Irvine : Fancy Car Exhibition Slated Sunday at UCI

Rolls-Royce and Bentley will be the honored makes of cars at the third annual Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance Sunday at UC Irvine, and chief among those will be a $495,000 auto owned by a Costa Mesa couple.

Gary and Pat Concannon have spent the past three years restoring a 1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn convertible that was first purchased by a former ruler of Kuwait, and Sunday’s exhibition will mark the car’s public debut.

Concannon, who operates an automotive restoration business near John Wayne Airport, purchased the car from the Rothschild family of France.

With 50,000 miles on its odometer, Concannon said, the car is considered by many collectors to be the most sought-after of the post-World War II Rolls-Royces. There were only a few Silver Dawns made, and this was the last of them.

The exhibition, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Aldrich Park on campus, is expected to attract 100 vintage and classic cars, which will be judged in 14 separate categories.

The show is being conducted as a benefit for the Assessment and Treatment Services Center of Orange County, a nonprofit organization that operates a diversion program for juvenile offenders.