Hilton Head Concourse D'Elegance 10/31/24-11/3/24

I have been honored to be selected to participate in the 60 years of mustangs display at the 22nd annual Hilton Head Concourse. It will be great to see the display of mustangs to even include a 63 pre-production design prototype. I think I saw this car at the MCA show in Indy last year. If you live in the area or will be vacationing around the area at the time it would be great to meet up and I am sure you will see some great cars. It will be a busy fall with Savannah in mid-October and the Hilton Head in early November. Hopefully, it will be more comfortable then the heat waves many are experiencing now.

July 12, 2024

Dear Brian,

Congratulations! We are delighted to accept your 1972 Mustang Mach 1 to be exhibited for this year’s Car Club Showcase 60 years of Mustang display to be held on Saturday, November 2nd. Now in our 22nd year, this year’s Concours will feature the 60 year display, German vehicles, a entire field for Rolls-Royce and Bentley, and over 20 car clubs from around the region.

https://www.hhiconcours.com

Wow! That is quite the honor! Congrats!

Agree with Chuck, great honor. I am a couple hours away, hopefully I can make it and meet up with you.

Congratulations

Tom

Congratulations on being selected!
Nov. 2 should be ok weather to have this event unless a random hurricane blows through... You and that beautiful Mach 1 should be shown on that lawn. Would also want to hear what "the suits" have to say about it...

*** New Update *** The organizer of the 60 year display emailed me last week indicating they would like to pull a couple cars from the 60th display to also be judged on the lawn in the Concourse D'Elegance on Sunday. I submitted a few more pictures of my car and received an email yesterday that the car was accepted to be on the lawn on Sunday. This is really cool to me. To be on the lawn at a very high caliber concourse show is an unimaginable dream for me. I guess concourse cleaning is not done yet.

Just received this note from the acceptance judge on the mustangs to be judged.
You will be 1 of just 8 Mustangs that will be in both days. 0n Sunday you will join the 63 prototype, 1st 65 Shelby GT 350, a great 68 GT 500 KR and others.

You tube on 2023 show

That looks like a cool event but they are to proud of the ticket cost for me. Good luck. Your car should do really well.

Congratulations!!! What an honor!!! Please post pictures for the rest of us to drool over.

As usual, I have a somewhat related story. Back in 1994, my '72 convertible was chosen to be displayed to represent the 1972 model year at Ford's official Texas unveiling of the all-new '94 Mustang. There was to be one Mustang on display for every year from 1964 through 1993. The night before the event, when I tried to take the car down to the gas station to fill up, the engine would spin but not start. After hours of troubleshooting, at something like 2:00 in the morning I finally determined that the camshaft eccentric which drives the fuel pump was spinning loose on the front of the camshaft and would not drive the fuel pump! AARRGGHH!! There was no way to get it fixed in time for the next morning's event. (I later learned that the boneheads who rebuilt my long block used the wrong type of eccentric and it was only a matter of time before it failed like this). With such short notice, the event organizers could not find a replacement '72 car to fill in for mine, so there was literally a blank spot in the display for the 1972 model year. To this day, I still have folks reminding me of how I "ruined the event". The Ford folks felt sorry for me, though. . . I was the only non-press person there to receive a full set of Ford 1994 Mustang press kits (there were three different ones). Even the press people only got one of the three per person. Still sucked not to have my car there. . .

72conv said:

Congratulations!!! What an honor!!! Please post pictures for the rest of us to drool over.

As usual, I have a somewhat related story. Back in 1994, my '72 convertible was chosen to be displayed to represent the 1972 model year at Ford's official Texas unveiling of the all-new '94 Mustang. There was to be one Mustang on display for every year from 1964 through 1993. The night before the event, when I tried to take the car down to the gas station to fill up, the engine would spin but not start. After hours of troubleshooting, at something like 2:00 in the morning I finally determined that the camshaft eccentric which drives the fuel pump was spinning loose on the front of the camshaft and would not drive the fuel pump! AARRGGHH!! There was no way to get it fixed in time for the next morning's event. (I later learned that the boneheads who rebuilt my long block used the wrong type of eccentric and it was only a matter of time before it failed like this). With such short notice, the event organizers could not find a replacement '72 car to fill in for mine, so there was literally a blank spot in the display for the 1972 model year. To this day, I still have folks reminding me of how I "ruined the event". The Ford folks felt sorry for me, though. . . I was the only non-press person there to receive a full set of Ford 1994 Mustang press kits (there were three different ones). Even the press people only got one of the three per person. Still sucked not to have my car there. . .

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That does suck. At least you had something in the press releases to remember the opportunity and regrettably the problems. I promise that I can identify with great opportunities sometimes slipping away. I do plan to take as many pictures as I can.

The clock is ticking, 1 1/2 weeks before I have to hit the road to Hilton Head. The car is not even at my house right now. After years of Concourse MCA judging and getting a slight point deduction for no orange peel in the paint I went all in for a show car finish. Dropped the car off at a shop here in Chatt that is recognized as the best paint correction and detail shop in east TN. My little 72 was surrounded by Lambos, Porsches, Range Rovers and a couple Ferraris. It is getting the full paint correction detail done. He scanned the paint last week and determined there was plenty to work with. He has been sanding with 2K and 3K trizac over the weekend. Stopped by this morning and he was still on the 3K sanding. Man I cannot tell you how much my stomach churned seeing the paint all sand scratched from that process. He promised promised me that it will all be good and he is going to have it done this week. Will also be buffing all of the aluminum trim as well. No anodize on the trim any longer so he is going to ceramic that after buffing. I cannot describe how honored I am to be showing at this level of a show and to be selected to be on the lawn for judging on Sunday. The wife and parents will be along for the event. They also went with to Savannah last week and my mom repeatedly stated she just cannot believe how the car is showing so well knowing the rusted jalopy she recalled rolling in to the garage many many years ago (40 to be exact). On pins and needles for the next couple of weeks but really looking forward to this opportunity.

Almost ready

Congrats on your acceptance. HH is a great show, I have been honored to have 3 of my cars (AMCs) all been HH awards winners in the past.

Looks great, Brian! Your car represents our model years beautifully! Enjoy your time at the event.

jscott said:

Congrats on your acceptance. HH is a great show, I have been honored to have 3 of my cars (AMCs) all been HH awards winners in the past.

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I grew up in Kenosha, WI and my Dad worked for AMC and then Chrysler and retired in 99 after 40 years. The number of Javelins, AMXs, Rebels and Jeeps I worked on as a kid is crazy. Wished I would have kept some of those. Would really like to find a Mark Donahue SST Javelin someday.

bkdunha said:

Almost ready

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Congratulations on getting the 2-day invite!! The Saturday show is fun, but it's the Sunday event that's the real mind-blower.

I'll be there showing two cars, a red/black 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, and a Nocturne Blue 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix. I'll look for your car and hope to run into you.

For those balking at the ticket prices ($90/person for Sunday, or $140/person for Sat/Sun), yeah that's a tall order for a car show. But it's insanely expensive to produce an event of this scope and stature. Trust me, I know many of the organizers and have been involved with the event for over 20 years, they're not making a "killing" whatsoever, they're just covering expenses and whatever little is left-over goes to charity.

All in all, it's expensive, but it's a rare opportunity to see stuff you'll likely never see (in person) again. Better than paying $100+ for a concert ticket. Last I knew, Amelia has risen to $300 a ticket (thanks to Hagerty), and Pebble is over $800 a ticket. Hilton Head is almost as good (I'd say better than Amelia these days), for a fraction of the price.

bkdunha said:

Wished I would have kept some of those. Would really like to find a Mark Donahue SST Javelin someday.

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well you sort of can. If I remember correctly the only thing that made it a MD Javelin was the spoiler, decals, etc. and, of course, the factory paperwork. Nothing in the vin would denote that it was a MD. So, you can, like many others did make one.

As my first trip to HH resulted in me having won two awards ('68 AMX and '72 Javelin AMX, in different classes) I was asked by the HH people if my car club would like to be on display the following year (or was that 2 years later??) I had to pull teeth, even ask other AMC clubs to join just to fill the ranks. AMC people are a different brand of car people.

Rick@NPD said:

Congratulations on getting the 2-day invite!! The Saturday show is fun, but it's the Sunday event that's the real mind-blower.

I'll be there showing two cars, a red/black 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, and a Nocturne Blue 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix. I'll look for your car and hope to run into you.

For those balking at the ticket prices ($90/person for Sunday, or $140/person for Sat/Sun), yeah that's a tall order for a car show. But it's insanely expensive to produce an event of this scope and stature. Trust me, I know many of the organizers and have been involved with the event for over 20 years, they're not making a "killing" whatsoever, they're just covering expenses and whatever little is left-over goes to charity.

All in all, it's expensive, but it's a rare opportunity to see stuff you'll likely never see (in person) again. Better than paying $100+ for a concert ticket. Last I knew, Amelia has risen to $300 a ticket (thanks to Hagerty), and Pebble is over $800 a ticket. Hilton Head is almost as good (I'd say better than Amelia these days), for a fraction of the price.

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It would be great to meet Rick. We briefly met at Charlotte way way back in 2014 at the 50th. Back then the paint was still drying on the car. Just Kidding. Both the paint and I have cured a little more in the showing process and I am really looking forward to this opportunity. I agree that pricing may be bit hard to swallow, but I stink at golf so my entertainment invest is usually car related. Safe travels to you and your cars and look forward to meeting if possible.

jscott said:

well you sort of can. If I remember correctly the only thing that made it a MD Javelin was the spoiler, decals, etc. and, of course, the factory paperwork. Nothing in the vin would denote that it was a MD. So, you can, like many others did make one.

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I think the hood was an additional package item with the bubble top. I am no expert on them so I defer to insight. I just remember in Jr. High/Middle School there was one parked in a driveway by school just rotting away that I really liked and wanted to save until I found my mustang. You know kids are sorta fickle that way.

jscott said:

As my first trip to HH resulted in me having won two awards ('68 AMX and '72 Javelin AMX, in different classes) I was asked by the HH people if my car club would like to be on display the following year (or was that 2 years later??) I had to pull teeth, even ask other AMC clubs to join just to fill the ranks. AMC people are a different bread of car people.

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LOL.... Studebaker people share a similar reputation...

OK don't bring up Studabakers. When my car was sold from the used car dealership I found it buried in the weeds at I then started looking for other cars and became sorta interested in an Avanti that was parked by a repair shop on the west side of town. It was on blocks and someone had spray painted orange paint all over it's white exterior. Had thoughts about looking into it more but then the mustang showed back up at my house as my car. And from there the story went on and on.