Story and Photos by Michael T. Lynch

Bill Noon's A6 1500 Maserati is seen in front of the Palm Springs Art Museum, the departure point for Friday's Tour Classique. Credit: Michael T. Lynch.

Palm Springs has a long relationship with exotic automobiles. In the immediate post-World War II period, Hollywood celebrities began building second homes there and by the mid-1950s, Frank Sinatra, his Rat Pack buddies and Ronnie Reagan were cruising Palm Canyon Drive in Dual Ghias (Reagan lost his to Lyndon Johnson in a poker game). Those further down the food chain made do with Cadillac convertibles or Jaguar XKs.

In 1950, the first road race in Southern California was held on property adjoining the Palm Springs Airport and the races moved to the airport itself in subsequent years. This was the golden era of road racing and drivers like Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, Masten Gregory, John von Neumann, Richie Ginther, Dan Gurney and Ken Miles drove their Maseratis and Ferraris to overall victories and class wins there. The Palm Springs races were the social event of the SoCal racing season and racers and hangers-on enjoyed the nightlife at legendary clubs and restaurants like the Chi Chi Starlite Room (Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Liberace and even stripper Lilly St. Cyr!), The Doll House (the Guadalajara Boys’ Latin Rhythms), the Palm Springs Biltmore (great poolside scene, with lots of bongos) and the Mirador (Don Pedro’s orchestra and drinks with umbrellas in the Kiva Room). The Palm Springs races ended in 1961 when the airport became too busy to accommodate them, but there have been revivals since for vintage cars as well as car shows and auctions in the area.

They don't call it Palm Spings for nothing. The beautiful setting shows off Maserati row. Cars of the trident ranged from the latest MC12 to a 1949 AG 1500. Credit Michael T. Lynch.

Holly and Paul Merrigan have been on the vintage racing and concours circuit for years and bought a home in Indian Wells in the late 1990s. They wanted to combine their car interest with their community spirit and decided a world-class concours could both build on the area’s automotive traditions and bring economic benefits to the Palm Springs area. Holly comments, “We have been very fortunate in our life, and we want to leave the world a better place. This is a great opportunity to raise money and direct it to the organizations we want to help.” The result of these sentiments was the inaugural Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance held on March 1, which the couple took the lead in organizing. It benefited the Luci Curcy Cancer Center, the College of the Desert scholarship fund, the Animal Samaritans and the Angel Light Academy, which teaches leadership skills to at-risk youth. The Merrigans’ passion attracted many enthusiasts in the area who volunteered to help with the event. Retired General Richard Wilmont, whose wife Julia founded the Angel Light Academy, provided leadership for the volunteers.

Maseratis were thick on the ground at the Desert Classic and John Bookout's rare A6G/54 Zagato won the Maserati class. It also won the Best European Coachbuilt award, as well as the Long Distance award, after coming from Houston. Credit: Michael T. Lynch.

Merrigan is a former class winner at Pebble Beach with a Maserati A6G 2000, so he knows how a top line show should operate. There was a Tour Classique on Friday that passed through several Coachella Valley communities, putting the public on notice that this wasn’t a show for trailer queens. The lunch break was at Cuistot in Indian Wells. The restaurant’s French farmhouse ambience was perfect for the event and al fresco dining on the terrace made for a wonderful entrant experience. Another afternoon stop was at a breathtaking private auto collection in the area. That evening there was a welcome cocktail party and buffet at the Chop House in downtown Palm Springs that was a veritable feast of the bounty of the area's finest restaurants. Le Vallauris, Johannes, Fisherman’s Market, Las Casuelas Terraza, Pomme Fritte and Kaiser Grille all contributed fare, along with a terrific selection of wine donated by Provenance, Orogeny Vineyards and Chalone Estate. Even a New York Times or San Francisco Chronicle food critic would have been impressed.

The Merrigans had over 120 golf courses to choose from in the valley and settled on the oldest, the O’Donnell Golf Club in downtown Palm Springs, built by oilman Tom O’Donnell in 1925.

This early Maserati A6 has a body by Pinin Farina. It is interesting in that it shows styling cues that are more common to Vignale, including two large round instrument clusters and polished aluminum tunneled tail lights. In the immediate postwar period, the Italian designers freely took from each other. Credit: Michael T. Lynch.

It’s site, nestled against the San Jacinto Mountains and dotted with massive mature palms, was spectacular. The weatherman cooperated; the temperature was in the dry, balmy low 80s, with clear skies. The entry was exceptional. It ranged from grand European and American pre-war classics like Delahaye, Packard, Rolls Royce, Lincoln and even a Belgian Minerva. Some of the rarer postwar models were Ferrari Super Americas and a 375 Mille Miglia like the cars of Bill Spear and Jim Kimberly, who dominated American racing in 1954. There was also a very early Ferrari 166, being shown for the first time. Others included the most original Porsche America roadster of the 14 made, and a Don Edmunds midget, one of the 600 race cars the master builder made between the early 1960s and the early 1980s. Two perfectly restored oddities were an Amphicar, at home on street or stream and a BMW Isetta microcar.

Bernard Dervieux, who hosted at Cuistot on Friday, entered an early Allard that won a race at Santa Ana on the day the Korean War started. Roy Richter, founder of one of California’s most revered speed shops, Bell Auto Parts, was driving. Richter was also an Allard dealer and the car was his demonstrator. It just happened that his wife was out of town that weekend visiting relatives. Bernard also showed a rare Deutsch-Bonnet Le Mans streamliner, entered in Southern California events in the mid-1950s by another Frenchman, Francois Crouzet.

A Lincoln Capri and Ak Miller's Caballo de Hierro pose before a landscape not unlike some they passed when competing in the great Carrera Panamericana in the 1950s. Credit: Marshall Roath.

The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum sent a legend of hot rodding, Ak Miller’s Oldsmobile-powered hot rod (1950 Ford frame, 1927 Model T body), which competed in the famed Carrera Panamericana in the mid-1950s, showing up many more expensive European exotics. Miller called it El Caballo de Hierro (Iron Horse), but the Mexicans named it Ensalada (salad) because it was made of so many diverse parts.

No California concours is without a woody or two, and this 1942 Chrysler Town and Country Barrelback is one of the rarest. It was indicative of the quality of the entry at the Desert Classic. Note the site's proximity to the beginning of the mountains. Credit: Wade Byars/The Desert Sun.

Maserati was the de facto honored marque and the lineup was impressive. There was a group of A6s from Maserati’s immediate post-WWII production, two mid-fifties A6Gs and models right up to Maserati’s recent supercar, the MC12.

The crowd circulated to a jazz soundtrack and commentary by Ed Justice, Jr. of Road & Track Radio and automotive historian Michael T. Lynch. The announcers brought cars from the field to the podium and had the owners tell their cars’ stories as well as adding their own commentary. Judges included former racers Tony Adamowicz, Scooter Patrick and Davey Jordan, along with vintage racer, broadcaster and automotive film producer, Alan Bolte.

Notable awards went to Doug Magnon’s Maserati Mexico (Best Preserved Original), Crevier Classic Cars’ Parkard 120 Le Baron (Best American Coachbuilt), Tom Shaughnessy’s Ferrari 375 MM (Best 1950s Competition Car), Kendell Rosemeyer’s Franklin Speedster (Best Pre-War) and Symbolic Motor Cars’ Alfa Romeo 6C2500SS Villa D’Este (Most Authentic Restoration). Ken and Ann Smith’s beautiful Delahaye 135, done in deep blue with ostrich upholstery took both Best in Show and People’s Choice.

In a rare agreement between experts and the public, Ken and Ann Smith's Delahaye 135 Figoni and Falaschi drophead won both Best in Show and the People's Choice Award at the inaugural Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance. Credit: Michael T. Lynch.

Paul Merrigan presented them with a beautiful Nicholas Watts limited edition print of Rene Dreyfus winning the 1930 Monte Carlo Grand Prix in a Bugatti. The piece was signed by Watts and Dreyfus. The latter was a French champion who immigrated to America where he ran a legendary New York Restaurant, Le Chanticlair, which was an international racing hangout for decades. It was an appropriate ending to the day, considering the Smiths’ devotion to the automobiles of France.

The Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance was an overwhelming success and first year glitches were minimal. The timing of the event presents no conflicts to any Western events and the setting is incomparable. I hope to see many of you there next March 1st for the second edition. I won’t have long to chat, because I want to see each and every entry.