The year’s first major concours event could not get here soon enough, and the weather cooperated to make that happen: The Amelia Island Concours was held a day early in anticipation of heavy rain on the originally-scheduled Sunday event. But a last-minute change of plans did not appear to affect crowd size: It was standing room-only on the 10th and 18th fairways of the Golf Club of Amelia Island. The cars were as spectacular as the weather during the season-opening concours that, just like Pebble Beach, is closely orbited by a number of satellite events on the island including the Gooding and RM Sotheby’s auctions, some as close as the adjacent fairways.

The 2017 edition of the right coast’s most exclusive concours celebrated the Jaguar D-Type’s third consecutive victory at Le Mans with a special display of surviving D-Types on the tee of the 18th fairway, while an XKSS a few miles away recorded a post-block transaction north of its earlier $11.9 million no-sale figure.

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“The Jaguar D-Type was created to win Le Mans. Yet the D-Type raced and won practically everywhere, especially America,”  said Bill Warner, founder and Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours. “The D-Type raced at Sebring, Daytona — beach course and the Speedway — at Bonneville, even on drag strips and airport circuits. Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser raced a D-Type at Sebring: impressive such a specialized design.”

Al Unser Sr., brother of Bobby Unser, was in attendance as well, overseeing a special class of “Race Cars of Al Unser.”

The 2017 edition of the concours also celebrated the Chevrolet Camaro’s 50th anniversary, with a number of rare examples on display including the legendary Yenko-modified cars.