Erik Azar is a motorsports enthusiast living in Northeast Florida. He is presently the VP of the Jacksonville Corvette Club and an active member of JAMS – Jacksonville Area Mopars where he enjoys attending motorsport events in his Jeep JK and Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye.
The 5th annual Mopars on the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC – tailored as a Vacation for Mopar Enthusiasts took place from November 10-15, 2020. Like so many other motorsport events this year, Mopars on the Beach was postponed from its usual June timeframe.
Mopars on the Beach was founded in 2016 by Tommy and Cathy Bridges of the Coastal Carolina Mopars, and with the help of their club members pulled off a successful event as they had to be agile and creative dealing with the current Covid-19 climate. This year saw over 300 attendees from 17 states traveling from as far away as Nevada and Arizona.
The week’s activities consisted of various Cruise-ins, Dyno Day, Charity Ride, and a Car Show. It’s a great way for Mopar enthusiasts to meet other like-minded people from all over the United States and develop new friendships.
This year even the late season Hurricane Iota wouldn’t put a damper on the activities and fun. The rain stopped Thursday evening allowing Friday’s Charity Ride and Saturday’s car show to take place with beautiful weather.
Friday’s charity ride to the small town of Georgetown, SC ended up having more than double the number of attendees expected. The organizers did an excellent job coordinating with the local police departments to arrange police escorts and blocking major intersections for more than 100 cars to travel from site to site. The evening ended at The Landing at the Boathouse for dinner and prizes.
The main event and largest generator of donation funds for the charities was Saturday’s car show that hosted over 300 cars on display. The cars ranged from classic 60s-70s Mopar muscle, to modern muscle and custom Mopars – which provided something for everybody to enjoy.
For 2020 the event raised $13,000 that was evenly divided between two local charities:
· Quilts of Valor local chapter – provides volunteer handmade quilts to service members and veterans that have been touched by war.
· Lowcountry Food Bank – provides both the education and nutritious options needed by partner agencies and schools that serve our community
Next year’s Mopars on the Beach is scheduled for Nov 2-6, 2021 and will move to Broadway at the Beach, a popular tourist destination with shopping and entertainment. There will also be Drag Strip day on Thursday, Nov 4, 2021 at Darlington Drag Strip.
Deremer Studios Photography – Automotive, Commercial & Fine Art, Jacksonville Car Culture’s official photographer, has created a stunning 2021 calendar showcasing the 25th Annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance that is FREE to download! FREE!
Deremer Studios offers incredible automotive photography packages for collectors and enthusiasts. If you’ve been looking for a wonderful way to showcase your ride online or in print, Deremer Studios is the way to go. Great photos can also help you sell you car if/when the time ever comes.
Many thanks to everyone who participated in the Jacksonville Car Culture Holiday Lights Cruise on Jekyll Island. The overnight invite-only event provided a much needed break from the day-to-day routine and the often depressing reality that is 2020. Masks were required at all events and physical distancing was encouraged at all times.
A stunning BMW i8 sparkles under the holiday lights. Photo courtesy of Deremer Studios, LLC
We are grateful for the amazing team at The Westin Jekyll Island. Our host hotel worked diligently to help us put this wonderful event together. Whether is was hot cocoa and cookies around the courtyard fire, lining up the cruise vehicles in front of the hotel, late night drinks from the bar or a hot coffee from The Westin Cafe, the incredible hospitality, luxurious accommodations and idyllic setting were the perfect match for our exclusive event. We honestly couldn’t have asked for anything more.
View the weekend highlights video by Deremer Studios, LLC. The Westin Jekyll Island, our host hotel. Photo courtesy of Deremer Studios, LLC.
The Westin Jekyll Island, left photo courtesy of Deremer Studios, LLC.
Thank you to Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum for opening up after hours for our group. The time outside under the beautiful lights and touring the incredible museum that tells the story of the Island was one that we will not soon forget.
Special thanks to the Hampton Inn & Suites Jekyll Island for providing a delicious breakfast for our group on Saturday and to Life is Good for offering a wonderful little memento of our trip to the entrants.
Hampton Inn & Suites, Deremer Studios, LLC
Life is Good
Acura’s new NSX in a very festive Santa-approved red. Photo courtesy of Deremer Studios, LLC
Last but not least, thanks to Deremer Studios, LLC., the official photographer of Jacksonville Car Culture.
Don’t worry if you missed this adventure, the Jacksonville Car Culture team is already planning the next one! Stay tuned to our social media channels or this website for details.
Happy Holidays, Chris, Abbi and the entire team at Jacksonville (First Coast Car Culture)
To view the Jacksonville Car Culture Jekyll Island Holiday Lights Cruise photo gallery visit:
“They Said I Could Never Finish; So I Finished First.”
Ewy Rosqvist, winner of the 1962 Argentinian Touring Car Grand Prix with Ursula Wirth in a Mercedes-Benz 220 SE.
Stumbled upon this very cool 1962 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Matchbox at my local Walmart. Not a bad way to invest $1. Ewy’s story is legendary. She was the first female Touring Car Grand Prix Winner, proving the “experts” wrong and breaking barriers along the way. This little toy is worth having simply as a reminder that anything is possible with hard work, dedication and believing in yourself.
From Mercedes-Benz Classic (Daimler:AG): “The first race for Rosqvist and Wirth in their top-end Mercedes-Benz 220 SE (W 111) Saloon was the four-day Swedish Rally to the Midnight Sun (12 to 16 June 1962) where they immediately secured the women’s cup. They took 6th place in the 22nd Rajd Polski (2 to 6 June 1962) and then came in 12th in the Liège–Sofia–Liège Rally (29 August to 3 September 1962) before going on to win the Argentinian Touring Car Grand Prix. Ewy Rosqvist and Ursula Wirth won all six stages of this 4,624-kilometre race in course records, triggering enthusiastic celebrations on their arrival in Buenos Aires. It was probably the biggest success in Ewy Rosqvist’s glittering career. To seal this victory Ewy Rosqvist not only succeeded in dominating the race, she also increased the average speed from 121.234 km/h to 126.872 km/h compared to the previous year’s winning duo (Walter Schock and Manfred Schiek in a Mercedes-Benz 220 SE).”
Jacksonville, FL – Announcing the special classes for the 26th Annual Amelia Concours d’Elegance, May 20-23, 2021.
1938 Hispano Suiza DuBonnet Xenia. Photo by Michael Furman.
Hispano-Suiza The fabled Spanish-Swiss grand marque remains the only car named for a king, Alfonso XIII of Spain, himself a Hispano enthusiast, who owned as many as 30. His enthusiasm for the marque and its reputation for exquisite engineering made it a favorite of royals, celebrities, heroes of all stripes and even a few literary characters who drove Hispanos across the pages of bestselling fiction when the need to project a sense of wealth and style was required. Every famous European coachbuilder of the custom body epoch dressed Hispanos. Their V-8 engines helped win the air war in WWI. That elegant engineering blood gave the cars that wore the “flying stork” mascot, as the sales brochure put it . . . “vitesse, securite, confort, silence, elegance.” It wasn’t hyperbole. Even today the reputation of Hispano-Suiza ranks it with the greatest, most respected and revered names at the pinnacle of the auto industry.
The Porsche 935. Photo courtesy of The Brumos Collection.
Porsche 935 “The Racers’ Concours” honors and celebrates the 45th anniversary of the long-lived, fire-belching 200-plus mph Porsche 935 turbos that once ruled international endurance racing. The 935 was the backbone of international endurance racing for nearly a decade and owned championship titles from Daytona to Le Mans and back. Its popularity remains so potent that nearly five decades after its debut Porsche is creating 77 tribute cars to the 935/78 Moby Dick Le Mans racer based on the 911 GT2 RS.
1977 Chevrolet Corvette Supervette. Photo courtesy of Canepa Motorsport.
Chevy Thunder Truly the “heartbeat of America” from Indy, Sebring, Daytona, Le Mans, Pro Stock, Can-Am, Trans-Am, club racers, Sprint Cars, Baja & Desert racers, IROC, F5000, Swamp Buggies, Dune Buggies, Hot-Rods, Kit Cars and even to off-shore powerboats, Chevy’s small blocks, big-blocks and pure racing engines set records, crushed competitors and dominated practically every type of motorsport for well over half a century. Chevy’s small block V-8 of 1955 was the elegantly simple engineering masterpiece that inspired hot rodders and race car builders alike. Chevy small block power even sat on the front row of the Indy 500 (1981), outran the fabled Offys on dirt tracks, ruled NASCAR’s high banks, short tracks and road courses, won the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and owned the Can-Am (at one point winning 33 races in a row).
Chevy Thunder is the soundtrack of NHRA Pro Stock competition winning the championship 24 times, more than any other manufacturer. Its impact on American culture even extends to popular music; in 1962 the Beach Boys composed a song commemorating the power of Chevy’s big block Turbo-Thrust V-8 entitled, appropriately, “409.” Specifically songwriter Gary Usher’s “ . . . 4-speed, dual-quad, positraction four-oh-nine!” Since its first V-8 in 1917, Chevy V-8 power has touched practically every facet of American life towing trailers, delivering groceries or taking the likes of McLaren, Scarab, Lola, Chaparral, Eagle, Corvette and Camaro to scores of racing victories and championships; some Chevy V-8s even replaced those legendary Italian V-12s in American sports car racing.
Ferrari 275 GTB. Photo Courtesy of Peter Harholdt.
Ferrari 275 GTB It’s hard to imagine a tougher automotive act to follow than Ferrari’s landmark 250 GTs. From the mid-fifties to the immortal GTO of 1962, Ferrari 250 GTs set the standard, won the races and were the fast moving targets of every GT builder from Los Angeles to Coventry to Stuttgart. Unveiled in Paris in 1964 the 275 GTB became Ferrari’s first GT to fit modern alloy wheels and wear independent suspension at each corner. It proved itself in June 1965 with the Belgian racing yellow #24 275 GTB/C finishing third overall and eclipsing the Le Mans distance record of every previous class-winning GTO.
The 275 won Le Mans’ GT class again in 1966 and 1967. Easily the most famous 275 GTB — one of just ten NART Spiders built — was Steve McQueen’s signature ride in the 1968 double academy award nominated film The Thomas Crown Affair.
The 1909 Columbia Electric. Photo courtesy of Hyman LTD.
It’s Electric The Amelia’s “It’s Electric” Class showcases the development of the electric car from the beginning of the automotive age when it was a viable alternative to steam and internal combustion automotive power. Fast evolving highway and road infrastructure and the rise of the petroleum industry eased the electric car aside turning its advantages and strengths into liabilities. Times and technologies have changed. So have the mission and operational envelope of the automobile and its place in society. Fast evolving technologies and acute civic awareness of environmental trends stand poised to return the electric car to mainstream motoring life well beyond its original duty as short range urban transportation
1970 Dodge Charger R/T. Photo Courtesy of Peter Harholdt.
1970s Muscle Cars Purely American, the Muscle Car brought horsepower to the people with low monthly payments and practically unlimited brute force. Every manufacturer from Chevrolet to Ford, from Buick to Dodge offered an alternative and competitor to the Pontiac GTO, the car that started it all in the mid-sixties. The peak of the Muscle Car Era was 1970, just before emission laws and the fuel crisis hobbled Detroit’s horsepower warriors. Amelia 2021 will host a special display class from the renowned Wellborn Musclecar Museum in Alexander City, AL including a Muscle Car from every manufacturer that played Detroit’s high stakes high horsepower game at the overpowered breed’s showroom apogee in 1970.
1989 Ferrari F40. Photo by Deremer Studios LLC/Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
Supercars of the 80s and 90s While the term “supercar” dates back to 1920, the descriptor is often associated with the debut of the mid-engine Lamborghini Miura in 1966. The rules to play the supercar game were simple: big exotic engines between the driver and the rear wheels and a body shape that echoed Le Mans prototype contours: the wilder the better. Enter the Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari F40, Bugatti EB110, Jaguar XJR-15 and the Ferrari F50.
Over time the term “supercar” expanded to describe an elite group of sports cars that stand apart in terms of design, performance, technology and price. For 2021, The Amelia will gather some of the world’s most iconic supercars of the 1980s and 1990s onto the main showfield.
Shadow DN4. Photo courtesy of Peter Harholdt.
Shadow In 1970, the wildest year of Can-Am competition, everybody seemed to have a better, wilder or weirder idea. None more so than a radical, bizarre, unloved and evil handling little doorstop of a race car spawning a family that would claim the Can-Am Championship, deliver a future World Champion his first F1 victory and compete at the top level of Grand Prix racing. Don Nichols, Shadow Cars chief and a genuine international man of mystery, loved the Shadow radio serials and named his cars and team accordingly. The 2021 Amelia Concours will feature a special Shadow class including the bizarre and radical AVS — Advanced Vehicle Systems — Shadow Mk 1 of 1970, the 1974 Can-Am champion DN4 and Alan Jones’ 1977 Austrian Grand Prix winner, the Shadow DN8A. Shadow designers were an all-star team with world class credentials and imaginations: Trevor Harris, Peter Bryant and Tony Southgate drew the sinister shapes that were instantly recognizable as Shadows, right down to the team’s famous cloaked spy logo.
