At the fifth running of the Turtle Invitational September 21 in the back country of Bedford, New York, Nancy Tanner stood near her decidedly unconventional ride: An ultra-cute 1991 Nissan Figaro, a decidedly retro Japanese car powered by a one-liter turbo four. They were never sold in the U.S. (and just 20,073 were made), but now these oddballs can be imported as used cars that are more than 25 years old.

Nancy Tanner with her rare-in-America Nissan Figaro. (Jim Motavalli photo)

“My husband and I saw one outside London’s Claridge’s in 2004,” said Tanner, a resident of Tuxedo, New York. “We were very taken with the car. As soon as we could, we bought three and sold two.” The family owns six cars, which is probably not atypical for the people exhibiting at the Invitational, which is growing rapidly and now rivals (or exceeds) the nearby Greenwich Concours in size. 

The Invitational, the brainchild and labor of love of money manager Philip Richter (on whose horse-country property it resides), has room for all branches of the collector car hobby. “To make it unique, we’re just giving awards to cars with interesting and meaningful histories,” Richter said.

Chuck Schoendorf with his latest acquisition, a 1953 Chrysler New Yorker T&C. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Chuck Schoendorf, who owns no less than three original Cunningham cars (of the 27 made), brought his latest acquisition, a two-tone 1953 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country station wagon.

“It’s powered by a Chrysler ‘Fireball’ Hemi, which is the link to the Cunninghams,” Schoendorf said. “An interesting feature is the reptile-pattern vinyl upholstery. By 1953 Chrysler was no longer using wood bodies for the T&C, but the wagons had wood paneling in the beds. Just 1,399 New Yorker T&C wagons were built in 1953.”

Yes, that’s nine Ferrari Dinos. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Good things came in multiples at the Turtle. There were nine Ferrari Dinos, and only 2,295 were built. “It’s a choose-your-color situation,” said one bemused observer.

The only Saab was this very clean 1974 99 EMS. (Jim Motavalli photo)

How often do you see not one but two 1965 Ferrari 275 GTBs in yellow (one had gray leather, the other black)? Next to them was a similar Daytona. A father said to his two pre-pubescent sons, “What kind of car is this, boys? That’s right, a Daytona—they came with special Daytona seats.” Was that three Jaguar SS 100s, one of them quite beat-up with Australian New South Wales registration?

This Jaguar Mark VII is much traveled, Florida, Rhode Island and New York recently. (Jim Motavalli photo)

American cars were in a minority, though Parker Rouf’s 1955 Packard Caribbean convertible was spectacular. Of course, there were lots of stand-alones. A 1953 Jaguar Mark VII in muted gray with an engine upgrade to XK120 M spec is owned by Rick Doucette, but before that it was the property of former Audrain Auto Museum CEO Donald Osborne, who’d bought it for a bargain price at the Amelia Island auction in Florida.

The BMW 507, one of the most beautiful cars ever, owned since 1977. Why would he sell it? (Jim Motavalli photo)

BMW powered several cars with its early 1950s V-8, and two of them were on display—a gorgeous red 507 convertible (one of 252) owned by Jeff McAllister of nearby Ridgefield, Connecticut since 1977; and a more pedestrian (but still lovely) 503 coupe. Also from BMW were a row of 2002/1600 models, including a rare Cabriolet. The sole Saab was a 1974 99 EMS, orange with brown/orange cloth seats.

A Ford 289 V-8 squeezed into a tiny British TVR. The Cobra wasn’t alone. (Jim Motavalli photo)

There was an orange McLaren F1—how many of those can there be?—and a potent 1966 Sunbeam Tiger, stolen and stripped in Denver, whose current owner said he’d “decked the head, twice.” Honored guest and TV barn finder Tom Connor brought his much-traveled Shelby Cobra CSX 490. It survived a bear attack at one point (according to its license plate frame).

Tom Connor’s long-owned Cobra is no garage queen. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Kin to these was a supposedly hard-to-handle 289-Ford-powered 1965 TVR Griffith, and a Chrysler-powered 1964 Bristol 408 with lots of British wood-and-leather ambience.

The very British Bristol 408 had Chrysler power. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Lucky Turtle attendees also enjoyed a free box lunch, free coffee and cider, tubs of apples and boxes of donuts. This was a nice touch to a low-key, friendly event.