MARCH (Old Car) Madness; Mixing it up at the 13th annual Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.(Revs)

Byline: KEN GROSS

Chaired by photographer, vintage racer and all-around good guy Bill Warner and benefiting Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance has a split personality. Some of the finest antiques and classics from across the country, side by side with storied vintage race cars-more than 300 entrants in all-graced the golf course at the Ritz-Carlton this year.

Thanks to the National Automotive Collection in Reno, Nevada, the unrestored but fully operational original 1908 New York-to-Paris-race-winning Thomas Flyer was on hand, along with 13 other Thomas automobiles. It was arguably the largest such gathering since the Buffalo-based Thomas company, immortalized for all time by its performance in the legendary around-the-world race, closed its doors 95 years ago. As if that weren't enough, the great-grandson of George Schuster, the man who drove the original Flyer, gave a spellbinding presentation depicting the obstacles overcome by the winning team exactly one century ago.

This year's honoree, Parnelli Jones, fronted a host of racing greats, including Dan Gurney, George Follmer, Sam Posey, Brian Redman and David Hobbs, who relived their furious on-track battles with verbal sparring in a packed Trans-Am seminar that saw the crowd alternately shaking their heads in wonder at the drivers' comments and cheering when a notable film clip showed an audaciously fast pass. The Trans-Am class included 31 historic pony cars, such as several of Mark Donohue's ex-Penske Camaros and AMC Javelins, the ex-Smokey Yunick "cheater'' Camaro, the bright orange Mustangs of Jones and Follmer, Posey's Dodge Challenger and more.

Amelia is famous for surprising visitors with unusual car classes. "Cars You Never Knew Existed'' was an example, with a rare 1950 Martin Stationette wagon from the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee; a 1937 Rena Phaeton; Cord 810/812 designer Gordon Buehrig's aircraft-influenced 1948 "Tasco'' prototype; a rear-engined, air-cooled 1937 Tatra T77a; a custom four-door 1987 Porsche 928; and Geoffrey Hacker's bizarre 1961 Covington Tiburon coupe, looking for all the world like George Jetson's hovercraft. And would you believe nine Bizzarrinis and Isos?

Standouts in a stellar field of classic cars ...