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Easter Concours d'Elegance
Easter Sunday April 8, 2012
our 51st Annual Automobile Show
The 2011 Easter Show had 119 Cars pre-registered for Judging, 71
Cars for Display and 251 Club Cars from 15 different Clubs - a total of 442 cars which would have been a great showing
if the weather would have cooperated!
FOR A LIST OF 2011 EASTER SHOW WINNERS DOWNLOAD THE MAY 2011 BRASS LAMP
click here to download the 2011 Easter Program
ITS HERE, YES WE HAVE A NEW BOOK ABOUT THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF OUR EASTER CONCOURS'
written by our own Gerald Perschbacher
84 pages, over 100 pictures
It will be offered for sale at this years show
special introductory price of $15 for non HCCM members
and $10 for members
to view the Book cover click here
HISTORY
WHAT ABOUT AN EASTER EVENT?
The first Easter event and a direct predecesser to the Easter Concours was held on April 18, 1954. It was
an Easter Parade conducted by the Horseless Carriage Club (HCCM) with the Auto Club (AAA) building as the anchor location.
The parade, actually a motorcade traveled west on Lindell to Skinker, south on Skinker to Clayton Road, and west on Clayton
to Big Bend where it broke up.
Why so many parades instead of car shows in those early days of the hobby? The general public was not yet
attuned to attending an outdoor show of old cars.
In 1961, the time was right for the Easter Concours d'Elegance. It was the direct beneficficiary of
other show efforts. On Sept. 17, 1961, seven months prior to the first Easter Show (April 22. 1962), the first Village Square
Concours was held in the outdoor walking mall at the popular shopping center in Hazelwood, Mo.
The first Easter Concours d'Elegance Show was held on April 22, 1962 with only six classes. The oldest
winning car was a 1897 Holdermann and the newest winner was a 1939 Cadillac Convertible Sedan.
By 1964 the Easter Show was firmly established and was hosted by AAA who has for most of the years been
our faithfull Sponsor.
Eventually the Easter Concours d'Elegance was held in Forest Park where it has been held ever since.
The above information is from the book "Easter Concours d'Elegance Grandest Show in Town" written
by Gerald Perschbacher
Cars History Came to Light in the Bright Sun of Easter, 2010
By Gerald Perschbacher
About 500 cars of collector vintage brought a festive flair to the Upper Muny Opera parking facility in
Forest Park in St. Louis, on Easter Sunday, April 4, for the 49th annual Easter Concours d’Elegance, conducted
by the HCCM and sponsored by AAA—Auto Club of Missouri. The crowd was estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000
as young and old enjoyed the vast array of automotive machinery from 1903 to cars that are a mere 25 years old.
Classic Packards, Cadillac, and makes seldom remembered—such as Mercer and Hudson—added to
the variety. In the Century Circle were five cars that had reached 100 or more years of existence: Two St. Louis
motor cars (dating to 1903), a 1909 Brush, and a 1910 Cadillac. Soon to enter the circle was a 1911 Maxwell.
Military vehicles were registered, such as a 1942 Ford GPW “Jeep.” Other cars seldom
seen included a 1940 LaSalle, 1935 Citroen, 1932 Dodge, and a 1952 Frazer convertible. Early Thunderbirds, Corvettes,
and performance cars were there, too. Pontiacs, Lincolns, Buicks, Dodges, and Chryslers from the 1960s and 1970s also
were on hand to show onlookers the advance of automotive design.
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