Following the huge success of the 2024 L’Atelier Paris Concours d’Elegance Durban, this year’s event is to be held on the first Sunday in Spring on September 7, 2025. The fittingly serene venue will once again be the Chris Saunders Park in the heart of Umhlanga, providing the perfect backdrop to a selection of the finest classic cars in the country.
“We were honoured to have entrants from afar afield as Gauteng and the Free State for last year’s event, and this year we aim to attract an entry encompassing the whole of South Africa,“ says John Aritho, CEO and Founder of Concours d’Elegance Durban.
“The Durban area is fortunate in that it heralds the onset of summer for the greater South African region, and so we want to celebrate this with our September 7 date to showcase the finest classic cars in South Africa,” says Aritho.
“The motivation from the outset has been to bring a world class event to the Durban area, a landmark event on the motoring and social calendar, and this we achieved in 2024. There is a long-standing history of motoring enthusiasm in KZN, dating back to the Natal Grand Prix in the early 1960s. We have tapped into that core of passion for classic motoring, and the diverse entry of cars we have already achieved in previous events points to the huge potential that exists for our Concours.
“And once again, fashion will play a huge part of the event, as we encourage owners to dress up in apparel that is fitting to the eras of their vehicles on show. We will also be showcasing the work of young fashion designers at the Concours.”
The 2024 event attracted a wide variety of vintage, post-war classics and more modern cars, extending to some of the latest supercars, and this year the same format will be adhered to at the L’Atelier Paris Concours d’Elegance Durban.
The full title of the event pays homage to the title sponsor, L’Atelier Paris in Umhlanga, an exclusive jewellery and collectable watch boutique in Umhlanga.
“Thanks to our relationship with L’Atelier Paris, we are once again able to offer exclusive watches as prizes for our Concours competition, which we believe is unique in the classic car community in South Africa,” confirmed Aritho.
“And we have always enjoyed the synergy between the name of our title sponsor, L’Atelier Paris, and its French connection that goes back to the very roots of the Concours d’Elegance format, established in France over a century ago when motoring was in its infancy.”
Last year’s winning car was a pristine 1968 Lancia Flavia, owned by KZN motorsport personality John Hatfield. Lancia is one of the great names in motoring history, renowned for its engineering excellence and innovation. The Lancia was just one of the great names that graced the field at the Chris Saunders park and the line-up on the field included such luminary names as Packard, Porsche, Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz, notably a striking example of a 1938 170 V Cabriolet, with a pop-up rear seat.
Category winners that set the benchmark for Concours judging in 2024 were a 1923 Dodge, a 1958 Triumph TR3, a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle Sunbug and a 1994 Chevrolet Corvette C4, indicating the diversity of the entrants to the Concours competition. The cars are scored by a panel of expert judges in accordance with originality and perfectly detailed presentation, and judged in relation to their various age categories.
The restful setting at the park in down-town Umhlanga, with its lakes and fountains, is conducive to a wonderfully elegant day outdoors, punctuated by visual splendour. “I have wanted to do a world class Concours in South Africa since my experience of such events in other parts of the world, and I began collecting classic cars and motorcycles while living in Kenya and Dubai,” says Aritho, whose background is in the hospitality industry. He currently has collections of classic cars in Nairobi, Kenya, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
“I initiated the Concours project here in 2017 and we had two shows prior to the Covid endemic in 2018 and 2019. I was intent on adding a strong lifestyle aspect to our events to complement the classics cars, so the day out in Umhlanga will be as memorable for the fine displays of fashion, great food and drink and music, as it will be for the cars.”
Notable at the 2024 event was the variety of car genres, and these included American muscle such as Ford Mustangs and Chevy pick-ups, as well as European exotics, such as Ferrari and Porsche. A striking all-new Ferrari SUV, known as the Purosangue, was a huge talking point, displayed alongside more traditional Ferrari supercars.
“We are also introducing a new category to Concours Durban this year, known as the ‘Under 30s’,” says Aritho. “This is to encourage owners younger than 30 years of age to enter the event, with classics that appeal to their generation. There will also be a special kiddies display for youngsters entering their pedal cars.
‘Classic and vintage cars define an era of elegance and mystery that is deep within our psyches,” says Aritho, “and once your interest is sparked in this direction you are likely to pursue it for many decades. Our Concours is an important part of this world-wide trend, and this year we want to see the L’Atelier Paris Concous d’Elegance Durban become a truly national event in South Africa.
“We already had strong class-winning entries from Gauteng and the Free State in 2024, and we want to broaden that reach.”
“We are indebted to all our sponsors for bringing our Concours event in the Durban area to national prominence. We have wonderful classics in the KZN area that beg to be show-cased, and by expanding our event to achieve national recognition, we can share this passion with enthusiasts from all parts of the country.“
The L’Atelier Paris Concours d’Elegance Durban will be open for attendance by the public at a modest admission price. Entries for the concours competition are now open, and interested owners should visit the event’s website. For more information visit www.concoursdurban.co.za
