Fancy cars shown with family focus

It all started 22 years ago with a casual conversation with a librarian about Huntington Beach Library’s lack of resources for children and seniors, and now it’s become an annual celebration of cars as well as a fundraiser for the library.

And this year the annual Concours d’Elegance car show will look to the future with some help from the kids the show benefits.

For the first time, the annual car show will feature an awards ceremony for the best car designs from high school students throughout Orange County.

It’s this focus on family instead of just car enthusiasts that makes the Concours a unique car show, said Bob Shaw, the Concours’ marketing coordinator.

“The passion of the show is to help fund the children’s resource center of the Huntington Beach public library,” Shaw said.

This year the car show on Sunday will also feature the world’s most expensive car, a Bugatti Royale, which can reach speeds up to 256 miles per hour and costs more than $1.2 million.

Car enthusiasts will also enjoy seeing a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, worth more than $5 million, and an Alfa Romeo that was driven to a World Sports Car Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile World Championship in 1975.

On Saturday, Rick Finn, who designed the posters for the 10th annual Concours will be honored as the Concours’ best-of-show trophy will be named after him.

The show didn’t take the easiest path to success. When Bart McGrath started organizing the show he quickly learned the library didn’t have enough money to help finance it.

He was told he’d need insurance, which would be so expensive it make the fundraiser virtually impossible.

Fortunately, Frank Mola said McGrath could have the show on his property and the Concours d’Elegance was born.

Now it’s held next to the library each year and has consistently grown over the years.

The show has raised about $375,000 over the last 22 years for the library’s children’s resource center, McGrath said.

And this year, the winner of the futuristic car design contest will receive $500.

The show’s a bit of a costume ball of sorts, too. Each year, many collectors wear clothes to match their car’s era, McGrath said. With a $10 entrance fee, it’s an inexpensive way to spend an afternoon.