St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance On Chesapeake Bay, Kent Island Yacht Club, September 28, 2025

St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance On Chesapeake Bay, Kent Island Yacht Club, September 28, 2025

This was the 18th annual edition of one of the premier US Concours that emphasizes automobiles that date back to the dawn of motoring.

Rolls-Royce was the honored marque for this year’s concours.

Dr. Veasey Cullen’s 1928 Phantom I Derby Speedster was recognized as the Best Rolls Royce. The Gail and Henry Petronis Trophy for Most Elegant Closed Car was awarded to the 1937 Phantom III V12 Sports Saloon owned by Dr. James Sprague, while the 1915 Silver Ghost of Billi Carey took home the first place trophy in the early Rolls-Royce class.

The Best Of Buick award was selected by the Concours chairman, Luke Phipps, and went to the 1965 Riviera Gran Sport of Col. Andy Starr. The Chief Judge’s Best Of The Best award, a class of previous Best Of Show winners, was given by yours truly to the 1935 SS1 Airline Saloon of Jim and Lisa Hendrix.

The Peoples’ Choice by Popular Vote was Chuck Loper’s 1950 Allard J2 roadster, one of only 90 produced. The Virgil Maxwell award for best owner-restored car was presented to the two-tone 1959 Dodge Custom Royal D-500 Convertible owned by Scott Nickett. The Ethel and John North trophy for the Most Elegant Open Car was conferred upon the 1931 Pierce Arrow Model 42 Convertible Coupe of Bob Morris.

In the recently-created de Tomaso class, the extremely rare 1967 Vallelunga 2-door coupe captured the best in class award, while the ex-Briggs Cunningham 1960 Corvette LeMans race car owned by Jay Dewing was awarded Best of the Corvette Racing class.

Mark your calendars for the 2026 St. Michaels Concours on September 27. The link to the Concours website is www.smcde.org