Cincinnati's premiere car show is looking for younger judges. Much younger judges.
Rare, antique and expensive autos from around the world compete at the Concours d'Elegance every year.
Board Member Michael Kelly says some of their regular judges are getting old.
“We need future generations to take up the mantel of leadership in putting on Concours d’Elegance, or racing cars, or rallies, or fixing them or whatever,” he says. “To keep that passion alive and preserve the history of the automobile.”
Kelly says for the last 15 years, the Concours has participated in a program that teaches kids how to judge fine automobiles. He says they learn as they go.
“The real training occurs on the field as they judge the cars, because we pre-select a variety of cars,” he says. “We also pick very cool owners who are happy to have the kid climb in the car, beep the horn, operate controls, look at them carefully, ask all the questions in the world.”
Kelly says they get a lot of applications from parents.
“They tell me their kid’s been addicted to cars since he was, or she was, four, six, eight. Or their posters are all over the room, or they’ve got a model car collection. Or they help a parent or a grandparent work on their cars, and I go ‘This is who we would love to have,’ ” he says. “It really is driven by the parents’ enthusiasm for the kids to learn something.”
The registration deadline is May 30. The 48th annual Concours d’Elegance is June 14, at Ault Park.
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