Concours d’LeMons

Yup, there goes the neighborhood by-the-sea. The guys that organize Billetproof and the band of hooligans that have been fouling up the nation’s road courses via the 24 Hours of LeMons have joined forces. They’re now they’re out to destroy, or at least tarnish, Monterey Weekend. For the three or four of you that don’t know, Monterey Weekend combines the pre-war monocle-on-a-stick and silk ascot dignity of the Concourse d’Elegance with the eye-popping, bank account draining grandeur of the Monterey Historic races at Laguna Seca. Plus scads of other highly sophisticated, notably exotic but most of all expensive automotive activities. Oh how the times change. Coming this August 15 is the first annual Concours d’LeMons, “celebrating the oddball, mundane, and truly awful of the automotive world.” You’re thinking right – Mustang IIs on the green. We’re hoping someone will motor down in a pristine example of the Chrysler Town & Country TURBO wagon with genuine simulated wood paneling. Mark the calendar, and ask Grandma if you can borrow the Buick Reatta in August. Make the jump for the press release and more information.

Ford Pinto Camperback image courtesy of Drew Philips Photography

PRESS RELEASE

Crummy Cars, Lousy Design to Be Honored at Monterey Weekend

Emeryville CA, 13 April ’09–Monterey Weekend has long been considered the finest, most sophisticated, most respected event on the car-hobby calendar. On Saturday, 15 August ’09, 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.

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Disclaimer: A mild mannered motoring journalist by day, Jonny Lieberman dons the robe and econo-barrister wig as Judge Jonny on the 24 Hours of LeMons racing circuit. Together with Justice Murilee Martin they comprise the LeMons Supreme Court.