Reinventing the Wheels: SB Invitational Concours is where the Rubber Meets the Lawn

Concours d’Elegance. Whether sung with a musical French accent or verbally mangled by the well-intentioned (moi), the term does not invoke a baloney and Velveeta^® sandwich. 

“It literally means a ‘competition of elegance,’” explains Linda Rosso, President, CEO, and lead innovator of a looming extravaganza called the Santa Barbara Invitational Concours, whose inauguration November 7-8, 2026 – at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, no less – will be food, drink, and a side of heart palpitationto the hood-lifting mechanophile. “And so it is a competition,” Rosso continues {reader, submit your buggy for consideration at sbinvitational.org/participants-2 }. “The cars are to be judged by qualified Concours judges, and we’re using the Pebble Beach model – that premium lifestyle experience which has been in existence for 75 years.” 

And what a model that is. The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, launched in 1950, is widely considered by camshaft couture the most prestigious car show in the world. The Santa Barbara Invitational Concours joins a long prestigious line of jaw-dropping show and tell – gorgeous machines laid out like jewels in astonishing settings – and will be powered by that rarefied cohort’s longstanding expertise. 

“We’ve been very fortunate to have connected with seasoned Concours judges and car collectors who participate in a lot of these types of events. They bring such an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience.” Rosso is referring in part to her national advisors, Boston Cup Classic Car Show founder Richard Doucette and longtime Hilton Head Concours d’Elegance Judge Lilly Pray, not to mention SB Invitational Concoursboard members George Leis and Diane Brighton. “And I mean, gosh, you couldn’t do it without a community behind you.” 

The modern automotive Concours launched in 1921 Dinard, France (naturally), even then a delicious, beachy resort town in Brittany, northwestern France. At that first gathering, automotive beauty and innovation intermingled with high-style fashion in an almost avant-garde celebration of the Beau Monde. André-Gustave Citroën was a notable VIP guest. The earliest iterations of the Concours date to 17^th century France, and the parading of tricked out carriages by the aristocratic, hot rod-loving crème de la crème of French Society. Refined sophistication remains an absolutely central animating theme of the Santa Barbara Invitational Concours. 

“As simple a thing as parking the cars or checking in, that will be an elevated, streamlined journey,” Rosso says of the November supernova. For all that, under Rosso’s vision the approaching (and approachable) Santa Barbara Invitational Concours will be a pointedly welcoming affair; one that waves in with both hands the first-time attendee and ‘forged piston’ enthusiast alike. These welcoming hands will of course be sheathed in Harssidanzar Lambskin Driving Gloves, thus infusing the Santa Barbara Invitational Concours with a come-hither octane. This may be how such enriching blue-chip traditions survive; by drawing in and speaking to the previously uninitiated. 

“I attended an event called The Future of Concours and Car Shows,” Rosso says. “At that particular forum they talked about the fact that if they didn’t do something to change the demographics, if they didn’t work on how to expand that, Concours would fade away, because that audience was aging out. We’re really trying to work on the demographics.” 

 Wheels on the Bugatti Type 57SC Go Round and Round

The Santa Barbara Invitational Concours will indeed feature a bevy of museum-quality automotive marvels, mechanical and aesthetic thoroughbreds arrayed like Chariots of the Gods around the gemlike oceanfront grounds of the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club. Those lush lawns, tenderized by generations of cooperative ponies, will soften the impact of those inclined to fainting spells. But to hear Rosso and Brighton tell it, the new SB Invitational Concours plans to leverage an extra two cylinders cast into the block. 

“We’re intent on bringing that younger generation in, and including female car collectors, as well.”

When our beloved and culturally elating institutions start to look a little long in the tooth, we don’t abandon them; we usher in the enthusiasts who’ve been cooling their heels out in the parking lot. Linda, Diane, and this inaugural Santa Barbara Invitational Concours are all over that mission. How? Here’s a sampling. Let us count the RPMs (thrilling deets at sbinvitational.org).

Youth 

“We’re really excited about the opportunity to engage the [National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation-accredited] Santa Barbara City College Automotive Service and Technology Program students,” Rosso exclaims. “Each class of cars requires three Concours judges, and we were able to secure an apprentice program for Concours judges and share that with the department at SBCC. So there will be two Concours judges and one apprentice student with them – a really exciting opportunity for the students, and it’s fun for the judges, too, because they love sharing their knowledge and experience.” 

Rosso showed me the fine print “Apprentice Judging Program Training Manual,” a dense read that some might consider homework, but that any fledgling gearhead would digest like ambrosia. Some have already signed on, and Rosso’s Fall presentation at SBCC should enliven the youngsters further. 

One other thing: “We are not charging admission to students with a valid student ID.”

Westmont and UCSB… you in?

Torque

There will be three VIP experiences at the Santa Barbara Invitational Concours, and first among these equals (imo) will be a greasepaint-daubed bouquet called – yes – Tea, Torque, and Tiaras.If you’ve seen these three words together before, raise your hand.

“Typically the VIP tents are very, very nice,” Rosso avers. “You go in and there’s great food and beverages and all those things. But we really wanted to celebrate and encourage, first of all, females with the Tea, Torque, and Tiaras. We wanted to have something, so to speak, for everyone. Anybody can go in there, of course, but we’re gearing it towards women.” 

“We’ve been to Concours,” Diane Brighton chimes in pleasantly, “and it seems like it’s mostly for men. The women often head out to shop in the city hosting the Concours. Well, women have become owners and participants. Now should be the time that they start shining and are given the recognition they deserve.”

The Sports Motor-Cave

The yang to that yin is surely the aptly-named Sports Motor-Cave. “I was once working for a philanthropic fundraiser,” Rosso says. “There were 500 cyclists, and we had all kinds of great vendors and people there. And at a certain point I was looking around, and I couldn’t understand why people were leaving. And my husband said to me, “Well, so-and-so and so-and-so are playing today.” […fill in your own so-and-so’s, conflicted gentlemen.] “So I said, ‘Oh my God, next year I’m going to have a sports tent!’ And so the next year nobody left.” The Santa Barbara Invitational Concours site encouragingly describes this experience as, “Where horsepower meets game day,” and the sumptuous space depicted there should assuage any sports fan’s doubts. 

Par for the Concours

The Santa Barbara Invitational ConcoursVIPexperience will also include The Riviera Reserve: Cigar & Tasting Lounge, with non-VIP add-ons including The Santa Barbara Concours Tour: A Scenic Journey, and the Concours Sunset Soirée. And one more touch of audience-broadening Concours innovation is the Club Car Corral.

“For instance, the Porsche Club of Ventura,” says Rosso, “…or Prancing Ponies, which is a female Ferrari club, can come with up to 25 cars, and those will be displayed. They won’t be judged by a Concours judge, but they will be shared with the public.”

Proceeds from the blowout will benefit SBCC’s Automotive Service and Technology program, Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County, and the Family Service Agency. A truly next-level time will be had by all; and it helps if you like your automobiles in the recherché category. November’s Santa Barbara Invitational Concoursis truly an all-hands for car folk of every stripe. And if there is a more avid catchment of such folk, we haven’t heard of it. 

“We have a lot of collectors here in this area,” Linda Rosso understates, “…and we really want those collectors to come out and show their cars. It’s really right in their back yard.”  

Again, if you believe your own garaged, lovingly pampered baby has a shot at competing, submit at sbinvitational.org/participants-2