20th annual Concours d’Elegance vintage car show brings motoring enthusiasts together

The jazzy sounds of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald filled Geneva’s downtown streets Sunday as thousands of visitors were taken back in time during the 20th annual Concours d’Elegance vintage car competition.

From classic MG roadsters to an 1886 Carl Benz motor wagon, collectors displayed over 350 cars for enthusiasts to share their motoring memories and admire machines restored to glory from their bygone heydays.

John Barrett, whose first car was a Triumph TR3, said the best part of co-directing the show over the past two decades has been the magical way cars fascinate people, bringing together the young and old.

“There’s just something about the power of a motor,” Barrett said. “After organizing with the board all year, it’s such a reward to see the event come together so successfully. Seeing all the happy kids, it’s a pretty awesome thing.”

Barrett said it’s remarkable some of the restored cars have been in their respective families since they were bought, often more than half a century ago.

The event’s proceeds support the Living Well Cancer Resource Center, founded by a local family to support people going through cancer treatments.

The motoring world’s supportive community is reflected in the family memories of loss and love often embodied by each car itself.

Eva Pribel, whose first car was a 1960s Mustang, remembers crying when the long-lost car her father built from the ground up 70 years ago came back to life with an engine’s roar.

“Dad is probably looking down laughing at me now,” Pribel said. “When I was a kid, my Dad would work on cars overnight. From the smell of castor oil in the morning, I knew it was racing day. Those are such sweet memories. When I smell that now, I always think of my Dad.”

Pribel’s father, Frank Isaacson, built the car in 1954, as his engineering graduation project at Purdue University, affectionately naming it “ERMA” for “Experimental Racing Motors Association.”

Isaacson raced the car for half a decade before it was sold and passed between owners in Wisconsin, Colorado, Texas and out to New Mexico. It was discovered in a barn by Larry Haynes, who rescued the car, restored it to its former glory and who sold it back to Pribel.

“Somebody contacted me and said we have your Dad’s race car,” Pribel said. “I was shocked. Including my father, (my husband and I) are now ERMA’s 11th owners. My Aunt made the sweater sitting on the car, my Dad’s racing number 33 orange.”

Pribel was surrounded by friends and family representing the Chicago Region Sports Car Club of America and Road America. She said she smiled when a little kid asked if he could sit inside ERMA, and she helped plop him behind the driver’s wheel of her father’s old car.

Marty Brackin, whose first car was a 1950 blue Studebaker, rolled in on a 1912 Ford Touring, which originally sold for $690, coming with a four-cylinder, 22-horsepower engine. Dating back to the sinking of the Titanic, three oil lamps provided the driver with better visibility before gas and electric streetlights.

Brackin said he was convinced to purchase the car two years ago because he thought the modern electric starter was a pretty nice feature for an old touring guy such as himself. He said driving such an ancient car is anything but easy.

“There’s no gear shift; you drive with three foot pedals,” Brackin said. “One pedal is a clutch, and as you slowly release it, the car goes into high gear. The middle pedal is for reverse. The third pedal is for braking.”

Brackin said his passion for cars began at an early age. He said the pride in his 1912 Ford is similar to the elation he felt as a kid when his father rolled in with the family’s first-ever new car.

“Growing up, I was embarrassed of our family’s 1939 Buick because it was so old,” Brackin said. “I remember when my Dad came home with a shiny 1953 Packard Patrician. I couldn’t believe we had a car that nice. I wanted us to drive everywhere.”

Helping families crawl into his automobile, Bruce Eiseman could not have been prouder of a Buick even older than Brackin’s parents’ car. Eiseman, whose first car was a 1969 Buick GS 400, was happy to show off the 1932 Buick Model 57S that has been in his family for 58 years.

Eiseman’s father, Harvey, was the owner of a Buick dealership in Chicago for more than three decades. Eiseman said he worked many years in his father’s dealership, driving since he was 14 years old.

He said the car has been in the family for so long, he understands when people talk about their cars as if they are members of the family.

“When my Dad passed, my Mom really wanted one of her sons to keep the car in the family,” Eiseman said. “This car means everything to me. I know my Dad would be really proud of me for restoring his car. Someday, my son is going to get the keys. I hope he passes it on from generation to generation.”