Car Crazy: 2012 Amelia Island Concours - Part 1

This morning, we had the pleasure of shooting the Concours D’Elegance on behalf of the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island. As you may know if you’ve followed the blog for any period of time, I am a bit of a car nut. So, when I was offered the opportunity to photograph this prestigious event, saying I was excited would be a big understatement. From antiques and exotics, to modern luxury vehicles, the C0ncours has it all. This year’s honored car is the Ferarri 250 GTO. Of the 32 still in existence, 10 are featured at this year’s show. And with the last GTO going for over $30,000,000, these cars represent some serious investments.

One unique aspect of the Concours is Friday’s Isle of Eight Flags road trip. This tour takes participating guests through the scenic Florida coastline and ends with a wonderful luncheon in the heart of Downtown Fernandina. Not only does this give the owners of these priceless cars the opportunity to stretch the cars’ legs, but it also provides all those folks who love cars, but may not be able to afford a visit to the Concours, an opportunity to see all these wonderful cars for free (above).

I also had the pleasure of test driving several cars this morning. I tried out the latest Chrysler 300 SRT, scaled the mountainous off-road course in a Land Rover Evoque, tooled around the island in a Porsche 911 Carerra S, and I would have to say the car I enjoyed most was 550 HP the Jaguar XK RS (above). My host for the test drive was Formula Drift Pro Am driver Doug Van Den Brink. Unfortunately, Doug informed me that drifting wasn’t part of the test drive… Below are all my favorite photos from today. Enjoy!

All the photos can be downloaded for free as HD desktop wallpaper. Simply click on a photo below, click on the permalink (bottom right), save the HD wallpaper by right clicking the “1280×720″ link, and selecting save as.