2016 Elegance at Hershey is a “Celebration of Speed”

Oscar Davis’s 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring spider. Photo by Michael Furman, courtesy The Elegance at Hershey.

Choosing a theme for a concours d’elegance event is hard enough, but choosing a single automobile to represent that theme is harder still. When The Elegance at Hershey organizers decided on a “Celebration of Speed” for this year’s event, scheduled for June 10-12 at the Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the car ultimately chosen by the group to promote the show was the 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring spider owned by Oscar Davis of Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Mr. Davis is no stranger to The Elegance at Hershey, or to prewar Alfa Romeo automobiles. Last year, his 1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B Mille Miglia Superleggera coupe by Touring was exhibited at the event, and went home with the prestigious Jack Rich Award. Named for The Elegance’s founder, the Jack Rich Award is presented annually to the car that Rich himself would have most wanted in his collection.

Expect Oscar’s 8C 2900B Touring spider, used in all 2016 Elegance at Hershey marketing material, to be equally stunning on the show green. Wearing a body shaped by Carrozzeria Touring founder Felice Bianchi Anderloni and his chief designer Aquino Gilardi, the Alfa Romeo furthered the development of Superleggera, or superlight, construction. Instead of the then-typical body-on-frame construction, the Touring design relied upon a framework of light steel tubing to support the car’s elegant body panels.

Its streamlined design was shaped without the aid of a wind tunnel. Instead, Touring’s craftsmen would shape a body panel, then affix strips of cloth and photograph the car in motion to trace airflow over the body. The end result is as beautiful as it is functional, and with dual Roots-type superchargers fitted to the car’s 2.9-liter inline eight-cylinder engine, performance must have been exceptional in its day.

The Yellow Peril 1911 Oldsmobile. Photo by Darin Schnabel, courtesy RM Sotheby’s.

Oscar’s Touring-bodied 8C won’t be the only exceptional car on hand, either. Mark Lizewskie, the AACA Museum’s executive director, wouldn’t give us the complete list of cars confirmed thus far, but he did tip us off that the “Yellow Peril” 1911 Oldsmobile, sold by RM Sotheby’s at Hershey last fall, will be in attendance, as will the 1919 Pierce-Arrow 66A-4 once owned by Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. Other classics to expect include a Stutz DV-32, a Waverly Electric, one of Bob Bahre’s Duesenbergs, a Toyota 2000GT and a Tucker 48, borrowed from the AACA Museum’s Cammack Tucker Gallery.

The HMS Truckie, a highly modified 1967 Ford Econoline, will appear at the Concorso Bizarro.

As in past years, The Elegance weekend will include The Grand Ascent vintage hill climb, sanctioned by the VSCCA, on Friday. Last year’s “Concorso Bizarro,” held on Saturday, proved successful enough to reprise this year, and Mark tells us that the museum’s most recent addition, a custom 1967 Ford Econoline van named the HMS Truckie, will most definitely be on display.

New to the 2016 Elegance at Hershey is a classic car auction event, also scheduled for Saturday. Presented by newcomer The Finest Automobile Auctions, the sale will also feature live online bidding via event partner Proxibid, and represents The Finest’s first live auction bid. The company will host its first online-only auction, also in conjunction with Proxibid, on Saturday, April 9.

The Elegance itself will take place on the grounds of the Hotel Hershey on Sunday, June 12, and Ray Evernham will be on hand as the Grand Marshall. For more information on the event weekend, visit TheEleganceAtHershey.com, and for a preview of lots to be offered at Saturday’s auction, visit TheFinest.com.

from Hemmings Daily – News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/1UEIno1