CONCORD, NC — The golden age of motoring is rolling into the spotlight. The Heritage Invitational at Ten Tenths Motor Club will showcase four extraordinary pre-war automobiles that exemplify the ingenuity, craftsmanship and performance that defined the earliest era of automotive excellence in this year’s “Grand Classics” class on April 9-11, 2026. Among the more than 100 concours-caliber vehicles on display ranging from supercars to Japanese racing machines, a class of early 20^th-century classics will pay tribute to the history of the automobile.

ON DISPLAY

• 1918 Locomobile Model 38 displayed by the Savoy Automobile Museum
  The Locomobile Model 38 stands as one of America’s premier brass- and early-classic-era luxury automobiles. Built in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the Model 38 featured a large-displacement inline engine and was renowned for its precision manufacturing and high-quality coachwork. By 1918, Locomobile had established itself as a prestige marque, producing automobiles that rivaled Europe’s finest. The Model 38 reflects the industry’s early pursuit of engineering excellence and refined motoring comfort.
• 1928 Bentley 6 ½ -Litre displayed by Paul Gould
  A symbol of British performance, the Bentley 6.5-Litre was developed under W.O. Bentley’s leadership and built to dominate endurance racing. Powered by a robust inline-six engine displacing 6.5 liters and featuring four valves per cylinder, the model earned fame at Le Mans in the late 1920s. Known for its advanced engineering and durability, the 6.5-Litre represents the height of interwar grand touring performance — where speed and stamina were engineered without compromise.
• 1934 LaSalle Convertible Coupe displayed by the Stahls Motor and Music Experience
  Created by General Motors as a companion marque to Cadillac, LaSalle helped define American luxury in the Art Deco era. The 1934 Convertible Coupe featured streamlined styling and a smooth-running V-8 engine, reflecting Harley Earl’s early influence on automotive design at GM. The model embodies the transition from purely mechanical innovation to the marriage of engineering and aesthetic sophistication.
• 1937 Packard Darrin Convertible Victoria displayed by Ralph Marano
  A rolling work of art, the Packard Darrin Convertible Victoria is widely regarded as one of the most elegant American cars of the Classic Era. Designed by Howard “Dutch” Darrin and built on a Packard chassis, its sweeping lines, low stance and custom coachwork redefined American luxury styling. Beneath the sculpted exterior sat Packard’s renowned straight-eight engine — a powerplant synonymous with smoothness and prestige. The 1937 Darrin represents the pinnacle of bespoke pre-war design and craftsmanship.

WHY IT MATTERS

Pre-war automobiles were laboratories of innovation. Multi-valve engines, advanced metallurgy, coach built bodies and endurance racing breakthroughs laid the groundwork for modern automotive engineering. These four vehicles illustrate how competition, craftsmanship and bold design converged to create machines that remain benchmarks nearly a century later.

WHAT ELSE TO EXPECT

The Heritage Invitational is more than a concours-style display — it’s a full-throttle celebration of racing heritage and refined hospitality.

Friday highlights include:

• IROC Racing Exhibition — A nod to the International Race of Champions, bringing together skilled drivers in equally prepared cars for pure competition.
• Vintage Indy Exhibition — Historic open-wheel machines that showcase the evolution of championship racing with Vintage Indy exhibitions.
• Pro-Am Event — An elevated, high-energy pairing of accomplished drivers and distinguished guests in a competitive yet social format to support Speedway Children’s Charities.

Throughout the weekend, guests will enjoy curated culinary offerings, premium hospitality experiences and access to Ten Tenths Motor Club’s world-class facilities — creating an atmosphere where serious collectors, motorsports enthusiasts and high-end clientele can connect.

HOW TO GET TICKETS

For event ticket information, schedules, featured vehicles, sponsorship opportunities and the latest updates, visit: www.heritageinvitational.com.

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“From the standpoint of simple utility and economy, the pleasure car is still a very long way from the ideal state,” stated an anonymous auto expert in a 1907 New York magazine. The publication was directed to the auto business and to any readers in the public sector who might have held an interest in the automotive craze that was growing by leaps and bounds in America.

Up to 1907, the American automobile business had little to mimic along its track except what had taken place in the late 1890s in Europe. In the earliest years, there were very few automobiles in Europe or elsewhere that were meant to be owned by people in the lower economic rungs of society. These were not necessarily the poor but the less privileged in an era when installment purchasing was more a hope than a widespread reality. So, quite naturally, automobiles were geared toward those who could outright pay for them — the upper class and a rising middle class. Thus, the subject of “simple utility and economy” were not necessarily front-line thinking by car makers.

Let’s clear the air on one thing right away. A successful car maker in 1907 was able to survive on profits from a few hundred cars. This was dependant on wise fiscal management and good craftsmanship coupled with viable orders and a delivery outlet (later called dealerships). The vastly successful car maker could boast of 1000 or more cars being made and sold in a given year. Let’s also realize that the majority of the multitude of car makers that came and went up to 1907 were regional in scope and in thinking. Such was the way businesses burst forth to bloom in 1907.

Sadly, some of those blooms were pretty for a time until reality settled in. Often bills were not met by all car makers. Vehicles failed due to poor design, untested features and lack of support for repairs. Much like the burgeoning personal computer trade in its infancy, buyers had to rely on their own initiative and a scanty operator’s manual to work out their horseless carriage’s technical problems. That’s the way it was in the 1907 era when “get out and get under” to fix your automobile was widespread.

Servicing facilities were few. Most often the “mechanics” were self trained or learned their work through correspondence courses by the likes of A.L. Dyke, who invented the concept for the car business and was a resultant big-time success with it.

The astute observer who is mentioned at the beginning of this article continued his commentary: “Whatever may be said of its success mechanically, or in praise of its performance on the road, the fact remains that the ‘tonnage’ of machinery per passenger required to accomplish the happy result is still very great, while the relative amount of space given over to the mechanism and driver and the passengers is about equally out of proportion.”

Nonetheless, cars were becoming big business. In 1908, General Motors would be formed through the determination of William C. Durant as a fresh echo of earlier efforts of others to combine widespread industries under a common goal. Opposite on that spectrum of business was Henry Ford, who had become the consummate loner avoiding further connections with partners since they caused the loss of his first two serious business ventures. Back in “aught-seven,” Ford was on the verge of launching his fabulously popular Model T of 1908. But both men realized the need to improve the automobile in sale costs, profits, roadability, servicing and especially in owner satisfaction. Given the realization that owners did not fully know what they wanted in their first automobile, that target was vague to car makers.

Truly, in 1907 the automobile business was in search of its future.

Said the unnamed expert, “There is a great deal yet to be accomplished in the way of design, particularly in that portion of the problem which related to bodies and accommodation.”

He was not alone in that subject. A paper by W. Gilchrist was presented back then at a gathering of the Institute of Automobile Engineers of England. Titled, “The Motor Car Considered as a Carriage,” the paper stressed that “the present fashion in car design does not appear to be sufficiently influenced by what is necessary for the accommodation of the occupants when more than two are to be carried. The object of building the car is to convey passengers with speed and in comfort for considerable distances.”

Ultimately, the debate settled on size — not too large, not too small — for the purpose of a particular vehicle and its passengers. There was a vast difference implied in a car for town use and a car for long-distance touring purposes. Therefore, body design had to be dictated by usage.

This is one reason many seven-passenger touring cars up to the early 1930s were popular. Collectors today may theorize that it was due to large families. Not necessarily so! A seven passenger model allowed for sleepy overnight stops where there were no hotel beds. Especially before the 1920s, these allowed for more carrying capacity in an age when add-on rear trunks were not popular. Even when they were, they lacked large cargo capacity.

In 1907, car design was in heated discussion by car makers as the public began expressing its wants and desires by voting with their car purchases. That voting would increasingly be keenly watched and analyzed up to World War II — and beyond.

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As 2016 winds to a close, we decided to ask a whole bunch of the movers and shakers in the collector car business to share some insights about what was moving and what was stalling in the past 12 months.

We got a lot of fascinating and widely diverse answers, but some definite trends emerged. Following are 10 “what’s hot-what’s not” topics from another eventful year.

Check out the January 5th issue of Old Cars Weekly to get the complete low down on what’s in and what’s out in the collector car world

• ‘Barn Finds’ – So when are we finally going to ferret out all the amazing, dusty old machines hiding in barns and sheds around this planet?
• 1980s Cars – The 1970s and ’80s will forever be viewed as the Dark Ages by many when it comes to interesting automobiles, but nostalgia is a funny thing.
• Pickups – It’s not exactly a new trend.
• Resto-Mods – JohnKraman gives his take on resto-mods.
• Japanese Cars – Cars from the Rising Sun
• Special edition trucks: Are they the next big thing? The darlings of the manufacturers
• The South is a buyer’s market – Where are all the cars for sale?
• Classics and prewar favorites – How do these classics stack up in the market?
• The slow comeback of muscle – The big million-dollar splashes that set the muscle car world on its collective ear more than a decade ago. Where are they now?
• Ferraris and Porsches – Will they have staying power?

The post 2016 Review – What’s Hot, What’s Not appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.