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n 1991, I attended the Pebble Beach

Concours d’ Elegance for the first

time and brought the show’s poster home

with me. Writing about the 2015 event re-

minded me of it. Did I still have it? I did,

framed and hanging in a hallway. It’s a

nice one, a print of a painting of a Rolls-

Royce facing a Pierce-Arrow, parked in the

evening in front of a mansion, their bright

work and fender lines illuminated by

house lights beneath the branches of a

tree. Chauffeurs stand at attention beside

them. Between the limousines, a man and

a woman in formal evening attire, embrace

inside the house behind two stories of win-

dows. Tall chauffeurs stand like statues, a

scene right out of “The Great Gatsby.” I

could imagine Edward Hermann, long

time fixture in the automobile concours

world before his passing, playing piano,

hidden behind a mansion wall as he did in

the 1974 film.

During the Amelia Island Concours in

March 2014, I first heard what I consid-

ered to be a rumor that Ford Mustangs

might be accepted in the Pebble Beach

Concours in 2015. Couldn’t happen, I

thought. It’s a Concours d’ Elegance. As

much as many people love Mustangs, I’m

not sure anyone ever called them “ele-

gant.” What would the Ferrari and

Packard crowd say? Hadn’t one of the Peb-

ble bigwigs said something like, “

There

will never be a Mustang at Pebble Beach,”

when the subject was brought up during

the 2013 Cobra weekend? The thought lin-

gered. How could a rumor this nutty be

completely without some truth, some pos-

sibility of it? It couldn’t be. I brushed it off

like an urban legend.

Sometime in the summer, or maybe it

was the fall, I heard it again. I did a little

investigation and discovered it was true.

But it sounded like the cars would be on

display only, not part of the judged compe-

tition. The “Mustangs” would probably be

relegated to the putting green, between

the buildings for a few hours the day be-

fore the show, I thought. The space that

was reserved for concept cars on Sunday.

One of my friends asked if I planned

on going. He said he was going to take his

car to the Rolex Monterey Reunion at the

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca track where

early GT350s were the featured race cars.

No, I said, too much trouble, too expensive.

Then it happened. Sometime after Laguna

Seca announced the GT350 would be the

honored race car in its 50th anniversary, I

learned the Pebble Beach Concours de-

cided to include a GT350 Class in the

judged competition. I knew two owners

with cars that were accepted into the

group. When would THAT happen again?

It didn’t take long to rethink my decision.

I had to be there.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2016 40

– Story and Photos by Harvey Sherman

They said it would never happen.

I