Sunday morning came, and as expected, the rain made shooting a challenge at Mar-a-Lago. Soaked clothes, wet feet and wet gear were the order of the day and we had to take it on the chin. Still, many great cars showed up and the end of the day brought with it redemption to all those who were patient enough to stick around until the end.
I started off by settling in with the valet staff at the front of the club. This way I would catch the cars coming in from a protected vantage point and stay relatively dry. It wasn’t long before some of the cars began to arrive under the heavy rain and a few of them completely uncovered!
After a while of standing out front, the traffic slowed to about 1 car every 10 minutes, so I headed back to the show field only to discover that all the cars that had come through could not be displayed on the main lawn. The rain made the ground so soggy that only the cars that had been placed on the lawn very early on were the ones to remain in place. This led to the first Classic Sports Sunday show to be had on the driveway of the club.
Truth be told, the driveway setting provided an opportunity for a new way to look at Mar-a-Lago and the cars themselves. Whereas I would shoot facing west under normal circumstances, now I had the chance to shoot east with the club in full view behind the cars for a more dramatic effect.
As it turns out, the driveway could only hold so many cars, so the rest of the cars had to be displayed in the valet parking lot. It was quite a sight to see a Lancia Stratos, a Ferrari 328 GTS and Mercedes Limo parked right next to each other, with a Carrera GT and other exotics and vintage gems sprinkled in the background for good measure.
There were many great cars on display and one of my favorites was this Mustang GT 350 H. At first glance it looks like a regular H car, as if there is such a thing as a ‘regular’ Hertz car, but the rear window was unique and gave the car a unique trait unlike the rest of its peers.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the end of the day brought an amazing opportunity to shoot a series of fine cars. Those of us who were patient enough got to see the rain let up and the clouds thin out just enough to let in the perfect light. I had the chance to shoot two 250 GT Lussos, a 166 Inter Touring Coupe, a Fiat 8V Supersonic and a 488 GTB to cap the day off.
All in all the 28th edition of the Cavallino Classic was a success, bad weather and all. John Barnes and the rest of the folks at Cavallino continue to put on a magnificent show and I can’t wait to see what next year will bring.
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