Monterey Weekend has long been considered the finest, most sophisticated, most respected event on the car-hobby calendar. On Saturday, August 15th, 2009, Concours d’LeMons will change that.
Hosted by the same miscreants behind the 24 Hours of LeMons and Billetproof, Concours d’LeMons brings exclusive and passionate creations such as Pinto, Gremlin, Honey Bee, Edsel, and Trabant to the hitherto-scenic Peninsula, along with the Weekend’s greatest collection of oil leaks.
Celebrating the Oddball, Mundane, and truly Awful of the automotive world, Concours d’LeMons ’09 honors aesthetic and technological underachievement through traditional categories such as Lowest-Quality American Car, Leakiest Brit Pile, and Crappiest Car from a Communist Country. Special Classes include VW Bug Special Coachwork; Carrozzeria Iacocca (for K-Cars and K-Car derivatives); and Wretched Rejects (for vehicles with hostile rejection letters from other concours).
To guarantee a lifestyle experience worthy of Concours d’LeMons’ participants, the Toro Park show venue – lovingly crafted by the Monterey County Parks & Rec Department – offers oak-shaded display fields with sweeping, majestic views of the parking lot, plus a world-class selection of Porta-Potties. Showgoers will also encounter LeMons-worthy artisanal foods, most of them deep-fried on sticks.
Due to space limitations, the organizers regret that over-restored trailer queens, endless rows of identical red 308s, and splotchy watercolors of prewar GP scenes can not be seen at this event.
For more information, visit www.concoursdlemons.com.
[Source: Concours d’LeMons]
Awesome. Count me in.
I thought it was called the “concours d’ignorance”….
I think that event was held last year…
This should be an exciting weekend as some of cars and the makes cited would be interesting as some of them came from the black era of Automotive Design and Manufacturer and the decline of GM. There was the Datsun Honey Bee that was so tacky and cheaply made I would be surprised to see one restored or in its original state. The other bombs were the Chevy Vega and Pontiac Astra whose engines were so poorly made that the slight build up of head would render the engine as junk. The unfortunate Ford Pinto with its fuel tank problems. A better design then Chevy’s Vega but the car’s exposed tank killed it.The Amc/Renault Products like the Pacer, Encore and Alliance were simply bad poor reliability and bad marketing.Also the designs that GM used on the post 1974 Olds, Buick, and Pontiac 4 doors where the design was so bad that the back passenger windows didn’t go down but they provided small swing out windows for ventilation. What a joke.I am surprised they didn’t provide a hose from the tailpipe going into the car? Please show the pictures from the event it should be interesting.
So, things will be contrary to the common. That begs the question: how much will visitors to this ‘event’ be paid?
Sounds like a tremendous “parallel universe” event to the Friday & Sunday concours. Can hardly wait to plunk down my $20!!! Hope there’s at least one Citroen 2CV!! And lots of corn dogs & deep-fried Snicker’s bars!!!
I’ll probably need an extra memory chip for my camera!!!
Will there be an award for the biggest rust-bucket?
See ya there!!!!
Great ideas gone bad. Not a bad idea. My favorite and much underrated is the Pacer. I worked for AMC and later for the company which tested the Pacer in the vehicular wind tunnel for the engine cooling and the A/C system.
Secretly, the car body and chassis was going to be the home of the Wankel engine, which was much more compact than the 232 CID seven main six. When all the testing was over, the Wankel couldn’t achieve the exhaust emissions that the gov’t required, and at the last minute, the 232 was the only available engine. Hence the incursion into the passenger compartment of the much longer 6 cylinder. The sheet metal dies, including the floor pans, roof, fenders, etc had already been completed, and being very expensive, were modified to fit the 6 cylinder. The only Wankel in production at that time was Mazda. Several other marques had licenses, but couldn’t solve the emissions issue.