Yesterday fell the final curtain on the first Cavallino Classic
organized by Canossa Events. Some news was introduced
including a new logo and new awards but the major things did not
change. After the great solo Ferrari concours at the Breakers the
Cavallino Classics went back to Mar-a-Lago for the multi-marque
gathering at the famous country club in Palm Beach. After the
transition in the last year and the difficult organization in the
middle of a pandemic with the postponed classics finally
Mar-a-Lago was back on the program.
With a more relaxed atmosphere than the busy judged concours
the day before the cars arrived between 8am and 9am to be set up
at the lawn. Some changes were noted as the helipad, a very
popular photo location in the previous year, was taken away again
as the famous owner lost his status of being the sitting president
that overruled the no helicopter flying zone in the air corridor of the
Palm Beach airport. Furthermore, the putting green training area
was taken off the lawn so the cars were parked in a rather parallel
way than the years before. Although easier to set up than the
earlier layout unfortunately it looked a little bit more like a parking
lot than a show field.
After all the cars were sniffed for explosives by the four-legged employees of the secret service and found their
spot on the lawn the more social part of the weekend could start with a champagne and cocktail bar inviting
the entrants and paying guests to loosen up on Sunday mornings brunch time. One had the opportunity to
walk the field and have a look at a colorful selection of cars of all age ranging from a pre-WW1 Rolls Royce
Silver Ghost to a few Pagani brought up from Miami.
Certainly, the Ferrari display was still dominating the field as not few of Saturdays Concours cars were
entered the Sports Sunday as well.
At around noon finally the main attraction of the day was held with the lunch in the Mar-a-Lago ball room and
during the midday hours the field was rather quiet as only a few regular club members walked the field to
discover the cars set up. It was easy to see that those were the less car affiliated spectators asking mostly
about the price and the horsepower of the cars rather than their history.
Among the more interesting cars were again a few pre-war cars including a nice pair of Bugatti T57, one a
regular entrant living not far away in Palm Beach whereas the other one was a new addition.
Mercedes-Benz was represented by the 300 series of the late 1950s with a Gullwing, a Roadster and the
more comfortable SC Coupe.
Further down the field was a nice Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada as well as a Lamborghini Countach that served
as pace car in the 1982 Monaco GP.
Finally, after the lunch was served and the awards were given the entrants made their way back to the field for
their cars when the 45th President made a surprise appearance on the field accompanied by a fleet of agents
making their way through the masses. Destination was a Ferrari F430 that was formerly owned by himself at
that was barely driven since.
Leaves us to the chroniclers’ duties to name the Best of Show of the day. Of all the cars on the field the
judges seemed to be pleased the most by the wonderful dark blue Ferrari 212 Export Touring Berlinetta
that served as a cover car a few editions ago of the Cavallino Magazine. The winning car also brought back
some great memories to the author as he had the chance to be passenger of this car at the shores of Lago
Maggiore during the Touring Ferrari Rallye in 2019.
So, what is the conclusion of the new Cavallino format? There were a lot of rumors and complaints by people
attending the Classics in the last decades fearing that any changes might destroy the loved event, but those
people can be reassured that apart from the outer appearance the character of the show did not
change much. It is known that a few former judges fell victim to the closeness of Canossa with the Ferrari
factory who did not like the idea of having independent Ferrari dealers within the jury but that seem to affect
the jury less than the still ongoing pandemic that prevented a few members from Europe to attend.
Although still some room of improvement left in the execution the award ceremony in front of the hotel to the
public with the winning cars actually shown rather than giving just the awards on the podium during dinner
was a good change from traditions.
And the rumors that the show might leave Palm Beach to reach a younger public in Miami was more than
once denied by the organizers. As the Cavallino brand is spread now to Europe and into the Arabian world
new editions seem to be more likely than a relocation so maybe one day on might see a show in Miami but
more as an addition than a replacement one can hope.
We look forward to the next year and we will follow the development both for good or for worse.
