The Legend of the Motorcycle Concours d’Elegance
(Page 2 of 3)
September/October 2006
By Richard Backus
More important, perhaps, was the culling of 21 Brough Superiors (admittedly, one of those was a modern, Harley-powered interpretation) and 26 Crockers. This was the largest showing of Brough Superiors ever in the U.S., and the largest gathering of Crockers in one place ever.
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In England and the U.S. in the late 1930s, Brough Superior and Crocker were considered the Rolls Royce and Cadillac of motorcycles, respectively. With their large-capacity V-twins and high build quality, they were and are icons of their era, and to have so many of each make in one place was simply remarkable. Among the Crockers were two single-cylinder, overhead cam Speedway models, the rarest of them all.
Al Crocker Jr., the son of company founder Al Crocker, made his way to the event with three generations of the Crocker family in tow. Now 86, Al Jr. was only too glad to reminisce about his father, fondly recalling machining oil pumps for the bikes at the Crocker factory in Los Angeles.
Making the grade
Of the 254 motorcycles on display, 172 were judged. Categories ranged from early to modern, with a cap on bikes built after 1975. It was the judging that co-founder Zaugg considered perhaps the most important ingredient for the show’s success. “If you don’t have world class judging, you’ve got nothing,” Zaugg says.
To that end, he and Roner enlisted luminaries such as ex-Andover Norton company owner Mike Jackson and racer, TV host and classic car judge Alain de Cadenet, who also wore the hat of master of ceremonies.
Jackson, a trophied motorcycle racer and experienced classic car concours judge, was thrilled with the event, and not just a little for it’s motorcycle-only focus. “It is something absolutely unique. It is refreshing, not a car in sight,” Jackson enthused. De Cadenet, who has worn out more shoes judging classic livery than anyone you’re likely to meet, called the show “without doubt the most exciting and complete motorcycle show ever in the U.S.”
There are, it should be noted, other venues contending for the title of King of the Concours circuit. For the past six years, Riding Into History, a judged event of upwards of 300 bikes, has been held in St. Augustine, Fla. Likewise, the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Pickerington, Ohio, is gearing up for its fifth annual juried concours. And this year, the second annual Mountainfest Motorcycle Concours d’Elegance was held in Morgantown, W.Va.