't find him, though. In a hospitality suite, we bump into George Barris, the inventor of the Batmobile. "I did Bob Hope's golf cart, too," Barris says. "You know, the one with the sloping nose?" Barris is building a new car for a Monkees revival movie. George Lucas wanders in with his son to get some of the barbecue that our hosts, the Sevenoaks of Tulsa--members at Southern Hills--have prepared. Kaye is just getting started: "Hey, let's go downstairs, I want to introduce you to... " The sun sets on Sunday, and the Concours draws to a close. I've met everyone, including Barry Maguire, who makes the famous polish that keeps these cars so shiny. The Daimler wins Best of Show, as Tom Watling predicted. I feel I almost belong. I know a Cunningham from a Cord, a Duesenberg from a Voisin. The cars putter out the way they came in, past workers already disassembling the concession tents. In a few hours the 18th will be the 18th again and golfers, perhaps coping with some bumpy lies, will play on, unaware of the sweet, otherwordly scene they missed. |
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