2023 Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance

September 16 & 17, 2023

Cobble Beach Golf Resort, Owen Sound, Ontario

Since 2013 the middle of September is marked by a fantastic display of rare and unique cars as the Cobble Beach Concours d'Elegance lines the resort’s 18th fairway. This collection of vehicles include examples that are one-of-a-kind, immaculately preserved, and ones thought long lost to bring one of North America’s best concours events to the shores of Georgian Bay.

I’ve attended the Cobble Beach Concours for the last six years (minus two COVID cancellations) though this time was special. After years of going as a freelance photographer, this time I was asked to shoot the weekend’s proceedings as an automotive photographer for the concours itself. This made for a busy weekend, but one that really tested my skills and was filled with amazing cars and the opportunity to meet some new people!

Participants Tour

Historically the Cobble Beach Concours starts with the Participants Tour where some of the cars drive to destinations around Owen Sound. For the first time I accompanied the tour to stops at Irish Mountain Lookout, Meaford Harbour, and Station Hill Park in Meaford.

The tour gives the public a chance to see some of the show’s vehicles before the concours itself, and helps to reinforce the notion that these cars are made to be driven. At a few points on the tour my VW Jetta was struggling to keep up with the pace that these 75-plus year old cars were setting! It was a day of planning out intercept points along the route and getting candid and quick photos as the cars made their way there and back again. All told the cars covered around 150 km, not bad for antiques!

Cars & Coffee

This year Cars & Coffee set up the percolators and claimed the parking spots in Owen Sound’s River District! The district encompasses the historic downtown along with a block or two north and south of the main street. With heritage buildings and classic cars lining the streets, it wasn’t hard to find photogenic scenes on a sunny afternoon.

Notable among the Cars & Coffee entrants was a 1965 Lamborghini 350 GT that was also due to be entered into the concours the next day. Usually concours cars stay away from the door dings and hustle and bustle of a busy afternoon parked downtown. It was very cool to see the car take part, though the calibre of the other vehicles entered kept it from stealing all the crowd’s attention!

Concours d’Lemons presented by Hagerty

Across the river in Owen Sound’s River District was the tongue-in-cheek Concours d’Lemons presented by Hagerty Insurance. The “concours” celebrates the forgotten, unloved, and overlooked cars of the recent past and is one of the only places outside of a scrapyard or my high school parking lot where you’ll see a Pontiac Grand Prix and a Chevy Lumina parked side by side.

The Concours d’Lemons is always a lot of fun and is a nice counterbalance to the fanciness of the rest of the Cobble Beach weekend. Based on the number of people I saw walking down the line there should be even more lemons on 1st Avenue West next year!

Cobble Beach Load-In and Cadillac Reveal

After grabbing a coffee I headed up to the Cobble Beach Golf Resort to get some photos of cars loading in for the concours the following day. The afternoon load-in is a fantastic opportunity to get photos of cars being cleaned, to chat with the drivers, and to see the vehicles during the calm before the storm!

This year storms were in the overnight forecast and quite a few cars hung back until early the following morning. I hung around the middle of the fairway before popping up to the clubhouse to cover the Canadian-exclusive unveiling of the new electric Cadillac Escalade iQ and the Cadillac Celestiq.

As the sun set I popped back down to the fairway to get some shots of the cars covered up. Less than 12 hours later I’d be back on the field as the concours day began.

Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance

Since I first started attending Cobble Beach as a freelance photographer in 2018, Sunday morning starts at 5:30 on the 18th fairway. Getting there first thing means getting some unique looks at cars loading in that morning and (when it isn’t cloudy) there’s an amazing sunrise over Georgian Bay. This year a clear morning gave way a bit of drizzle. Around lunch a thunderstorm watch prompted an evacuation of the field and, after grabbing a bite to eat at the clubhouse, we were back at it with sunny skies for the awards ceremony.

Besides the cars, one of my other favourite things to take photos at Cobble Beach are the concours judges. With their white hats and serious attitude, they make for great subjects as they evaluate every detail of these amazing machines.

Awards Ceremony

On Sunday afternoon the judging was complete and it was time for the awards ceremony. The sun was out for most of the afternoon and the cars looked fantastic driving up to receive their awards.

This year the concours had built a raised wooden platform to make it easier to take photos of the award winners. Luckily I had borrowed a 70-200 from my friend Elle, since that platform was a fair distance away from centre stage! Eventually a few other photographers had taken up residence in the centre of the scene and, to avoid having to crop or photoshop people out, I moved down to the green for the last few awards.

With some stuff competition the People's Choice award went to a 1938 Peugeot 402 Darl'mat Special Sports Roadster owned by Mary and Ted Stahl of Chesterfield, MI. To close out the afternoon a pristine 1935 SS Cars Limited SS One Airline Saloon owned by Jim and Lisa Hendrix from Chesterfield, MO won Outstanding Pre-war vehicle, Swift Current Newfoundland’s own Vernon Smith took home the Outstanding Post-war vehicle award with his 1958 Buick Roadmaster Limited Convertible, and a stunning 1929 Cord L-29 owned by Greg Ornazian of Troy, MI took home Best in Show.