Let’s Check Out 10 Ultra-Cool Cars From Amelia Island 2025, Because Why not?

[Editor’s Note: Freelancer Jim Motavalli attended Amelia Island 2025, and offered to write a piece about what he saw. So on this fine Sunday morning, take a peek at some automotive gems from this year’s “East-Coast Pebble Beach.” -DT]. 

Rain was threatened on March 9, so the 30th Amelia Island Concours (aka, “The Amelia”) was moved to March 8 (usually reserved for the informal Cars & Community, which got canceled). Never mind, the crowds (estimated at 17,000) came anyway, under cloudy skies and very few drops of moisture.

There were 260 cars on the field at the Ritz-Carlton, in 36 classes. That’s too many to for one overview, but here are ten standouts, some of them one of a kind. Both Broad Arrow and Gooding held auctions, and displaying manufacturers included BMW, Fiat, Ford and Lotus. But those cars were new; these ten are part of our rich global automotive heritage. [Ed Note: IN case you forgot, Jason and Beau went to Amelia a few years prior and came home with a charming little Berkeley! (see below) -DT]. 

1972 General Motors Experimental Safety Vehicle (ESV)

This ungainly beast (with a 124-inch wheelbase) boasted airbags and a collapsible front end. It was built for the U.S. Department of Transportation by GM for the princely sum of $1. The car had a divider between the front and rear seats, and was in slightly dingy unrestored condition, with period signs spotlighting the advanced features. These included a reinforced front bumper, giant door beams for side impacts and stiffened B pillars. Even without seatbelts, rear-seat passengers were protected by copious padded surfaces. Early airbags were fitted.

The GM ESV was trying to meet a federal goal of allowing occupants to survive a crash at 50 mph into a solid barrier, and be able to brake to a stop from 60 mph in 155 feet or less. It was shown as part of a special Safety Car class.

1941 Cadillac 6229D (Series 62)

The beautiful El Centro Green Cadillac on display (American Classics 1935-1948) was the 15th of 400 built just before the war. There never have been many four-door convertibles (which is why those Lincoln Continentals are so unusual) but this one was well realized, with generous legroom for rear-seat passengers.

This was Cadillac’s only four-door ragtop for 1941, and the company never again offered one. Power came from an L-head V-8 producing 150 horsepower. [Ed Note: For those who don’t know, an L-head has the valves in the block. Intake air actually enters the side of the motor, then up through the intake vales, across the deck, and then down into the cylinder. The exhaust goes from the cylinder, across the deck, and down the exhaust valve. You can sorta see in your head how that creates an “L.” -DT]. 

1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

There were no fewer than six Ghosts present, but this one was resplendent in purple. It couldn’t be an original color, could it? The story goes that the first owner of this car was Mrs. William Ernest Carter (the daring Lucile Stewart Polk) of Philadelphia, a Titanic survivor. On the boat in first class, the senior William Carter (who also survived) brought along not only his family (including son William Thornton Carter II) and his polo ponies, but also his 25-horsepower Renault Towncar Type CB Coupe de Ville. Car and horses went down with the ship but the Rolls survived (it never went onto the ship, to be clear) to acquire a replica body to recapture the lost Charles Rolls balloon car (this was a car that carried around Rolls’ hot air balloons — it went missing in the 1920s).

1938 Alfa-Romeo 8C2900B

This open car was the only 8C2900 bodied by Farina, and one of the few built as a road car(hence, the “B”). The 8C itself was intended for competition in the Mille Miglia (where it did brilliantly), and was technically ahead of its time with a 2.9-liter eight-cylinder engine, and independent suspension all around. Most of the slightly detuned road cars were bodied by Touring, but not this beauty, which won co-honors as the Amelia Concours d’Elegance 2025 “Best of Show.” The car was ordered new by Italian racer Giuseppe Farina, and was bodied in spectacular fashion by Stabilimenti Farina.

1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster

This car, owned by Bill and Barbara Parfet of Kalamazoo, Michigan, has a fascinating history. During and after World War II it was hidden away. The Dresden-based original owner feared his spectacular Benz would be seized by the Russians, so he parked it in a basement and bricked up the entrance, then planted a rose garden over it. The car somehow survived that city’s fire bombing. This 540K was a second-place class winner at Pebble Beach last year, and a similar car, owned by Louisville’s Jim Patterson, won outright in 2023. Any such 540K is a multi-million-dollar vehicle and regular show winner.

1911 Baker Electric Special Extension Coupe

The current owner, Connecticut-based Bill Lillie, tracked this car down in Toronto and completed the stalled restoration with modern batteries. He said the 3,000-pound car has a 100-mile cruising range, though not at highway speeds. Electrics of this period were built with women owners in mind, which explains the comfortably ornate interior, complete with bud vase, of this upright classic. A tiller steers it, but it’s basically a living room on wheels.

Lillie’s car is the only known example of this top-of-the-line V model, which sold new for $2,700. A Mrs. Mave Olds of Tacoma, Washington owned it originally, and her obituary in 1936 noted that “Mrs. Olds is remembered by many as she drove around town in the little electric car which has been in her own personal use for 25 years.” The little buggy had earned one of Washington State’s first horseless carriage licenses, #27, in 1955.

1949 Crosley HotShot

This car deserves mention here for the pure audacity of it. The Crosley was a budget microcar built between 1939 and 1952. It debuted at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as an under-1,000-pound two-door convertible for $325, or as a $350 four-door sedan. As such, it was cheaper than the similar American Bantam, priced at $449 to $565.

Power came from a two-cylinder Waukesha boxer engine. It lacked power, but could reach 50 mph and achieve 50 mpg. The HotShot, America’s first postwar sports car (with disc brakes all around!) appeared in 1949, priced at $849 and boasting a dual-overhead-cam .75-liter four-cylinder engine. Now with a mighty 26.5 horsepower it could reach 75 mph, and it proved unexpectedly successful in competition, winning the “Index of Performance” at the first Sam Collier Memorial Grand Prix at Sebring, leaving Ferraris, Allards, Astons and Jaguars in its wake.

Some 2,498 were produced. The display HotShot’s monocle windscreen was too cute for words.

1953 Grantham Stardust

Once small-time entrepreneurs realized they could build their own cars out of fiberglass, there was no stopping them. Plastic bodies were slapped onto production chassis by a bewildering number of fly-by-night automakers, few of which survived for more than a few years or produced more than 50 cars. The vaguely early Corvette-ishtwo-seater Grantham was built by Bill Grantham and sold out of a dealership on Sunset Boulevard. As a finished car on a shortened Ford frame, the Stardust was a hefty $3,750. As just a body kit, it was $950 with windshield and “hardware.”

Despite silver screen stardom in the films Menace from Outer Space and the more mainstream Johnny Dark with Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie (plus appearances on two television shows), only twelve Stardusts were made. Four survive, and one of them was the car at Amelia, apparently the first restored example to appear at a public event in 70 years.

1934 McQuay-Norris Streamliner

It’s not surprising that this car belongs to Nashville’s Lane Motor Museum, because Jeff Lane loves oddballs and one-offs. This futuristic contraption echoes the three-wheeled, rear-engine Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion of the period and was likewise mounted on a Ford chassis, though in the Streamliner’s case with the engine in front. The car was one of six built for McQuay-Norris, which made parts for rebuilding engines. They were used for promotional purposes, and the whole fleet was on the road extensively in the U.S. and Canada between 1934 and 1940.

Lane tells us that the streamlined body was built by Hill Auto Body Metal Company of Cincinnati, with a steel and aluminum over wood structure. The panoramic view was through plexiglass, and the body looked something like an airplane fuselage without wings. The drivers sat far back, in the middle of the car, and were forced to dodge the many gawkers who’d never seen anything like it.

1965 Aston Martin DB5 (“with modifications”)

Aston Martin build 25 “Continuation” DB5s, but they’re not street legal. This James Bond Goldfinger recreation owned by video game creator Joe Kaminkow is not one of those. It’s an original right-hand drive DB5 that was restored and enhanced by California’s Keven Kay Restorations.

Kaminkow also owns a Back to the Future DeLorean and a Batmobile, and is known for demanding exacting detail. The DB5, which gathered a big crowd at Amelia and took 15,000 hours to create, sported twin front machine guns that blatted to life from time to time during the show, a simulated ejection seat, oil slick sprayer, front and rear overrider rams, revolving number plates, tire slashers at each wheel, and more.

All photos by Jim Motavalli