Concours d’Elegance of Texas

La Torretta Lake Resort & Spa located in Montgomery, Texas is home to the Concours d’Elegance of Texas, a prestigious automobile event where some of the finest motorcars in the world are displayed to the public and judged in class competition.

This year’s featured marques were Packard and Porsche and beautiful examples of both could be seen everywhere. Packard was perfection with its coach built bodies and battle tested in World War I when planes flew with Packard 12-cylinder engines. The competitive car market began to affect Packard after 1949 and in 1954 Packard merged with Studebaker. The merger did not save Packard and in 1958 Packard came to an end. Porsche on the other hand has endured great success, first with the design of “The Beetle” then with the Porsche 356, the first car to carry the Porsche name. Porsche is the perfect package of power, balance and design and continues to be one of the most successful cars today on the street and the track.

The Concours d’Elegance of Texas has a host of activities including a driving tour which is held on Friday morning, many dining events in the evening and The Houston Classic Auction presented by Worldwide Auctioneers. Another great part of the event is the Next Gen Education Summit. This is an education program that uses the automobile to inspire students, show them opportunity and encourage growth. This is not a car program but a way for business and industry leaders to impact the lives of students whatever their interest might be.

The fairway never looked as good as it did Sunday as the Concours d’ Elegance of Texas began. It is always pleasing to the eyes to see such magnificent automobiles all in one place and even more interesting to learn the history of them as well. It is a unique opportunity to see “one off” cars that you would otherwise probably never see anywhere else. This year’s event included a vintage plane fly-over by the Lonestar Freedom Flight honoring fallen heroes, a few vintage boats and some hot rods and custom cars too. All of the fun and excitement of the weekend that is enjoyed by each and every person attending will go to benefit a group of charities like Holy Angels, Crisis Assistance Center and Montgomery County Child Protective Services/Child Welfare Board just to name a few. It is a wonderful world we live in when you can have such a great weekend and help others doing it!

Article and photos by: Allen Smith - Smitty’s Rod & Custom