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The La Jolla Concours 2019

May 14th, 2019 by admin

2019 La Jolla Concours has now come and gone, this year it was no simple task Follow us on Instagram @Preciousmetalsmotorcars and like our Facebook page to ride alongside us with our Car Crazy Hobby.

The La Jolla Concours D'Elegance takes place on the coast of beautiful sunny San Diego in one of our most amazing beach locations the la Jolla cove. We have been attending every year since 2010 and are honored to be recognized with atop awards for over half those entries. This year was a bit different enjoy these videos and this read we have quite a story to tell.

The day begins months in advance and as with any Concours preparing your car takes time, effort and constant testing. Lamborghini was to be a featured marque and as vintage Lamborghini enthusiast Precious Metals was asked to step up to the plate and provide several of our vehicles for numerous activities. Our 1972 Lamborghini Jarama 1 of 20 Dual Sunroof cars was one, a 1966 Lamborghini 400 2+2 was second and our Star car a pristine example was to be the 1969 Lamborghini Isero S. That car just recently came off exhausting summer where the car graced the fields of the Quail Motorsports gathering, San Marino Concours, Fathers Day on rodeo, Palos Verde Concours and many others. After winning multiple[le awards including a first at Quail for the 50th anniversary of Islero and Espada you can say it was still fresh but would require just the final right little touches to be comparative in this venue. The challenge was on and the car was ready just a few days before. Our Jarama was a top choice of the section committee being 1 of 20 and of only 3 in the USA. We were very happy this local event felt it necessary the car must attend. We began to choir of concours preparation during the slow down season on of a San Diego winter (cough cough, pff). We began rebuilding carburetors, attending to its fuel system, new brakes and adjusting many other items necessary to complete the tour and compete in concours showing. The vehicle was then used as the promo car for the week and attended several News stations being used to help promote the event. On its 3rd outing a slight oil leak arose and the car was immediately back on the lift and in the shop for a quick repair, a simple timing cover had loosened and disaster was adverted.

Our 1966 Lamborghini Race car was another one of our entries that would require some slight improvement and in just a few days that car was back online and ready to run. The car was actually aired on Motor trends TV Show Restoration Garage that week and bringing it to the La Jolla Concours was a exciting treat for many who now got to see the car in person. The car was driven by Dr. Perry Mansfield and David Grainger from the Restoration Garaged show who had just flown in from Canada to be a part of this lovely event with us. The car performed exceptionally well at times Dr. Mansfield and David had the car up to speed coming around corners at full throttle as if the car was back in its natural habitat on the race track during the 70's and 80's. The 1972 Jarama also performed exceptionally well, please enjoy a few of these videos of the event and the tour.

After and exciting touring day our night ends with a fantastic party set in the La Jolla Cove and the theme is "STEAM PUNK" for those of you who do not know Steampunk is it can be described as artistic style of clothing fashion, or subcultures that have developed from the aesthetics of Victorian-era fiction, art nouveau design, and films from the mid-20th century. This very unique cult fashion with its own genre of music and fun, is anything goes and this party did not disappoint.

On the day of the concours we had a slight distraction, our display vehicle for our booth was housed with a friend just a few blocks away from the La Jolla Cove. Upon leaving the party Saturday night we found ourselves scrambling with a fuel issue. Our friend had called us to notify us that the car had sprung a leak. WHAT… After weeks of prep this was an immediate concern, among the obvious reason of gas in the garage!!! Upon inspection we noticed a fitting loose and with no way to correct it there the car had to be brought back to the shop. Our adventure with a disgruntled tow truck driver begins with a phone call and ends with refusal to pick up such a valuable car, thus leaving us without resources in a back alley in La Jolla California with a 1967 Ferrari GTC… A few phone calls later we found a suitable truck to handle such a load and at 11pm the car was heading home, then up on a service rack and a crisis was adverted again with the simple turn of a 13MM wrench. Back home and in bed by 1am only to be up at 4:30am was needless to say going to be FUN!!

We had one car in the trailer already set for show entry and what we thought was our second car in a Garage just blocks away as you have read this turns out not to be the case. Both show car resided at the shop 35 miles from the event and both needed to be on the field by 7am. We got the Islero there by 5:30 and we we were 3rd in line but they wouldn't let us enter till 6am. At that time we got the Lamborghini Islero on the field and raced back to the truck, then raced back to the shop to grab the Ferrari, with one more trip back to La Jolla 55 Minutes later were in line with car #2. After placing both vehicles, our other 2 vehicles arrived we placed them next now we had just over 30 minutes to set up our booth and we finished in the deadline. At 9 am Judging promptly began we showed each vehicle every one of them started, all lights worked, the only issue we had was we had to swap the only fire extinguisher we and from car to car… but the judges we none the wiser, lol. Now Breath!!

The rest of the day was calming and uneventful till the time of award ceremony. We had lunch on the lawn, we laughed and shared some stories with friends, we took in the scenery, and walked around checking out the fabulous selection of cars. Once again at the Awards time we were honored with a win of our 1969 Lamborghini Islero S and a 1st Place with our clients 1951 Maserati A6 Cabriolet by Frua. Awaiting the announcement of the final top awards we were notified again the Maserati was up for something special, BEST POST WAR, A 1951 MASERATI A6 CABRIOLET is what rang over the Award Announcement. We could not be happier for our client it was a struggle getting the car in and getting all the cars here but this is where it paid off, a Top Award from the Judging committee makes it all worthwhile. Pease enjoy the photos and videos of our exciting weekend I hope you enjoyed this read, please follow us for all our future events.

La Jolla Concours #1 La Jolla Concours #2 La Jolla Concours D'Elegance Tour D'Elegance
La Jolla Concours D'Elegance

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