Don't Miss 2017 Eyes On Design - This Weekend At The Edsel and Ford Eleanor House in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan

2017 EYES ON DESIGN SHOW
The Best Fathers Day Show Anywhere
From Delahaye to Model A

Car Show Preview by Steve Purdy
The Auto Channel
Michigan Bureau

The Edsel and Ford Eleanor House in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan is an ideal venue for a premier classic and collector car show. Broad, expansive lawns, stately hardwoods and a meticulously maintained Tudor-style mansion overlook Lake Saint Clair – the setting for the 30th edition of the best Father's Day car show ever – EyesOn Design 2017.

A couple of elements distinguish the EyesOn Design show, among the five best shows in the country according to some experts, from all other Concours-style (invitational) shows.

First, its focus is not on the rarity, restoration or prestige of the invited cars. Rather, it is all about design. The show was started, and has been sustained, by designers. The selection of cars, and other things vehicular like bicycles, boats, motorcycles and the occasional farm tractor, are based on an overall design theme for the show and often sub-themes for specific classes. But design as it reflects culture is the key.

Second, the original purpose for the show that has continued though these three decades is to raise research and service funds for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, an organization that is on the cutting edge internationally of breakthroughs in the science of restoring functional sight to people who are visually impaired and completely blind. In fact, a team of visually impaired judges do some of the judging for the show. You’ll see them going over the cars using their other senses including gloved hands and smelling interiors.

For 2017 the general theme for EyesOn Design is “Body Styles,” from the earliest days to the present, arranged around classes that show how these styles reflect the lifestyles of their times. Classes include: Concept Cars, the Lincoln brand, Limousines, Retractable Hardtops, 4-Door Hardtops (sometimes called pillarless hardtops) of the 1950s, Continental Mark Series cars, Motorcycles and Farm Tractors. Other classes and special displays include: Crosleys, Classic Era, Touring cars of two different eras, Rumble Seat Roadsters, Bathtub-styled cars, Station Wagons, Ypsilanti, MI-built cars and even historic Michigan State Police vehicles.

For the first time the EyesOn Design Lifetime Achievement award has gone not to an auto designer but to a renowned “visual futurist,” Sid Mead of Pasadena, California. After starting out as a designer for Ford Motor Company he quickly moved to broader interests imagining the future for industrial clients, the film industry and a variety of vehicular clients including boats and motorcycles. Mead also created the event poster imagining what EyesOn Design will look like 30 years hence.

A few of the special vehicles were on display at a press event earlier in the week; Most striking as we entered the grounds was an exotic super car none of us had heard of called Lykan Hypersport by a Dubai company. Think Ford GT meets Bugatti Veyron meets McLaren – now in production at $3.2 million. Right behind it sat a tall, gangly 1937 Ford prototype tractor powered by a flathead V8 of the day. Henry Ford intended to produce it but was dissuaded by a fellow tractor maker, Harry Ferguson, who encouraged Henry to make a smaller one. Next to that sat one of the most elegant cars ever built, a 1938 Delahaye Coupe, a French classic with a grille painted in colors from the French flag, a political statement of its day. We previewed other show cars like a 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV, a 1934 Vauxhall BX, a 1959 Ford with retractable hard top, a 1957 Corvette and a massive 1960 Chrysler Imperial pillarless hardtop. Just a few examples of the breadth and depth of cars you’ll see at EyesOn Design.

The EyesOn Design show at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House on Jefferson Avenue (between 9- and 10-Mile roads) in Grosse Pointe Shores, opens at 10 AM on Fathers Day and goes until 4 PM. Admission is $25. Children under 12 free with an adult. Active duty military free with ID. Related events include tours of two of the area’s premier car collections on Saturday – the Lingenfelter Collection in nearby Brighton and the collection of Larry Smith, founder of Autometric Collision near Pontiac. (Larry Smith is also getting the Preserving the Vision award.) A black tie event on Friday will honor Sid Mead and a special luxury brunch at the show is an option as well.

Get all the details at: www.eyesondesigncarshow.com

Hope to see you all there.

Steve Purdy
Shunpiker Productions