One of the oldest and largest annual car shows in the country returns to the Queen City this weekend.
The Cincinnati Concours d’Elegance takes place in Ault Park every year and draws in thousands of car enthusiasts from around the country.
“Our show has become so well-known that all the parking in the area is taken up by trailers,” joked Dave Sheehy, chairman of the Cincinnati Concours d’Elegance Foundation board. “We’re the oldest Concours this side of the East Coast, and we’re also one of the most unique. A lot of the other ones take places on golf courses. We get the gardens of Ault Park.”
For the 48th Cincinnati Concours, which is taking place this Saturday and Sunday, there’s plenty on the docket. Thousands of auto enthusiasts submitted their cars for selection, meaning the festival will have its regular assortment of vehicles of all sizes and eras—from pre-war Cadillacs to Asian imports to motorcycles to supercars like Ferraris. This year, however, marks three important anniversaries.
Mercedes-Benz is celebrating its 100th anniversary and will be this year’s featured marque, with over 200 cars and motorcycles on display. And the “Cars” and “Fast & Furious” franchises will be celebrating their 20th and 25th anniversaries, respectively, so several cars that you’d see on-screen will be on display—including cars resembling Lightning McQueen, Doc Hudson, and even “a talking replica of Tow Mater” that’s been shipped in all the way from Dallas, Sheehy said, which will be “a big hit with children and adults alike.”
“You’ll see cars here that you won’t see anywhere else. I could go down the list. Even just with Mercedes, we’ve got a 1936 Mercedes 500K Special Roadster. They only made a handful of them. We’ve got a 320 Cabriolet B from 1934, pre-war,” he said. “We’ve got equally rare modern Mercedes, too, like the AMG-ONE, or the SLR McLaren Sterling Moss, which they only made 75 of worldwide when it was released in 2009.”
The celebration of all things automotive kicks off on Saturday afternoon with a countryside tour departing from Mariemont Square, followed by a “Hangar Party” at Lunken Airport later in the evening. The car show proper begins at 10 a.m. on Sunday in Ault Park.
Throughout the day, there will be several supplementary events at Ault Park’s pavilion, like brunch, a craft beer garden, a bourbon tasting and more. In addition, there will be a “Legacy Library” set up for kids to take home free car-related books, magazines, Hot Wheels cars and other items.
“We’ve got something for every enthusiast. There’s such a wide variety of so many cars you’ve never seen before, or that you remember from your childhood. What we do is very unique in the world of car shows,” Sheehy said.
For Sheehy, who has been working hard to make Cincinnati’s Concours d’Elegance as good as it can be for 37 years now, it’s not lost on him how special it is to have a show this big right here in the Queen City.
“There’s only a dozen shows of this caliber in the entire nation, and the fact that we have one here feels like a rare opportunity,” he said. “There are plenty of shows that have come and gone in the past, but we’ve stuck around for 48 years. We’re one of the oldest, and it’s right here in Cincinnati.”
For tickets and more information on the Cincinnati Concours d’Elegance, visit the official website. Guests interested in attending should park at the Fifth Third lot at 5020 Duck Creek Road, where a shuttle arrives to ferry guests to and from Ault Park every ten minutes.
