This past Sunday, the annual "Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance" car rally attracted a crowd of car enthusiasts to Palm Springs once again. The organization that hosts this event is a non-profit group that redirects proceeds to benefit local charities dedicated to improve the quality of life in the desert community. This year, the proceeds will go to three organizations: Animal Samaritans of the Desert, Desert Samaritans for the Elderly and the Palm Springs Police Department's Mounted Police. Palm Springs has a long history of a fascination with classic cars. As early as the 1930's, Hollywood studio bosses would send their movie stars to Palm Springs for a weekend get away. They would arrive in style, in fancy cars to maintain their glamorous image. Luxury cars of the day would line up in front of the popular hotels and clubs, and would signal the popularity of the establishment. In the 1950's Palm Springs hosted one of the first road races in Southern California, thus the Golden Era of road racing was born. The Councours d'Elegance attracts exotic car owners from all over the country, happy to exhibit their vehicles for charity and a bit of fun along the way. Our desert offers the perfect backdrop for the event; it is held on the beautiful grounds and fairways of the legendary O'Donnell Golf Club here in Palm Springs. All photos here in this post are from the Desert Sun website:
above: the San Jacinto mountains were the perfect backdrop for the classic cars lined up on the fairway.
According to The Desert Sun website, there were 140 classic cars on display at the O'Donnell Golf Club. Among the exotic cars was one vehicle valued at $20 million, which is incredible when you stop and think about that. Why do my cars plunge in value the moment I drive off the lot? The event included judging, with a "best-in-show award" given to a 1961 Alfa Romeo SZ Coda-Trunka coupe (see photo above left), with an estimated value that could be as high as $1 million because there are only 11 other models ever built. Check out the rest of these great photos from the Desert Sun:
According to The Desert Sun website, there were 140 classic cars on display at the O'Donnell Golf Club. Among the exotic cars was one vehicle valued at $20 million, which is incredible when you stop and think about that. Why do my cars plunge in value the moment I drive off the lot? The event included judging, with a "best-in-show award" given to a 1961 Alfa Romeo SZ Coda-Trunka coupe (see photo above left), with an estimated value that could be as high as $1 million because there are only 11 other models ever built. Check out the rest of these great photos from the Desert Sun:
It's not hard to see why I enjoy living in Palm Springs so much. Hope your week is going well.
-Rick Rockhill
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