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Nostalgia at Meadow Brook Concours

I guess Pebble Beach may be more dramatic, at least geographically, but no one does a concours d’elegance better than Meadow Brook in suburban Detroit. Just concluded at Meadow Brook Hall, the 1920s residence of John and Matilda Dodge, this event attracts many of the world’s great classic cars, as well as race cars, theme cars, concepts, and design cars.

The two best-of-show winners were a 1939 Delahaye 165 Cabriolet by Figoni & Falaschi, which is simply a knockout, and the more stately 1934 Dietrich-bodied Packard V-12 Sport Sedan—both shown here. Looking at these cars, one wonders where all this marvelous individuality and passion has gone. Up in smoke, as Cheech & Chong once observed.

The essence of nostalgia, I suppose, is looking back to an irrecoverable past and a simpler, more “classic” world. Well, Meadow Brook gives you that in spades, whether your nostalgia runs to ’64 GTOs, ’59 Cadillac tail fins, or cars like these, on the MB website.

Looking at these pix, I had my own nostalgic moment, remembering a conference I was part of years ago at Meadow Brook. The furnishings and details of the mansion are still intact, courtesy of Oakland University, and nothing I’ve seen evokes the opulence and style of the ‘20s more than this 110-room palace built for the widow of one of the Dodge brothers who founded an empire.

It’s the perfect setting to recreate, among other things, the contributions of Detroit to the history of the automobile. Some of this can be seen in the video below, courtesy of Freep.com.

Do our present cars - any of them - still have the kind of individuality and strength of purpose these cars do? Leave us a comment.

—jgoods

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Sexy Convertibles

Today it’s raining, but as always, we remain hopeful in the state of Maine. And we are beginning to get a taste of convertible weather, finally. Time to fire up the Lambo, go down the dirt road, and get the mail.

I suppose that if one had $222,000 in spare change, there could be no better way to spend it than to own this machine. The Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder is the ultimate sports car, with V10 power, flawless styling, handling, engineering, you name it. It’s far too good to drive on the roads of Maine, potholed from the winter. It’s for the corniches in Italy. For an interesting spread on the car, go to page 200 of issue 45 of Winding Road.

Okay, back to reality. For a bit more than $50,000, you can have a BMW Z4 with a retractable hardtop, six-speed transmission, and all the BMW goodies. The 35i version gives you 300 bhp; for $6,000 less, the 30i has 255 bhp. The company has refined the Z4 for ’09, with better looks and new engines. CarGurus says the ’08 has a silky smooth tranny and sticks on the skid pad. If you need only two seats, you’ll love it.

Now, to the more practical and still sexy. The new Infiniti G37 Convertible (with a very well designed Karmann hardtop) costs about the same as the Z4, but gives you a full back seat, gorgeous interior, and all the trimmings. Its 3.7-liter V6 produces 325 bhp through a seven-speed automatic or a six-speed manual. Scroll down to read the press release for its L.A. Auto Show debut. This is a car for the well-off woman of a certain age who really knows how to drive.

For the most unsexy convertible, we must nominate the Chrysler Sebring, butt of many jokes and barbs from car aficionados everywhere. Even though sales recently dropped about 70 percent, the Sebring convertible does have its fans. Unfortunately, for many of them it came to typify the problems that brought Chrysler down. Perhaps a new, leaner Fiat-Sebring will eventually be reborn on the order of the Fiat 500 with sunroof. And the sun will shine again.

Give us your Sexy Convertible nominations, and try to drive one this weekend.

—jgoods

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