Merle and Peter Mullinʼs striking and incredibly rare 1935 Voisin C25 Aérodyne won Best in Show, Concours dʼElegance at Hagertyʼs rebranded The Amelia, held from 2-5 March in Florida, USA.
One of just six Aérodynes built, aimed at the concours events of the 1930s, this example was first displayed at the 1935 Lyon Fair, in south-eastern France. Finished with two-tone paintwork, faired-in headlights and a retractable powered roof, it was considered avant-garde even among the experimental designs of its day.
The Aérodyne was restored by the Mullins in the 2000s, and took a Best in Show award at Pebble Beach in 2011. Merle, wife of Peter, founder of the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California, said: “I have the blessing of being married to a passionate collector who has never restored a car to win a prize. His intention is always to restore a car to its historical correctness, but winning a prize is always greatly validating.”
As ever, there were two headline winners at The Amelia and in the Concours de Sport category, which celebrates the finer points of motorsport rather than glamour, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museumʼs 1964 Ferrari 250LM won Best in Show for its special history. The North American Racing Team (NART) 1965 Le Mans-winning car, it achieved Ferrariʼs last-ever overall victory at Le Mans and, perhaps even more notably, this was a privateer win, after the failure of both the Ford and Ferrari works teams. The car raced at Le Mans twice more, and at three editions of the 24 Hours of Daytona, before being retired to museum life in 1970.
Sundayʼs concours included 260 cars in 32 classes, incorporating a 120th Anniversary of Buick display as well as a variety of Le Mans cars. Four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon was celebrated as the eventʼs Honoree, with a full class of the racerʼs former charges. On the Friday, concours entrants had completed the Eight Flags Road Tour and, later, NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham hosted a panel talk for Le Mans Corvettes.
Other parts of the growing event kicked off from 2 March, including the popular Concours dʼLeMons, celebrating ʻthe oddball, mundane and truly awfulʼ. A lifted Mk1 Mazda Miata (below), a stretched Volvo 960 and a convertible Honda Zoe electric three-wheeler were just some of the unusual cars on the lawn. RADwood also held a meeting at the Ritz-Carlton, with flashy outfits and ʼ80s domestic classics alongside retro rarities, as C
