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The 18th-annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance took place this past weekend, and in one of the show’s biggest years yet (bringing in more than 25,000 spectators and attracting more than 300 vehicles), two powerhouses ended up winning the judges’ hearts. The top Concours d’Elegance award went to a 1936 Duesenberg SJN, while the Concours de Sport went to one of the celebrated marques, a 1968 Ford GT40.
Owned by Helen and Jack Nethercutt of Sylmar, CA, this flawless Duesy is described as “one of the most powerful open cars of the 1930s,” and it displays design cues of the era like rolled fenders and a tapered rear end. The SJN’s supercharged straight-eight allowed it to accelerate to 100 miles per hour in just 17 seconds – surely not a disappointing feat for its day.
On a much different level of performance and timelessness, this Gulf-livery GT40 from the Rocky Mountain Auto Collection is not outdone by the elegance of the big Duesenberg thanks to some well-documented racing history. This not only includes winning at LeMans in both 1968 and 1969 – Chassis No. 1075 also managed to win a total of six times in just 11 races.
In addition to these high-profile winners, the 2013 Amelia Island show also celebrated the 50-year anniversaries of the Lamborghini brand as well as sports cars like the Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray, Porsche 911 and, of course, the Ford GT40. Next year’s show is already confirmed to celebrate Italian car builder Zagato, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a Ford Mustang class recognizing the car’s 50th birthday.
Muscle wins big at 2013 Amelia Island Concours as 1936 Duesenberg, 1968 Ford GT40 take top honors originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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