Chattanooga Motorcar Festival fetes the classics

Chattanooga Motorcar Festival can look back on a successful fourth edition. A 1935 SS One Airline Saloon became best in show in the Concours.

The Chattanooga Motorcar Festival in Tennessee really is that: a feast for your eyes and ears that takes over the West Village. The static displays and the dynamic runs on the nearby Targa Sixty Six track make for a three-day octane-fuelled program, even if it is clear Chattanooga wants to be more than just a car event.

Luftgekühlt in Tennessee

Former Porsche racer Patrick Long brought a bit of his ‘Luftgekühlt’ Porsche exposition to Chattanooga. “It feels like a Tennessee Amelia Island. (Event founder) Byron’s energy and passion is infectious, and I think that that really guides the light of this event and I can’t wait to be back,” Long said. Byron DeFoor makes his philanthropy background clear by donating the proceedings of the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival to neuroscience research through the Fifty Plus Foundation.

Brian Redman

Chattanooga enjoys the support of plenty of relevant names in the classic car and classic racing circuit. Brian Redman is a staunch supporter of the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival, he even carries the title of Grand Ambassador. For the fourth edition, Luigi Chinetti Jr. acted as Grand Marshal. In a statement, ‘Coco’ said: “The Chattanooga Motorcar Festival is pretty nice because you don’t have to walk far to see great stuff. There are nice restaurants and the people are spectacular. Everybody from the hotel to the restaurants, everybody’s outgoing.”

With concerts – the B52s headlining – and a program on the Cars animation films, the Chattanooga event is one of the most diverting and entertaining on the calendar.

75 Years of NASCAR

The Chattanooga Concours featured some strong classes, some Ferrari-themed, others celebrating the 75 years of Porsche and the 75 years of NASCAR. Brian and Kimberly Ross’ 1953 Ferrari 250MM Berlinetta won the Ferrari Marriott Competition. Dr. Jashbir Dhillon let his son take car of the presentation for the jury, and was awarded best in class in the post 1986 Porsche class with his 1987 Kremer Porsche 962 Group C prototype. Steve Honnell’s 1974 Ford Torino King Cobra prototype was best of the NASCAR class.

John Oates

Finally, the Chairman’s Award went to pop star and famous car collector John Oates, from Nashville, Tennessee. “Chattanooga is considerably bigger this year, but still with a kind of small town feel, which I really like. It feels very comfortable to walk around. Everyone is very friendly and chill, which is really nice too. And I love the way the cars and the various car classes are laid out around the town.”