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Funny name for a concourse isn't it? But this Dutch concourse is very serious and probably the main event on the national show list for classic cars. Compare it to a scaled down Pebble Beach in the gardens of one of our royal palaces.

My car is a rat sled Clipper Deluxe (1954) and I could not believe my eyes when I saw the mail inviting me to participate in this high class concourse. Think of it: together with some other cars like mine it is a serious contender for the national prize and theoretically even the international prize.

A very interesting move from the organization to establish a class for unrestored and rat cars: Masterpieces survived. It shows that very slowly the rat and unrestored trend is being taken seriously in Europe.

I will keep you posted on how things worked out for the Clipper. Very curious about the amount of interest in the class. Hopefully the weather will cooperate because summer is developing badly this year.

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i enjoy your car immensely!

Congratulations on attending the event with your 54 Clipper and thanks for the picture.

Unrestored cars have properly been getting a lot more respect and appreciation within the last 10 years or so here, The Packard Club (PAC), AACA, and CCCA all have classes for participation by unrestored cars.

I see you're from The Netherlands, a country I've always enjoyed and seem to find myself at rather frequently, usually starting or ending a cruise on Holland American Line at either Rotterdam or Amsterdam. Last time in Rotterdam I had the pleasure of spending a night on the old ss Rotterdam, now a floating hotel in the city. Also spent a night in the Hotel New York, the old Holland America headquarters at Wilhelminakada.

Thanks!
You're probabably better informed on the cruise ship situation than the average Dutchman I suppose. I live in a town about 40 miles south of Rotterdam. But in Holland -compared to the distances in USA- everything is close, you can travel from north to south in about 4 hours and from east to west in 3 I guess.

Have a nice weekend!

Thank you, I appreciate it very much. I love the car, by the way it is exactly my age: september 1954. They always tell me that was a good year and I tend to believe it.

8 hours in any direction..you are still in Texas. LOL

You are right about that Henry...LOL

Hans, that is an amazing looking car! Love the way the clear coat brings out the gradient of color.

Good Job,

-Garrett

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BigKev's reference, in another thread, to "Patina Cowboys" stretches all the way to The Netherlands!

Thanks for the reactions guys.
The clearcoat is actual a preservation product originally developed for marine applications. It is called OWATROL, as a matter of fact I rubbed a fresh coat on the car only yesterday, with a piece of cloth. Very satisfying when you see the colours on the car -including rust- gaining depth. And it presents an A1 protection against further deterioration as the Dutch climate is very different from the car's original Californian sunshine.

This will my the only preparation for the show, apart from a little vacuum cleaning and checking the fluids. Other contesters are probably polishing themselves mindless by now, LOL! This is such an easy car...

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The Concourse last saturday and sunday was great. Except for the weather, which was terrible on sunday. The Clipper participated in the class of 'Masterpieces survived' and really had some serious and historically interesting competition. One of them was a Fiat Tipo 5 from 1913 in unrestored condition. Found in the vicinity of St. Petersburg in Russia. Former owner of this car was Pjotr Wrangel, a commander of the White Russian Army during the Russian Civil War(1917 - 1922). Present owner Jan Bruin from the Netherlands suspects it was a present from King Alexander I of Yuogoslavia. Both gentlemen studied at the military academy of in St. Petersburg.

Another unrestored car in my class was a Regal 25hp Underslung from 1912. I did not know the marque, but found out that it was a car manufacturer in Detroit.

To cut a long story short, the Clipper did not win its class, but I did not expect it would. On the other hand the visitors loved the car and it raised a lot of interest and will appear on national Dutch television. One of the concourse visitors told me that "there is a lot beautiful cars on the palace grounds, but this Clipper stole my heart!"

What can you want more?

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